Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is hard to believe in the 16 hours left in your day after sleeping that you cannot prepare 3 meals and commute to and from your job. Then given 1 day off per week in addition to your already 2 days off has added an additional 52 days per year that I as an employer would have to pay you for not working. Then add another 22 days (minimum) for the Holidays and other days that you as an employee feel entitled to, that adds up to about 2 - 3 months worth of time that I would be required to pay you for doing nothing. This is added to the current time that is being taken to post on a public forum (if you are at work) and I (the employer) is paying you to do nothing.
I would be better off to not hire you in the first place since I worked hard building the business I have established yet you feel "entitled" to all of the perks and the pay but have performed none of the real work that it took to become successful AND you (the employee) think it is perfectly fine to use my computer equipment to play on the internet.
I personally think you would change your mind completely IF you owned your own business and had to hire others to work for you.
AMEN, Brother!
Mitsguy2001 -If you are so upset with the horrors of having an exempt, white collar job, feel free to quit. You could work at fast food, a warehouse, a retail store, a factory.....with those jobs you can get most of your wishes. Oh wait, but then you'd have to accept a non-exempt, hourly salary. I'm thinking you don't want that, do you?
Mitsguy2001 -If you are so upset with the horrors of having an exempt, white collar job, feel free to quit. You could work at fast food, a warehouse, a retail store, a factory.....with those jobs you can get most of your wishes. Oh wait, but then you'd have to accept a non-exempt, hourly salary. I'm thinking you don't want that, do you?
1. This policy should apply every day, no exceptions for any reason.
2. Employees should be allowed at least 1 day off every week. This policy should apply every week, no exceptions for any reason.
3. Employees should be allowed at least 8 paid holidays every year, and should not be required to work on any of them, for any reason (exception being a business that must remain open every day, such as a hospital, but nobody working in such a business should be "exempt" from overtime pay).
8. An employer should not be allowed to fire an employee unless there is a valid reason to do so.
This is stupid. There should be always exceptions. With all your laws, US companies will die so fast. it's not even funny. Do you see what union did?
You think the people shouldn't work even if the their company will die if they can't get this one contract done during the holiday or weekend?
The company I worked for, which was non-union, went under. It wasn't because of the employees and if you asked the people who were running the company, they would probably tell you that it was the economy. But if you look at the books, you'd see that the company was buying new computers, cell phones, pdas, office funiture and other things that I don't know about. Sure, these things are tax right offs, but you have to be making the money in the first place to write them off.
Second, if you consider that the CEOs of U.S. companies are making over 400 times what the employees make (compared to 10-20 times in other countries) in this day and age when non-union workers out number union workers, compared to back in the 50's when CEOs only made about 20 times what the worker made and the unions were stronger, I would say that it's not the unions who are causing the financial crisis.
People are brainwashed these days against unions. But if they would just stop and think, big business and corporation don't like unions. But unions don't want businesses to go under, because if the do and the worker loses his/her job, the union doesn't make money. Union dues are only paid if one stays in the union. No job, no union, no union dues.
It is hard to believe in the 16 hours left in your day after sleeping that you cannot prepare 3 meals and commute to and from your job. Then given 1 day off per week in addition to your already 2 days off has added an additional 52 days per year that I as an employer would have to pay you for not working. Then add another 22 days (minimum) for the Holidays and other days that you as an employee feel entitled to, that adds up to about 2 - 3 months worth of time that I would be required to pay you for doing nothing. This is added to the current time that is being taken to post on a public forum (if you are at work) and I (the employer) is paying you to do nothing.
I would be better off to not hire you in the first place since I worked hard building the business I have established yet you feel "entitled" to all of the perks and the pay but have performed none of the real work that it took to become successful AND you (the employee) think it is perfectly fine to use my computer equipment to play on the internet.
I personally think you would change your mind completely IF you owned your own business and had to hire others to work for you.
And if you look at the accounting of most businesses (especially the big ones), you see that business makes a large profit off the employess. When our company contracts work, it will charge double what the company pays the employees pay. Sure, it cost the company for the overhead of the employee, but no where near the cost of the employee's pay. That includes paid time off like sick leave and vacation. Maybe if there were laws against making profits off other peoples work, employers can pay decent wages to employees and we can do away with the overhead needed for workers. It seems that's what is done in some other counties.
I find it ironic, that generally, the same people who defend this corporate mindset, are the same people that bemoan the demise of the importance of the family unit in America.
