I was fired from my last job for refusing to illegally sign work site inspection documents for work sites that I'd never seen and which the employer didn't want me to see. I reported the company to the proper government departments. Nothing happened to the employer. That's what happens when the owner has politicians on speed dial. They get a free pass to do anything they want and there are no consequences when they do anything illegal.
@@davidpeppers551 they should have reported it to OSHA and contacted a lawyer. They would have come out and inspected everything at the job site and fined them for any violations. They can even shut down the job site all together for certain violations.
@@incubus_the_man I saw how that worked. At the same employer's property OSHA did show up. Our boss was alerted to the arrival two days in advance and there was a mad rush ro make things right. Then they came and conducted interviews of employees, questioning them on safety and similiar issues. They did this on the company's property during work hours where it would be safe to assume there were recording devices of all kinds under the control of the owner, our boss. It would also be safe to assume he had other eyes and ears about the place. Years before my time there, he fired more than 30 people for trying to form a union. Naturally it failed because the supporters were eliminated. He was fined less than $500, less than one day's profits. OSHA did manage to find enough to fine the company $800,000 dollars from that visit. However, after the lawyers got involved, it was knocked down by a lot. Seems like even when the big guys lose, they win. The union failed. The company didn't change much, OSHA collected some money and this company lies about it's history while it tries to attract more employees. False advertising claims have never been brought as far as I know. For years after this incident, this company had local journalists eating out of their hand. They would sing our bosses praises and extoll the wonderful opportunities he provided for his employees while at the same time bemoaning his labor shortage in a time where "people just don't seem to want to work anymore!" A few years after I left, I found a posting from my former employer at a local community college. I took out my pen and corrected the lies in the ad. At the bottom: " I worked for this man. Don't believe these lies! " You do what you can, but don't expect it to turn out like it's supposed to. If you've had better luck, I'd sure like to hear it. Don't tell me you work for OSHA!
@@tidus9942 Your right. Workers should be exploited at every turn. They should be charged a fee to use the restroom, All medical expenses should be removed from the low life worker. Regulations need to be implemented that gives more rights to the owners. Government needs to bend it's nee to business and aid in the exploration of the so called humans. I think I would have done good as a scrooge.
@@vttklazer "Tidus, As someone who works in a right to work state this just means employers can fire people for any reason." That is at-will employment. I will grant that states that implement one tend to implement the other as well. Right to work means an employer can't be forced into a union contract and that he can hire workers without signing them up for a union. Now, there is something to be said for at-will employment. And it is not simply about making people suffer. At will employment means, for example, that an employer can discharge someone who props his feet up and refuses to do any work without going through various hoops to prove to authorities that it is acceptable to fire that person. Now, I have heard some union supporters talk about a "lazybones manifesto." I can see where you might not want an employer to be able to fire someone who refuses to work. After all, wanting productivity from employees is "exploitation." The fact is that companies generally do not fire workers willy nilly. It may come as a surprise to you. But that's not very cost effective. Companies are not interested in making people suffer. They are interested in making money.
What about “part time” classification, employer works you 39.9 hours to avoid giving benefits. There’s a million scams. Employees should coordinate together to force the employers to do what’s right. Don’t fall for the bull$h!t
Surely a man of your intelligence and marketable skills need not depend on an employer for a paycheck. Quit! Start your own business. Who is holding you back?
@gayboyzig the same thing happened to me when I worked at a Casey's gas station, I live in a right to work state and they said this was legal. They would work me full time for 5 weeks and then cut my hours. It was impossible to get a second job because of it. This makes it impossible to get any kind of help as well, because most red states in particular will tell you you made too much money at 30 hours a week, even if you were only making $8.50 an hour. I started my own cleaning business to help me get by. I didn't try to apply for any assistance but was supposed to get unemployment as part of the trade act agreement when my job of 14 years went to Mexico. I did my part by going back to college full time to receive that unemployment for two years, in fact I was excluded from having to look for jobs at all. I was laid off the end of August and couldn't start school until the new term started in mid October, I took a part time job in the meantime. They didn't say we had to use our state unemployment first before we could go on the trade act unemployment, the state of Iowa slashed their unemployment making it impossible to live on hence the part time, which was more like full time with no benefits. I finally did get the trade act unemployment the second year into it, which thankfully was more money than the state and didn't get penalized for working more hours! If I ran into that problem with unemployment being penalized for working too many hours, I'm sure it happens with social programs like food stamps, rent assistance and Medicaid. They work you just enough so you can't qualify for help but still live in poverty. That's how they get away with not having to hire full-time workers too, just work their part timers full time for 5 weeks at a time then cut them back for a while, and start all over. This makes for a really unpredictable income for those workers!
Well, is it legal? Yes the correct answer us yes.. Next question?? Why is our current administration flooding our borders with unvaccinated illegals?? Cheap labor.
I used to live in Arizona where low wage workers get benefits after 30 hours. The loophole they found was that they only had to "offer" benefits, not provide them. They would offer us health insurance that was clearly chosen for upper management's salaries, and it was always unaffordable to those of us at the bottom. When I worked for Earnhardt Car Dealerships literally everyone walked out of the "benefits meeting" as soon as we were told the cheapest plan was $450 per month with crazy high deductibles. Even the high rolling salesmen were pissed they wasted our time with that.
Forced OT? Welcome to healthcare. Forced arbitration? It's in every contract I can remember. Unpredictable Scheduling? Welcome to healthcare. Wage theft? It's amazing how many errors happen in the payroll department, especially when they all happen to be in favour of the business. Check and understand your paystubs people. Misclassification? Not so much in healthcare.
While working in a mental health facility, I was forced to work 37 hours in 3 days without a single break during the shifts. On the way home, I dozed off for a moment in my car while sitting at a red light. I quit after that.
