Can someone explain the importance of local times needing to be the same? Who cares if I go to work at 3, while you start at 5. Do we think it will force a creep of the work day's starting and stopping time? Some of us already stay up (or get up) to deal with other parts of the world. Is it that we need to compare our bedtimes with others?

I actually wouldn't mind this. None of our relatives live in the same area as us and anything that requires coordination (e.g., planning to video-chat), requires specifying a time zone.