THE CHANGING WORLD OF LABOR FOR YOU AND ME!

THE CHANGING WORLD OF LABOR FOR YOU AND ME!

(Green Bay Press Gazette, Wisconsin Center for investigative Journalism)

(The Guardian, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I’ve been out of the job market for several blissful years now, retired at 65 back in 2008, so I don’t much care what is happening in the work a day world that people younger than me have to put up with. Oh sure there’s the occasional senior citizen at the local convenience store clerking, or a gas jockey working the corner gas station on a part time basis, but by and large, people after their mid 60’s don’t concern themselves with business owners or shift managers.

 

But let me tell you, working in the private sector in today’s world is a whole lot different than when I was 30, 40, or 50 years of age. The power that today’s business has over their lowly worker, for some is overwhelming. Others simply put up with the daily crap that is shoveled unto their job description cart as they go about the business of completing the tasks that they are given.

 

You read all over the newspapers about how to cope with a jerk for a boss, or the unattached owner who views his workers as just so many chattel that need to be moved from job to job, completing whatever assignment they are given without any thought for the employee.

 

Employers today apparently have all sorts of rights that I do not know about, information that used to be classified, and private stuff. I don’t mean that the information that an employer asked was classified by the Federal Government…..no, the information was classified by the House of Frazer…..it was information that I was not comfortable in divulging, no matter the reason, or the consequences.

 

I’ve read about employment contracts between an employer and an employee, and these types of documents are great…..great to use as fire starters when you go camping. I’ve had several contracts during my life, and I can tell you for certain, contracts are about as good as a hand-shake. My contracts were for sports team jobs, and any fool knew how to do the job that I was responsible for, hell coaching either high school or college baseball teams ain’t brain science.

 

Unless the contract that is signed, (and by the way, laborers don’t have contracts), a position that should have either a contract, or a job description. It’s an example of why as a people; we need governmental regulators keeping an eye on some of these unscrupulous.

 

AT-WILL

What does an at will employer, employee relationship mean, either can terminate the employment for no cause. It’s mostly how I worked during those years that I worked in the private sector, and I can tell you first hand, an at-will relationship favors either management or the business owner.

 

I’m not sure, but I guess having an at-will relationship with an owner or boss is justified because, at least with regards to an owner, he has taken the chance to set up and operate the business, and should have the final say in whether an employee stays, or looks for different employment whenever a disagreement arises.

 

I have worked for people that hold this at-will process over an employee’s head at every turn, acting as judge, jury, and executioner in any instance, disagreement, or worse, when there has been theft. I have heard about an entire shift being terminated because one or two people have ripped something off, and that is just wrong.

 

Employers that work with this at-will relationship with their employees actually have a sacred trust to treat their employees with fairness, dignity and respect. Sadly with little exception, fairness is the first to go, quickly followed by dignity and respect.

 

It’s funny, but the less pay per hour jobs usually are the least fair…..and you can simply forget dignity or respect…..these virtues are like a foreign language to these employers. Sadly with little exception, these kinds of employees surround themselves with like minded ass----s, and you not only get shoddy treatment from your boss or supervisor, but  expect the same type of activity from the owner.

 

Sometimes the at-will relationship between an owner and an employee breeds a kind of work atmosphere where success in the overall operation can be compromised, and the owner suffers as well as the employee. Keeping strong lines of communications open at all times should be the employer’s first criteria of operation.

 

Like I said, (I’ve worked under a contract as well as in an at-will situation), and I found one thing to be true whether the job was contracted, or at-will, if the owner is a jerk, he’s still going to be a jerk no matter which type of situation you might find yourself.

 

With very little exception, I have always wanted to work under a freewheeling situation, when employees are rewarded for improvising and thinking on their feet. If everything needs to go either through a supervisor, or owner…..they have little or no confidence in their employees, and I got out of that situation as quickly as I could.

 

MY PAY

I don’t know about any of you, but I went to work every day because I wanted to get paid for my labor service. I have never felt that I was lucky to have a job. I always figured that the employer was lucky to have me. What he was guaranteed to get from me was the best effort that I could give for the time that I was on the job. I wasn’t a slacker; I didn’t screw around on the job, and was always proud of the way I worked. In short…..I worked for myself, whatever the job was, the final result was going to be the best that I could do.

 

I never ever needed anybody to look over my shoulder. I in fact hated it whenever an owner or a supervisor did so, and I enviably voiced the opposition to the practice. I in fact have gone as far as to admonish whoever was gazing my work, I just didn’t like it.

 

I always expected an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, and I usually wasn’t around very long if I felt that I was being underpaid. I remember one clown who didn’t give rises unless the employee asked for one, and then it was a battle royal to get the measly nickel or dime.

 

I can count on one hand the number of times I went; hat in hand, to plead my case for additional money that I figured I should get. The biggest trouble with supervisors or owners in the business world today is the fact that there isn’t any respect.

 

When you aren’t being paid a living wage, which I’m not sure what the phrase means, it conjures up visions of a benevolent supervisor or owner actually worrying about their employees…..and with little exception that doesn’t happen. Line supervisors, shift supervisors, foreman and owners all have the same bottom line mentality…..margins of profit.

 

 

Profits is why there are line supervisors, shift supervisors, foreman and owners, and God help the employees if there are share-holders, cause they really have a bottom line mentality. Profits are what drive business today, and has always been the overriding reason people ventured into the business world to make their way.

 

The same can be said about the employee, we just didn’t have the where-with-all, the grit, or the testacies necessary jump into the business world. Most of us workers made a choice to be just that…..workers, so whenever we take one up the tailpipe with regards to working conditions, or pay…..in a rather large way, it’s our own faults because we weren’t daring enough to start our own business.

 

TECHNOCRATES AND HUMANISTS

Some intellectuals talk about the next big debate in the workplace, whether we are going to need more technology and training as a work force, or how we are going to need a more humanists approach to those folks who are in the United States labor force at the present time with regards to workers rights.

 

It’s a fair debate, and one that has surfaced before, of course on the one side you have management and owners who will do whatever it takes to achieve their bottom line. That’s right, their bottom line, the higher the profit, the higher the compensation for these Captains of Industry and their appointed henchmen.

 

Of course on the other side you have labor and their multitude of wants, desires and perceived needs. Unionizing a labor force has usually been the best way to proceed with the process of representation, but lately that form of bargaining has been curtailed by the very organization that certain departments have been entrusted to ensure a more equal brand of employment.

 

I of course am talking about the Federal Government which for the past hundred years has more or less helped the worker achieve a measure of equal and fair pay for their effort. The Federal Government as well as state and some local governments have superseded some of the federal employment laws, as well as many state workers rights laws.

 

You workers are entering into a dark time of labor relations in today’s world, when a governor strikes down a collective bargaining law that stood for close 60 years, when people, common citizens are banned from protesting either locally, or at the state and national levels…..bad things are just around the corner for the working class of the United States.

 

Some people say that history is like a wheel; it just sits there and spins, and is destined to travel over the same territory again. If that is the case, and more and more workers rights are discarded, or rescinded, the current work force is truly headed for a bumpy ride.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!