Healthcare is rampant with labor violations I worked at short time for a company that made us sign a paper saying we would give up our unpaid lunch voluntarily but if you didn’t sign you couldn’t work for them. Working off the clock Just talk to anyone who works in therapy. There are productivity expectations that are extremely difficult to meet I see people working off the clock often. One company had 1 lap top for 4 therapist so everyone had to punch out and wait for the laptop to do their notes. 30 mins- 1 hour of wiring off clock because no equipment . I’m with a decent company now but some companies only care about profits
My first reaction to unpredictable scheduling as a new comer: 🤯 "am I an employee or slave?! Giving me 20 hrs/week, pay me minimum wage and want me to be available whenever you want?!?" And what was more surprising was that NOBODY else complained about this and dealt with it as normal!! It was then when I realized how brainwashed American born people were! Also, when people got sick and had NO paid sick day off or only 3 days/year!!! I got sick with flu and pneumonia few times but just because it wasn't called covid-19, I was asked to come back to work after 3 days while barely able to stand on my feet. What a dysfunctional system! I hope work conditions in America become more humane.
@@WatchfulHunter or stick it out at your job and do something to help change the culture from the inside with your coworkers. Slow going maybe, but it can pay off-that’s the only way unions are born and how corporate exploitation is brought to its knees.
Brainwashed? I mean, I am all for a bit of poking fun at the American people, but calling all of them brainwashed when you just watched a video (or at least, I hope you did) where employees unknowingly or by no choice of their own sign away their right to sue the employer for, well, anything, feels rather mean. And sure, we can all be idealistic and be like "you are breaking the law, either you stop or I quit (or sue, if you are the minority that has not signed away your law to sue)" but people at the end of the day have bills to pay. Losing a job they need to survive is not something people are very willing to do. In other words, those "brainwashed" people are just trying to survive in a system that is entirely built around the employer. And don't forget; Robert Reich may talk sense, but in the current American political system, sense matters none. Republicans will vote *anything* down they don't directly profit from, especially when the proposals come from Democrats.
The forced arbitration was particularly scary a few years ago when I was getting started in the industry. They sponsored my training and said it cost them $6k, since it was all in-house they actually made extra profit by not paying me, but whatever. Additionally they reserved the right to fire me for any reason and if I left the company for any reason, including being fired, I had to refund the "cost" of training. And naturally, I had to use an arbitrator of their choice if there was a dispute. Thankfully that perfectly manufactured horror story didn't happen, but the fact that an employment contract can even legally have all of that is ridiculous.
This is orwellian ! It's beyond surreal in U.S.A. We have to undergo 3rd world labor conditions all for corporate GREED ! This calls for a general strike nationwide, that will be the best protest and the working people will force companies to stop the exploitation, call it modern slavery, or go bankrupt. Too many people already have nothing to lose, and cannot be forced to run on the same rat wheel for less than the bare minimum. Workers unite, fight for your rights and sue the companies in class action lawsuits.
Yep my job has tons of unnecessary overtime. This week we had 6 machines sitting idle because there wasnt work for them, but for some reason for Saturday and Sunday they wanted all hands on deck.
Forced OT is the norm for us. We've been on forced OT since the Start of 2018. The money is nice, but I have to blow so much on repairs and replacing things wholesale since I can't have the time to repair them ahead of time. Plus, I can't start my own business because their is no time to really invest into getting it going.
We NEED a type of Union organization that any employee from any business can join. There are a LOT of employees who can't get any kind of Union in their workplace. We need another option. An organization that isn't necessarily a Union, but unites employees against employers and provides the employees some kind of protection, similar to Unionized work places.
My bf is a campaigner and with his previous organization he helped start a union; he was one of the three main initiators. But what makes it worth mentioning is like a month after he got a much better offer and left. That is a boss move... "I don't like some of your issues so I'm going to unionize" and then leaving immediately after succeeding. But on-topic... I love your idea, I really wish it would happen, but honestly, we probably have better odds of electing enough progressives and getting the government to fix things.
@@Zach-ju5vi Please explain... go on, I want to know how you think one person can put more pressure for good working conditions than half of the employees together. Tell me why the one competent person is also going to have the legal background of the union reps when labor violations occur.
@@Zach-ju5vi You ever worked for a company where you were forced to work in a dangerous environment and the employer would have you work off the clock (and not pay anywhere near the median for the work you did)? Example - a shop where in the Florida summer, it would get above 130 degrees in the shade, and the owner insisted any fan was to keep the machines cool enough to keep producing and that providing relief for the employees was mollycoddling them (and said so quite loudly)? Have you ever worked for an employer that was abusive - even physically)? I have a relative who worked for a guy who demanded sex from her - she refused, reported it to the company, so they set her up in a situation where she couldn't function and then fired her. Have you ever experienced extreme (and illegal) demands like that? Your comment clearly shows you likely have no clue how bad it can get. I've seen first-hand how crooked and evil most of the business owners are (at least in this hellhole of a state) - greedy and stuck on "obedience to authority" and uncaring about those working for them. Unions protect against the sort of things I've had to deal with - and especially the things I've seen when providing a service to other companies.
@@lilacdoe7945 For every problem, there is a solution. It's all about uniting workers from all walks of life. Imagine a 100 million workers or more threatening to shut down the whole economy if their employers don't stop treating them like shit. As far as a Union Rep type of person.... there could be one for each designated territory, representing all workers from all businesses within their territory.