The company I worked for, which was non-union, went under. It wasn't because of the employees and if you asked the people who were running the company, they would probably tell you that it was the economy. But if you look at the books, you'd see that the company was buying new computers, cell phones, pdas, office funiture and other things that I don't know about. Sure, these things are tax right offs, but you have to be making the money in the first place to write them off. Second, if you consider that the CEOs of U.S. companies are making over 400 times what the employees make (compared to 10-20 times in other countries) in this day and age when non-union workers out number union workers, compared to back in the 50's when CEOs only made about 20 times what the worker made and the unions were stronger, I would say that it's not the unions who are causing the financial crisis.
This is a point that is always conveniently overlooked then comparing us to workers in other counties. Kudos to you!
Why are people always so quick to call the workers greedy while CEO's eat the whole damn pie and leave nothing but the crumbs in the bottom of the pan for everyone else?
Maybe if there were laws against making profits off other peoples work, employers can pay decent wages to employees and we can do away with the overhead needed for workers.
Laws against making profits off other people's work?? Really?? You do realize that every single company in the world profits off of other people's work. That's what employees do. They work, so the company can make a profit.
People are brainwashed these days against unions. But if they would just stop and think, big business and corporation don't like unions. But unions don't want businesses to go under, because if the do and the worker loses his/her job, the union doesn't make money. Union dues are only paid if one stays in the union. No job, no union, no union dues.
Unions aren't bad, it's just that businesses have successfully bribed the government into circumventing the unions through free trade and illegal immigration (thus weakening their power).
There's nothing wrong with your list. It really should apply to every color of collar worker.
Compared to most 1st world nations, American workers work more hours, take fewer vacations, and in general, are expected to work work harder for less. I've only worked for two companies that allowed for 2 breaks during they day. Where I work, we work from the time we get in to lunch time. Can I blame my employer? Not really. He's trying to compete with everyone else, and those companies are working their workers just the same.
I've only worked for one company that had paid lunch breaks. Where I work, it's unpaid. Can I blame my employer? Nope. They're trying to compete with other companies who don't have paid lunch breaks.
I get 2 weeks vacation. If I lived in Germany, I would get something like 6 weeks vacation. Can I blame my employer? Nope. I live in America where 2 weeks is the norm. After all, we have to compete with other companies, and they're only giving their workers 2 weeks of vacation time.
Last company I worked for worked their workers 60 hours a week minimum. They did this so they could hire as few workers as possible, reducing the costs of providing benefits. Did I blame my employer? Nope, because I know the competition was working their workers 60 hours a week. Actually, more like 70 or 80.
Point is, companies would probably like to provide a better opportunity for work/life balance. To do this, they would have to pass the costs along in the cost of goods/services. Very hard to do when your competition is turning the thumb screws on their workers and squeezing as much productivity as they can. The cash strapped consumer will simply take their business to someone cheaper.
At my last job, I was working with a guy from Poland. I was shocked to hear how laid back the lifestyle he described was. When he told his friends he was moving to America 20 years ago, they all told him he was crazy. "Why would you want to move somewhere where all you do is work?" And really, that's all a lot of people do in this country. People become obsessed with their careers, and those are the types of workers companies want. That is the type that anyone who wants work/life balance has to compete against. When they get accustomed to having these types of workers, they start to expect the same out of everyone.
Funny about the voting thing you mentioned... All the union workers get time off to vote. Gee, why do you think that is
Nice list you constructed. Too bad we are moving in the opposite direction these days. Most of the guys where I work are there 10 hours a day. I told my boss I didn't want to be a slave to my job, so I work 45 hours most weeks. I also know this puts a big fat bullseye on my head if and when it comes time to thin the herd... Workers can try to stand up for themselves, but there's always a hungrier worker out there who will work harder, and for less. We're importing a lot of them these days, and not just the unskilled, uneducated variety anymore.
It's true Andy I am married to a European and of course have plenty of extended family. My cousin in Ireland, economically hurting PIGS, gets 6 weeks off plus all the national holidays. See arrives at HSBC at 8 and leaves at 4:30. Yes I am jealous. It makes me sick when she say oh I have another week off let's go to Santori. Then my inlaws ***** when we see them, when I had a job, what you have to fly back in 10 days that's not right...........well that's reality. I guess we could all be working like Slum Dog Millionaire though.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Greed
This is a point that is always conveniently overlooked then comparing us to workers in other counties. Kudos to you!
