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I having a hard time understanding how your husbands predicament is "Atlanta's" fault or due to the "Right to Work" laws in Georgia (which are aimed primarily at making it harder to form unions, not make them illegal as many companies have very strong unions here (UPS, Bellsouth, Delta to name a few).
It sounds more like a misunderstanding of the difference between a salaried job and an hourly one. I'm not aware of any salary job that pays overtime. To make up for the long hours a lot of companies have a bonus plan, but with this economy being the way it is no one should be surprised if that doesn't come through. Most business here and all over the country are just trying to stay afloat.
As for him not being able to take time off for being sick, what company wouldn't let some one go home if they could not work due to an illness? If the illness is prolonged there is FMLA time to take advantage of. You can not be fired being sick as it is against the law everywhere. If he has been threatened with losing his job because of that he has grounds for a lawsuit and you should seek legal counsel.
Look, times are tough on most everyone no matter what city you are in. But we make adjustments. Blaming a city for your ills is not to sensical.
To his credit, the union system and public activism is on a whole 'nother level in NY. People actually fight for their rights up there. So yes, Atlanta is still the South in the sense of being pro-establishment and anti-union.
Still painting anything with a broad brush is often wrong. As a black woman myself who does not go along to get along, this sounds more like something you're extrapolating from the few blacks you dealt with. I think that Blacks in Atlanta are more classist and more bourgeoise than in other cities, but there is also a strong sense of pride in being black here and black people actually unify in the A when stuff goes down. Plus what I appreciate are those organizations we have. You may not be a frat or soror type of person, but it provides that sense of black history and unity you don't really see in LA (which was my birthplace and where just about half my family lives).
I think you have to make any place you live what you want it to be. If people have a "plantation" mentality, enlighten them. I don't see how it could be that much better in LA when the black population there has been steadily declining and there is a very minimal black political presence.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bizchick86
To his credit, the union system and public activism is on a whole 'nother level in NY. People actually fight for their rights up there. So yes, Atlanta is still the South in the sense of being pro-establishment and anti-union.
I don't disagree with you there, but I would say that perception of Atlanta/"The South" stems mostly from people not being aware of the rights they do have. The Right to Work laws are onerous, but there are federal laws that people rarely use in employment disputes not to mention people just making up aspects of what the Right to Work laws actually do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizchick86
Still painting anything with a broad brush is often wrong. As a black woman myself who does not go along to get along, this sounds more like something you're extrapolating from the few blacks you dealt with. I think that Blacks in Atlanta are more classist and more bourgeoise than in other cities, but there is also a strong sense of pride in being black here and black people actually unify in the A when stuff goes down. Plus what I appreciate are those organizations we have. You may not be a frat or soror type of person, but it provides that sense of black history and unity you don't really see in LA (which was my birthplace and where just about half my family lives).
It was another poster making those L.A. comments, not I, but I'll piggy back on what you said. Many black people from the rest of the country come to Atlanta expecting to find the same exact culture of black people they had where they came from. This includes not only people from up north and out west but from the rest of the south too. The history of Atlanta's black culture is highly divergent from the rest of the country, and that's a fact that most people aren't really aware of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizchick86
I think you have to make any place you live what you want it to be. If people have a "plantation" mentality, enlighten them. I don't see how it could be that much better in LA when the black population there has been steadily declining and there is a very minimal black political presence.
Any where you go you will find people that don't fit in with how you think, but instead of proverbially "grabbing your toys and running home", you should act like an adult and make adjustments. Talk things out and learn something about someone else instead of just assuming.
Personally I grew up in majority black working class section of the city. I attended an HBCU on purpose even though I had been accepted to several Ivies and other schools. That doesn't mean that people of other backgrounds. My friends run across racial and ethnic lines. I even have really close and trusted friends who many would consider to be the redneckiest of rednecks and whom on paper I shouldn't have anything in common with.
It's all about who you surround yourself with though that makes the difference, not who surrounds you.
Sorry waronxmas, I was indeed referring to the poster you were replying to in my second and third paragraph but I didn't make that clear.
I really dig the A. I like seeing HBCUs and black people actually running things. There are few other American cities like that. There definitely is a war on poor folks going on down here that has to be corrected, as well as a host of other issues, but I much prefer this starting point. I feel it's much more feasible to influence the minds of black people with whom I would share at least some similarities than having hardly anyone in power who looks like me as in NY or LA who could care even less about poor black people or other community issues.
I feel you on being able to befriend "rednecks" in the South. My closest neighbors were the biggest conservatives even though my houshold was radical and very pro-black. But we could relate on a human level. One neighbor always gave us vegetables from his garden, another always sent us homemade preserves from hers. Before one of them passed away, he told my mother how he voted for Barack, and that was first time he had ever voted for a Democrat. And he was visibly proud about it, too.
Whites in other cities, from my experience, are just as prejudiced but hide it well, and they don't have that southern friendliness I often get down here. I would much rather someone hand me a peach pie and be genuinely friendly while outwardly ignorant than the hypocrisy and unfriendliness you'd find in other metros.