1. Part time 30- 39.5 hr weeks albeit with benefits but unpredictable time and pay 2. Unpredictable scheduling at an orange DIY store and more 3. Come in even though you’re sick 4. Every job I’ve had has forced arbitration (8 so far) 5. Got an offer with International Paper and demanded 12 hour 3rd shift 7 days a week with commission rather than OT 6. Required to work 6 days a week because company overpromised and didn’t want to get more machines or workers 7. Shit shift schedules either starting at 4-5 am till lunch style or 1to midnight and ruins any semblance of a life outside of work 8. No benefits at any job until my current one and took six years to find it 9. Forced overtime every Nov 1st to Dec 31st in almost every job I’ve been in. 10. No vacation days until you’ve done 1 year (you have to to do one year no vacation and then middle of second year you can take vacation) 11. Questioning if I had to go to the restroom that often when I had the trots/runs and reprimanded for it. 12. I have a disability and get treated like I’m an idiot, not just fatigued from the work and disability together. 13. Much more to go but that’s enough - I work hard, I earn my keep but boundaries are set for a reason and I follow them and get called lazy or not a hard worker for doing my work in my allotted time. Their (employer) lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part
My company made us quit calling it, "Mando or mandatory overtime," and instead named it, "Scheduled overtime." Missing scheduled overtime was treated the same as missing any scheduled work by the attendance policy and many lost their jobs as a result. Since the communication of overtime was so weak in relation to knowledge of regular work hours, it became just another assault on worker welfare.
same thing in my old job they would force over time on us if not enough people volunteered . 6 days a week one weekend off a month. literally got told by my supervisor trying to make me feel ashamed i wasnt volunteering on our shifts only weekend off at the end of the month he said if you n others dont volunteer itll lead to more forced mandatory overtime for everyone.
In NJ, OT, when required, is not optional. Quitting because of forced OT means you cannot collect unemployment. Also, when I worked for a company based in Charlotte, they would not pay OT. If I entered it on my digital time sheet, I would get a reprimand via phone call from my manager. I was told that commission pay was in lieu of OT pay, even though I was paid hourly + commission. I regularly worked 60 hours a week, until the second reprimand. I barely worked 40 after that. Then they complained I wasn't working enough. Go figure.
I'm used to the unpredictable schedule, that's retail 101. But I also get calls on days off and being told my schedule was changed with no warning. But one story I know is BS is something that happened a few years ago. I had just quit this Safeway for their abusive practices, about a month later I get a call from them begging for my help. Because I was out of work I had to accept. They assigned me a graveyard shift in the deli, where I was to do the entire daily production from 11pm-4am for $11 an hour, then leave the deli looking like I was never there to begin with. it only lasted 2-3 weeks before one day I saw that I was no longer on a schedule, and when I confronted them they acted like I was never employed there to begin with.
Forced overtime is something everyone in the workforce has experienced. Forced arbitration is something I've always been appalled by. Good luck getting these things done with republicans obstructing everything that would move the country forward.
@@Michellesvintagelibrary lady theres way bigger problems in this world that need attention than your one track mind cognitive dissonance way of thinking... you’re obviously a victim of propaganda and you can’t even understand it.
@@WatchfulHunterThat's what I unfortunately had to do at my old Murphy bed manufacturing job getting asked to come in on my Friday off for overtime work for nine months in a row. But now, I work Fridays and Saturdays. I need to change that AGAIN.
Unfortunately, many workers reflexively side with their employers when they vote for conservatives, who almost ALWAYS enact legislation, laws, rules, and policies that FAVOR employers and large corporations at the EXPENSE of the rank and file. Somehow WE have been FOOLED into thinking that stockholders and CEOS are on OUR side, and that we have more in common with THEM than we do (insert boogeyman of your choice HERE:_______) that the conservatives said they would protect us from. I guess this is proof that a suckered really IS born every day...
As my 10 year old son sagely observed to me "it seems like the harder a job is the less you get paid for it".......is that the lazy ones you are referring to?!
@@davidharris453 Well, I, personally, refer to the fact that several people on RU-vid that advocate for unions and communism also openly preach a "lazybones manifesto" (ThoughtSlime even named it as such) or "stealing back that time." Were you somehow unaware of this? Or were you trying to deflect from it? There are many complaints that upper management doesn't see the difficulties faced by the workers in the trenches. And those complaints have some merit But the management positions are only considered "easy" by people who don't understand what the jobs entail. Here's a hint. If more people could do them, they wouldn't pay as well.
My company falsely classified my mid level supervisor position as "salaried" forcing me to take on extra jobs as they "deleted" full time positions. I ended up working for a dollar an hour. When I presented the hours I was working as over 80 a week, the manager said "well that's middle management". When the director of the company found out after 10 years, I was put on hourly pay, then constantly harassed to get 2.5 jobs done in 40 hours. I finally had to say done.
California had a lawsuit about this with claims adjusters. They were salaried, and thus exempt from overtime. The employees who brought suit won, and while still receiving a salary, even adjusters outside of CA are paid time and a half of their hourly equivalent (salary/2000 hours) for every hour over 40 that they work.
One company I worked for a few years ago had a Paid Time Off policy that I thought was completely normal because it was my first civilian job after I left the military. The company would ask me to put time against my PTO if I went to appointments or took any sort of time off. That seems normal but when I ran out of PTO, they still asked me to charge time against my future PTO. It got to the point where, I had to go to medical appointments every month to get a medication injection and my PTO would be done by mid year. I feared taking time off for a vacation because I didn't want to be liable to pay them for the extra PTO I took. I didn't realize it wasn't normal until I left that industry completely.
I got diagnosed with colon cancer on December 13th, 2021. My company canceled my insurance on the 15th of December!! The kicker is they didn’t tell me until January 28th! I’m a survivor! I return to work February 15th! Cancer free! Now I have some really big hospital bills coming due! So I’m talking to lawyers! I’ve gotta keep going ! As a nurse I care about my patients! BTW I’ve been with this company for about 24 years!!!
Forced Arbitration is a two sided sword. The employer needs to pay for arbitration, and when it is done en mass it can be very very expensive. But that is a coordination issue... So unions are needed.
Another exploitative measure occurs to exempt (or salaried) employees. Many (probably most) computer jobs (programmers, data analysts, database managers, etc.) are salaried employees who do not receive ANY pay for working more than forty hours per week. Most of these employees work more than fifty hours per week, and working sixty hours or more per week is not at all uncommon. Officially, employers are supposed to give the time back to the employee. That NEVER happens. I once had a deadline that had me work three days straight without ever even leaving the building. When I could finally go home, I was so wound up that it took me many hours to fall asleep despite having been deprived of three nights' sleep. I also lost several pounds -- subsisting on food from the vending machine lost its appeal after 5 or 6 little bags of chips. In that one week, my pay divided by the number of hours I worked left me earning LESS than minimum wage per hour!
I was looking into this a few weeks ago, and what I read is that not ALL salaried employees are exempt from the overtime laws. But the employers lie and make you think that you are. The only salaried employees who are exempt are executives who are allowed to make company-wide decisions, healthcare workers, and a few other very niche jobs. I want to look more into this, but from what I've read so far, this is a source of massive exploitation that gets swept under the rug because we generally make more than minimum wage so we should be "grateful" for the opportunity to be exploited.
This is why industries like these corporations need a good union. Now, I know, some workers have a problem with paying a monthly union dues as good workers versus bad workers. But a good union will protect the workers from illegal labor practice in these types of Corporations. Because we all know Congress is not going to help the working citizens.
Have a union at my factory. It's bought and paid for by the company. Tried to bring in the UAW when we went six months without a contract and no vote to extend the current one. This was April of 2020. If your union has a contract that has right to manage, forced arbitration, and a no strike clause, you do not have a real union. Vote to create a new union.
UFCW union has a no strike clause technically we’re supposed to negotiate with the employer. That makes sense because with a supermarket, orders come in every day non stop
As a white collar professional with an MBA, I have learned belatedly that I should have gone into most of my jobs with a labor lawyer in my rolodex (at home). An hour of his/her expensive time is worth it. There are lots of rotten bosses out there. And there is little solidarity among white collar workers. Nobody cared about my health-destroying troubles. I know about blue-collar worker problems from my family.
Some of us rely on overtime. I make about half my money in the summer months thanks entirely to overtime pay. However, I have had overtime forced on me at other employers and I resented it. The ability to choose whether to work it or not makes all the difference
Corporations use a standard labor definition that doesn't apply to large manufacturers. To be a level 5 design engineer you need 8 years experience and lead a product like a lipstick case, a hand drill or a 787, so engineers with 20 years experience designing jets is held to level 4 pay. Employees classified as salary like engineers do not need to be paid time and a half for mandatory overtime, and can be paid $6.50 an hour overtime premium.
What people don't realize is that companies underpay us. They incentivise us to work OT to get what they should have been paying us the whole time. This saves the company money because they don't have to hire more people. They get more out of the ones they already have. There's nothing wrong with working hard but you should also be aware that overtime can be taken away from you. When people become dependent on overtime pay, that can be problematic....
I am deeply concerned about everyone becoming a renter and working for a large employer, soon everyone will have the exact amount of money for rent and life as the employer / property owner / real estate investor decides will keep everyone under their control. The days of investors owning housing, other than apartment buildings, all the little beginner houses being rented out after flippers sold them, has got to end. Everyone deserves a place to call their own.
I worked a job in a high end deli where my days off and hours (opening vs closing shift) would change mid-week and then the chef would scream at me if I came in earlier than my shift because I had followed the schedule she initially posted. I was offered overtime paid in cash under the table when I was first hired. I refused this method of overtime pay and I was definitely penalized because of it. I was not allowed to eat any outside food, but had to pay for any food I wanted to eat from the deli. The sandwiches were almost an hour’s pay for me, so I just didn’t eat at work. This was not some big corporation, but a small restaurant group in Brooklyn.
I had to quit a high paying job because of forced overtime. Gross mismanagement of staffing was occurring which resulted in the punishment of remaining employees. A form of modern day slavery is occurring in the USA.
I used to work for Costco. The wage theft (working off the clock) is rampant in this Corporation and has been for over 30 years. I would not argue for tougher labor laws. We have pretty good labor laws here in CA. The problem is they are not enforced and companies, POS retailers like Costco proceed to abuse their employees. Don't argue with me. I worked there for 30 years. They have a good reputation with employees which is not earned So if you are not going to enforce labor laws ( this would require a massive increase in enforcement cost), you now face a lawless working environment. Good luck with that. I think the answer might be to assign everyone who works for an American Company an attorney.
I know several companies where 70% of their employees are on public assistance simply because the companies refuse to pay them more and these people have no other means of making ends meet. Grocery stores that sell food, have workers on welfare because they can't afford to buy the very food that they sell. These companies should receive stiff penalties from the government for every employee on public assistance. Why should tax payers pay for people's low salaries?