Quote:
Originally Posted by waronxmas
I don't disagree with you there, but I would say that perception of Atlanta/"The South" stems mostly from people not being aware of the rights they do have. The Right to Work laws are onerous, but there are federal laws that people rarely use in employment disputes not to mention people just making up aspects of what the Right to Work laws actually do.
It was another poster making those L.A. comments, not I, but I'll piggy back on what you said. Many black people from the rest of the country come to Atlanta expecting to find the same exact culture of black people they had where they came from. This includes not only people from up north and out west but from the rest of the south too. The history of Atlanta's black culture is highly divergent from the rest of the country, and that's a fact that most people aren't really aware of.
Any where you go you will find people that don't fit in with how you think, but instead of proverbially "grabbing your toys and running home", you should act like an adult and make adjustments. Talk things out and learn something about someone else instead of just assuming.
Personally I grew up in majority black working class section of the city. I attended an HBCU on purpose even though I had been accepted to several Ivies and other schools. That doesn't mean that people of other backgrounds. My friends run across racial and ethnic lines. I even have really close and trusted friends who many would consider to be the redneckiest of rednecks and whom on paper I shouldn't have anything in common with.
It's all about who you surround yourself with though that makes the difference, not who surrounds you.
I having a hard time understanding how your husbands predicament is "Atlanta's" fault or due to the "Right to Work" laws in Georgia (which are aimed primarily at making it harder to form unions, not make them illegal as many companies have very strong unions here (UPS, Bellsouth, Delta to name a few).
It sounds more like a misunderstanding of the difference between a salaried job and an hourly one. I'm not aware of any salary job that pays overtime. To make up for the long hours a lot of companies have a bonus plan, but with this economy being the way it is no one should be surprised if that doesn't come through. Most business here and all over the country are just trying to stay afloat.
As for him not being able to take time off for being sick, what company wouldn't let some one go home if they could not work due to an illness? If the illness is prolonged there is FMLA time to take advantage of. You can not be fired being sick as it is against the law everywhere. If he has been threatened with losing his job because of that he has grounds for a lawsuit and you should seek legal counsel.
Look, times are tough on most everyone no matter what city you are in. But we make adjustments. Blaming a city for your ills is not to sensical.
I am not blaming my ills on Atlanta, I was just stating how things are here, my spouse is a law enforcement officer, in which they are never salaried but hourly, and no he still dosnt get overtime.
He works for GA State and no he still could not go home had to work all day while he was vomitting all over the place.
I cannot see anywhere in my post were I was blaming anything on any place. I did see however, were I stated what was taking place for us here, and what we dislike and why. Can you please show me where it states it is against the law, to have an employer make you remain at work while sick, I work for a facility and had a coworker who could not get off while there infant was in ICU. Now I will say that I do believe that they are taking advantage of the fact the economy is bad and people need jobs, however, at least in NYC he had a union that would assist him in advocating for time off, overtime, being able to take some hours from his 200 hours on the books, he had more baragining rights in NYC than here, not blaming anyone just stating the facts
Why not move to New Jersey? You can avoid people by moving there, right? Why do people still want to move to Georgia? What is up with these "should I move to Atlanta, Georgia" threads?
Do folks not look at the news? Do they not read a newspaper? It's like a 10.1% unemployment here! The thugs are off the wall down here!
Its 9.2% in NJ so not exactly that different there. Many people come here for reasons then just jobs. Cost of housing, weather, slower pace just to name a few.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcidSnake
Why not move to New Jersey? You can avoid people by moving there, right? Why do people still want to move to Georgia? What is up with these "should I move to Atlanta, Georgia" threads?
Do folks not look at the news? Do they not read a newspaper? It's like a 10.1% unemployment here! The thugs are off the wall down here!
Its 9.2% in NJ so not exactly that different there. Many people come here for reasons then just jobs. Cost of housing, weather, slower pace just to name a few.
I'd take a 9.2% over 10.1% unemployment rate anyday of the week! That is almost a full percentage point which could very well mean about about 100,000 more jobs. Aside from that, yeah it'll be a real slower pace if the poster of this thread decides to come here at this point in time... As in unemployment line-type pace.
I'd take a 9.2% over 10.1% unemployment rate anyday of the week! That is almost a full percentage point which could very well mean about about 100,000 more jobs. Aside from that, yeah it'll be a real slower pace if the poster of this thread decides to come here at this point in time... As in unemployment line-type pace.
Agreed. The jobs are in the North. That's why I moved "BACK 2 DC".
All these people moving here without jobs -- no other city-data forum has posts like these in such high numbers. Atlanta is a FAR cry from the land of milk and honey.
I agree with Donnie and Donna, stay where u are, its not any better here! Atlanta is not "the black mecca" nor "Chocolate City" although I did get a yummy chocolate cake downtown once at this cafe. Seriously, Im so tired of all the talk about "The A is where its at for black peeps." "I am going back to my roots", like dude, you prolly never even had family here, now all of a sudden Georgia is your homeland, morons. There are so many other beautiful states in the US to choose from why not be a bit more open-minded, less hipcritical, and think for yourself instead of going with the black flow, its gets old quick, and you may end up unemployed here just as you would any other state.
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