@@lochnessmunster1189 Sorry this is so long, but...you asked. Publix, and Barnes & Noble, as well as K-Mart (back in the day when it still existed), had that high 70%. Other companies may not be as high percentage wise now, especially since unemployment had been reduced drastically, but many American workers are still on public assistance. Office Depot, Winn Dixie, CVS, Walgreens, Coke a Cola, Pepsi, Chick-fil-A. Remember, to apply for a public assistance card you have to submit your W-2s. If you earn too much, then you will be rejected. And I personally know people who've applied and were told this. So, if someone has the EBT card they are either unemployed or underemployed. Many of the companies I've mentioned above don't like to offer full time employment. They have far more part time employees because they don't want to pay benefits. If you're paid $15 an hour but are only given 16 hours a week, you are still earning below the poverty line. For example: Office Max (which no longer exists) once offered me a job after I aced their interview. They called the position a "Key Carrier" and based on the job description, I would be required to do EVERYTHING an assistant manager would do. I was very excited until...they said it was 36 hours a week and paid $9.00 per hour. Here's the problem with that. They wanted to work me like a manager, without paying me like one. Keeping me just under 40 hours a week to avoid full time status. Guess what? I turned them down. You must understand that I now have a unique perspective on this. I see people everyday wearing their work uniforms and using EBT cards. Ross, Walmart, McDonald's, Burger King, Subways. These are businesses that surround where I work, so I see them come in all the time. Now, what I don't see are people wearing our local Hospital's uniform using EBT cards, or people wearing scrubs from various clinics in the area using cards. Mechanics, car salesmen, bankers, are all around where I work but I never seen them use any kind of public assistance cards. I also see a lot of double dipping, people who are working two jobs just trying survive. Working at Publix and McDonald's for example (McDonald's pays more. A girl who works for both actually told me so.) Many of these companies even have the nerve to restrict their employees from working for competitors. For example, Publix a very famous Southern grocery chain, forbids its employees from working at Walmart, Aldi's or Target. They call it a conflict of interest. But I know many of their employees who still do it secretly. It's the only way they can survive while being underemployed.
@@starbrand3726 Thanks: I really appreciate it. Do you have links for these statistics? I'm not in any way saying you're wrong, but I can't find any research online? And when you say 'public assistance'- what does that mean? Here in the UK, it could mean things like Child Support- and many people earning over £50k a year receive it, even though they are earning good wages.
@@lochnessmunster1189 RU-vid doesn't allow external links, so even if I found links to back up my claim, I couldn't provided it here. Also, I did say that the stats I was quoting were older. Many were from before the pandemic during Trump's time in office. President Biden has lowered unemployment and I am sure many stats have now changed as salaries have increased along with new job openings. In the US, EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) once called Food Stamps, is applied for and given to anyone who earns under a certain amount, or has lost their job. It is also given to disabled persons. I am not sure what the annual earnings have to be to be eligible but I believe it's under $15,000 per year. This EBT card allows you to buy food from any establishment that sells food. Almost any food, however, it does not cover hot or prepared foods like from a restaurant or deli. Sadly many people in America use EBT and purchase massive amounts of junk food with it. Others abuse it purchasing lobster, caviar, snow crab. While this is allowed, these costly items are luxury foods and the card should not be wasted on them. In the US there is also WIC (Women, Infants and Children) This benefit is targeted specifically for households with very young children. I believe there is also an annual earnings requirement. WIC is a lot stricter on what it will pay for. Cheaper cheese for example, not fancy stilton cheese. Fat free or reduced fat milk, not whole milk. It will not cover things like crisps, cakes or hot dogs. Only certain breads, fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, plain yogurt. WIC also pays for very expensive baby formula. With each can costing around $30 US. I have seen people buy eight cans and spend $240. Sadly, some people then take those purchased cans of baby formula, paid for by WIC, and re-sell them to other people (at a discount) for cash and then use that cash to buy other things like tobacco and alcohol. Very illegal of course. Back in 2015 I worked for a huge billion dollar grocery chain in Florida. The branch where I worked had approximately 100 employees. Just as an experiment, I asked how many employees were on EBT and or WIC. Out of the 100 employees I asked, 45 confessed they were on one or the other, and another 15 admitted they had been on it at some point while working for this company. Now while these numbers don't 100% support my claim, they are a good example of a real life experience. In the store we use to joke that we couldn't afford to buy the food we sold.
I worked in a small office environment that had a variation on mandatory overtime. Overtime wasn't allowed because the boss didn't want to pay time-and-a-half. But we all had more work than could be completed within 40 hrs. And if your work didn't get done, you either got a pay cut or were fired. Needless to say, there was a lot of turnover and burnout.
I was fired for refusing to go to a company doctor for assessment when I got injured on the job. I was assessed by 10 different specialists who said that I should be put on office duties and not do field work. The company did not like this so they wanted me to go to a doctor who was not a specialist but an ordinary doctor and was forced to return to field work which I could not perform so I was let go. I was then forced to go to an arbitrator who ruled in company's favour and was let go after 18 years of service.
I worked with a company that only gave 37 1/2 hours a week and paid $9 an hour. They acted like they were doing me a favor. I was told one day to unclog a dirty toilet with my hands, I quit later that week and got myself a city job. The workers hold the real power and the bigwigs are noticing.
Worker solidarity and poverty can not both exist at once. The truth of our political values lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that corporations find unacceptable.
My husband was classified as subcontracter by man hiring him as full time worker , construction. Seriously injuried on the job and no workers comp. Lucky , he had a working spouse.
Yes - _Forced overtime_ is rampant and if you dare push back management will brand you as someone who is not a team player or who lacks passion for the job.
Robert, what about employers pretending to hire but not hiring anyone so they don't have to pay back PPP loans? I believe this is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. It's effectively keeping loads of people out of the workplace.
In my experience, once your a salaried employee the concept of a 40 hour work week goes out the window. I consider myself lucky my employer doesn't take advantage too often. Also, I'm able to work from home so for me, I'm willing to forgive a few extra hours here and there.
A salary is not the same as a wage. A wage is normally an hourly rate. Pay is based on the number of hours worked. A salary is an agreed upon amount, paid at agreed intervals (like monthly or weekly). It's not based on hours worked. Example: a live in care provider would more likely be paid a monthly salary. They are there pretty much 24/7 some days could require more effort, other days could be a lot less. You get paid the agreed upon salary.
@@karlamccullough8614 Yes but a salaried employee usually have an expected hours/week in their contract. If they work beyond that number it's still overtime.
@@petiteange08 not in the work environments I'm familiar with. The ones I'm familiar with: People getting an hourly wage got paid by the hour. Normally got time and a half for hours worked beyond 40 hours a week. There's normally a maximum number of hours you can be asked to work, say 80 hours a week. A work agreement would specify. People getting a salary got paid the agreed upon amount whether they worked zero hours or 100 hours a week. Those getting a salary also normally got other benefits that hourly wage people didn't get. More time off, more vacation time, etc. Then there is "on call work", you don't want that.
Yeah, I recall a number of times asking about training documents and/or working a project that I am behind on to see if I could get a bit more time to do it and/or read at home, and the answer was always, "I can't tell you to do that, but if it is something that you feel would help, it is your decision". The implicit expectations were laid on thick; and that was coming from one of my bosses that I liked. The ones that didn't work well with me simply wouldn't respond to my questions at all.
I was being asked to work in a different site, which drastically increased my gas costs. But that wasn't the real issue: I was also working in a different department than the one I signed up for, _but only being paid for the original department._ I was doing all the extra work assigned to that department, and in fact I was even _training_ new people in that department, even though they were being paid more than me _even after a raise._ I'm due for another raise, and if it's the same as the last, then my rate will will be lower than the entry wage of the people I was training. This is an example of wage theft: I was doing work and not getting paid the proper wage. They were cheaping out, getting me to do the work, so that they could fill the spot for cheaper. I've since refused to go work there and stay at my original posting, refusing to do anything not in my original agreement.
During my college days, I worked at a liquor store which engaged in both wage theft and unpredictable scheduling. They'd want the register closed and store cleaned up within ~15 minutes of it closing. They said "don't stay passed 9:15 pm because we won't pay you for any work after that". One night, a customer accidentally dropped a case of beer which I had to clean up. Management erased my time which I clocked out and they wrote-in 9:15 pm. The second time it happened, I immediately left at 9:15 pm and left the broken case of beer for the morning shift to clean. Management bitched so I threw their clock-out policy back in their face. The most egregious example of unpredictable scheduling I've ever had was with them too. On a day off I had, they demanded I come in because they claimed I am scheduled. I tell them I am not, have a snapped pic of the schedule, and walk in the store to prove it. On their schedule, there was an eraser mark smeared under my name. They erased the original person scheduled, wrote my name in, and acted like I was scheduled to come in.
The clip I saw about Frito-Lay…I have a story about this. I watched my best friend forced to work an ungodly amount of over-time at Frito-lay and was constantly given near impossible timelines to complete his delivery tasks. One time, he was so burned out, I even went with him under cover in a frito-lay outfit to help him with a 4th of July display because he had worked his hands through the bone. I refuse to buy anything Frito-lay after watching his misery.
I work for a defense contractor in a very purple state. I am currently on a “12 on 2 off” schedule, meaning I work 12 hours a day, 12 days in a row, and then I get the luxury of having 2 days off. I’ll be on this schedule for at least the next two years. This is just a reality of my job and it is soul crushing. The hours are inhumane, but legal, so nothing I can do. This place is the largest private employer in the state, so politicians are not inclined to do anything about it. Also the reason we didn’t shut down during the pandemic. Deemed “mission critical to the national defense” but not classified as essential, so no hazard pay.
Overtime is good for some workers but when it results in extremely long hours it obviously becomes a burden and has safety concerns from sleep deprivation. Essentially overtime is just a way that employers work you longer instead of hiring additional employees.
Another one not mentioned: Classifying workers as exempt from OT when they have no supervisory or management requirements as part of their job! Far too common, especially in the tech world.
YES this! And they will lie to your face and say they don't have to pay overtime because they "allow" you to have a salary. Something NEEDS to be done about tech jobs. It is so pervasive, so even if you want to find a job with a different company, it's just the same story with different scenery.
I worked forced overtime in two jobs, had my schedule changed without notification in another, and experienced pay irregularites at a fourth. I worked several jobs where the "probationary period" for benefits was so long or the pre-requisites were impossible for me to meet that I never received benefits by the time I had quit and moved on. All of these things are SOP in the US. If you think you aren't getting screwed by an employer, you probably aren't looking hard enough. From a company's point of view, any payment for labor is a loss of profit. Anything they can do to minimize that loss will be explored and exploited. But government is captured by business; they won't help us unless WE make it impossible for them to not act. Union organizing and elections, walkouts, strikes, protests, even disruptive direct action is all required to make siding with business over labor a costly position for our government. Stevedores have the US in the palm of their hand right now with the crippled supply chain. We have power, collectively; the question is whether we will use it or not.
What about changing the game all together and opt for the cooperation, where all workers are also equal part owners. It is most natural way to work together. No conflict in interests, as interest is shared equally.
@@coopsnz1(keep your nasty comments for your parents that thought you to use that kind of language) you don't steal to become a cooperation. You can join one, you can collectively buy a business, you can collectively create business, that are ways how all cooperations that exist now came to be. So next time you want to poison a conversation, inform yourself about the topic first.
I work for a state agency. Another state body sets pay grades for various civil service jobs, but willfully overlooks the large differences between cost of living in rural areas and large urban, which can be up to 50%. There's no accommodation for living in the big city/burbs.
I've worked scheduled, unpaid overtime at my job for five years. I had to fight to keep my boss from making me work six days too. I can't quit because this is the first time I've ever made over a living wage.
Ya golden handcuffs.. making just enough to be afraid to take your chances on the slave market again. You can quit-but I know it’s hard. You just have to look for something better out there in the meantime.
Welcome to health care. Contract prevents contesting poor conditions, pace of work ramps up each year, employees are forced to work extra hours, no time for pee breaks or lunch, and you are guilted into adding more work ‘for the patient.’ (Even though short staffing is why patients can’t find appointments). Employees are given free meditation classes because we ‘have not learned to handle stress correctly.’
I recently left a job I had held for 28 years working at a grocery warehouse. Since 2020 the schedule has been an average 55 to 65 hour week. I wish I believed congress would do something, but they have no motivation to do so. There comes a point where time off is more important than the money.
Worker solidarity and poverty can not both exist at once. The truth of our political values lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that corporations find unacceptable.
Frito Lay has a system called "Pay for Performance" where you have to work a minimum of 50 hours. You also have to average a minimum of 50 hours a week to receive full pay on your 4th check in the month. Only 3 checks are promised a month.
At Burger King in elysburg Pennsylvania, our schedule starts on Monday and ends on Sunday, but the next week’s schedule does not get posted or finalized until at least Thursday, or at most Sunday, the last day of our work week. It usually goes up on Friday/Saturday, meaning we only have 2/3 days notice for what the next Monday-Sunday looks like, yet requesting off needs to be at least 2 weeks in advance.
Despite what looks like NY being included in the list of states who prohibit companies mislabeling employees as independent contractors, a past company I worked for in New York state tried to have me leave my employed position to then sign an independent contract with them. In this contract my lawyer told me they had confused me as an employee on several different points. Things like required to attend employee training, and other requirements that oddly extended their authority. When I brought this up with the company, they stated simply that their lawyer disagreed, and they would not be changing the contract as requested. Needless to say, I did not take that contract... I was also sent home from that job in that exact moment.
I worked at Freddie's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard. I was fired for refusing to do unpaid online training and, because my contract had a forced arbitration clause, I had no way to fight it.
Forced overtime, yeah, but, as a home health nurse, it's more complicated than that. Unpredictable scheduling, aye, I can never be sure what my work week is like until the night before the next day. My patients also suffer from this practice.
I was an organist in a Roman Catholic church. Once I had to play a funeral for an infant. About five minutes before the service began, the pastor came to the singer and me, and informed us that, since this was an infant's funeral and thus an especially tragic loss to the family, all the church staff were not to be paid for their work on this funeral, as a courtesy to the family. Of course, five minutes before the service began, it was too late to refuse. It's such a phony generosity on the clergy's part, when it's at everyone else's expense.
@@mythic_snake I could tell other stories... I once worked with a pipe organ tuner, who, being Catholic himself, gave this one particular Catholic church a discount for his tuning work. When I was waiting in thé church lobby for him to show up for the tuning, I couldn't help but notice a cheerful announcement on the church's bulletin board that their fundraising campaign for remodeling a building on their campus was so successful that they had raised a half million dollars over their 1 million goal. Another: I was practicing for an audition as assistant organist for a Catholic church, when a tour group entered. They stopped next to a cast bronze bas relief panel, one of a set of fourteen for the Stations of the Cross. The guide told the group that they church recently had hired an insurance appraiser to determine the value of this set so as to insure it properly. After inspecting it, and doing his research, he came back with a figure of $14 million. Was that for the set of fourteen panels, so $1 million each? No, it was that one panel, so the entire set was worth $288 million. Evidently the (Italian, I believe) artist who created the was highly noted, and the technique of bronze casting involved quite rare. Soon after that, I auditioned for the job, and the priest offered me the position, but at a salary that was so low as to be an absolute insult. In light of what I had heard from that tour guide, I could only refuse.
I briefly worked for a company in the DC metro area that hired a lot of immigrants. They held mandatory meetings and told employees not to clock in. When I insisted that I be paid for the time I was in the meeting, all of a sudden they no longer had any shifts for me.
As a retired person I became a full time employee who has become exhausted with short staffing because of labor shortages. At 72 years old I run almost 8 miles or more on a bad day which is turning out to be most days. My Achilles is tearing and I don’t wish to take off from work as there is no one to fill in for me while I’m gone. Besides customers will just come back when I’m back to work after my day off. I’m simply wore out and no one cares. If this very large company would start off new employees at a living wage maybe they could hold onto employees. If I didn’t have other sources of income I simply would not work here. Several other companies have tried to hire me and I almost took the position but at the last moment I was given a large wage increase to retain me. The damage is done and I think I’ll be quitting soon or cut my hours in half.
I worked for a call center where mandatory overtime was constantly. You either worked 2 extra hours at least every other day, or they would assign you 4 hours of OT. You had to schedule the OT ahead of time, couldn't remove it unless you got someone to take your shift, and you weren't guaranteed those hours, but if you couldn't work them because they weren't available, you would be assigned 4 hours. I had an overnight shift. I took the bus as I had no car. I would have to wait 3 hours after my shift for my bus. It took 2 hours to get home. So it was a 4 hour round trip commute. So on a normal work day, it was a 14 1/2 hour day. Now, if I wasn't able to get those 2 hours at the end of my shift, that would be a 16 1/2 hour day. But because from when I got off to when I started working again was minimum 8 hours, it was legal. I don't know how often I just slept at work. I would get home and die. And if I had to do a forced 4 hour OT, it was either an 18 1/2 hour day, or I was working 6 days in a week. And, to make it worse, if you took on someone else's shift, you weren't paid OT, and it didn't count towards your 2 hour protection. So you could work 16 hour day because you took someone's shift so they can take yours later, and then still get told "you have to work 4 hours of OT". Yeah, it made it difficult to want to take on other's shifts, but if you hoped to have others take on your shift at a later date, you had to. Oh, and if you make a mistake, and the extra shift made it so there were 8 hours between shifts, and the system didn't catch it, you were penalized. You were told you can't start at that time because it wasn't 8 hours since your last shift (max 16 hour shifts), and as such, you got a warning. You got 3 before you were let go. I made that mistake, and there was a 30 minute overlap. So I was forced to start late and got a warning. And this was a union job.
I've always refused to work overtime and when they guilt me and still schedule me, I don't show then proceed to stand my ground and argue with them. Employers really dislike my ability to say no without hesitation.
While much of the focus here is on low/minimum wage jobs, similar things happen in white collar professional jobs. My friend, a financial analyst at a large, publicly-traded company, was told he was being demoted because of "business conditions". While his salary would not be reduced, he was told he would not receive an increase until his salary was closer to the mid-point salary of the new, lower position. This could take five to seven years to happen. The kicker: not only would he be doing the same work as before, he was told he would need to do more because the company was going to lay off several lower-level employees as well! So, a demotion and frozen salary yet more work to do. His was not an isolated case at that company either.
All the legal practices you mention are all routinely practiced. The subcontracting to avoid holiday pay, overtime pay, etc and gig employees are also now common here in AZ. Sic, I'm retired
#1 yep. They make us come in early too. Refusal can get us disciplined or fired. #2 yep. #3 not in my current job but at my previous one definitely. Supervisor would schedule us 10 days in a row. #4. At my current job we’re allowed to clock in 7 minutes early but can’t clock out 7 minutes early. I’ve worked extra for free at other jobs.
My company only pays OT after you work 86.666 hours in a two week period (instead of 80 hours). That doesn't sound like much, but after several years it really adds up. And we often put in WELL over 6.666 hours of OT in a given pay period, as it is an expectation and we will get cussed out and threatened if we don't.
I was helping a couple that moved to America and didn't know that any hours that are over 40 has to be time and a half. The husband had been working for 6 months with a 48 hour week every week
I meat a guy who was a diesel mechanic at a Loves in Florida. He told me that he use to work at a TA near by but quit because they short his pay by retroactively lowering his pay rate from $15 to $10 an hour, I told him he should sue them. Then when I found out later on about arbetory clauses being allowed by Iaw I then realized why his employer thought he could get away with it. I also remember when there use to be plenty of adds on the radio for sueing your employer over wage theaf, I don't hear those adds any more like before, I wonder why.
A lot of companies in Canada are going contract instead of an actual employee so they can easily terminate, pay less, and give no benefits. And a lot of jobs are now starting to do last minute shifts as well.
@@Zach-ju5vi & people like you are the reason why the usa is a morally-bankrupt shit hole to the rest of the world...y'all get scared of china but embraced russia when tfg embraced him openly & sided with him...oh, i forgot YOU praised putin yourself to "oWn uS lIbRuLs..."
Yet, it still happens. I was paid 3.50 an hour to drive cab. No minimum wage respected. I had to quit after 2 months. I couldn't subsidize the company. I'm not a charity.
There is a seasonal job in a national park I had that almost hits all of those. Seasonal workers on federal land are exempt from 40 hour work weeks and the company policy set overtime at 48. Not even the worst. There was a rumor that the company south of us set their overtime at 56. I remember having to sign the arbitration paperwork on the first day of every season. We sometimes had to come in on our day off to find out if we worked the next day. Someone literally wrote a book talking about how he was told to work without pay, and they didn't pay me 15 minutes in the same position because it would have paid me overtime. As far as I know we weren't misclassified.
About 20 years ago I went to get a mortgage to buy a home. The credit union almost denied me the loan because of problems with late payment of my company credit card. Turns out whenever my Fortune 100 corporate employer had a bad quarter they would make the numbers look better by not paying our corporate credit cards. I couldn't understand how this corporations credit card would show up on my personal credit report. The lady from the credit union that served the companies employees said my employer had 40,000 credit cards using their employees credit lines. So the corporation was financing their day to day operation by using their employees credit. I couldn't believe that was legal. I started asking questions and ultimately got feedback that it was time for me to pursue other opportunities. It ended a fifteen year career.
Number 0: profiting off your labor. If you provide $X worth of labor, in order to make a profit, your owners must necessarily compensate you with less than $X. No employee who is not an owner is being exploited. Cooperative ownership is the answer.
Employers never exploit anyone.They have your best interests at heart. CEOs are your best friend and love you more than you know.Unions are only there to take your union dues.
A class action lawsuit was filed just after I left a company. I didn’t stick with the case since I didn’t qualify. I’m currently a substitute teacher I have been called the day before to be told my work day is canceled… for weather I might know the hour before the shift starts. I am a contract employee without the same size bonus, $200 - $800+. I do get state of Arkansas minimum wage at $12 per hour, starting this year! No collective bargaining, sick leave or benefits. Working conditions vary day to day. They say I’m in demand they must have subs to keep the school open??? In March of 2020, as an Uber driver in the state of Arkansas restaurants made the job too unsafe to stand and wait for food, before the vaccine came out. My car has wear and tear on it, that the job never covered in pay out or tips. The job became more overwhelming and stressful as I was just making ends meet during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC!
Xyz insurance forced folks to work off the clock. They did this by making you an exempt employee and was therefore salaried not hourly. The law says exempt employee must supervise other people. We did not supervise anyone. They were sued when they shut down one of the branches. The plaintiff got a lot of money but the folks in the other branches got a pittance of what was actually owed.
There is a lot of companies which encourage arbitration They do allow their employee the right to sue their companies. Arbitration started as a way to settled minor disputes between company and their workers. There are some major reasons for any employee to sue their employer. On the other side, there a lot of companies will use Force Arbitration to settle all disputes esp. the ones which were are normally Law Suits. FORCE ARBITRATION is a result of a serious loophole in the law. To stop companies from abusing the Loophole, all has to be done is to close it.
Waiting for congress is a waist of your time people ! I am a retired aircraft mechanic and we had a UNION that stopped this kind of misuse by a employer . During one of our negotiations they tried to force mandatory overtime for exactly the reasons you gave, and we told our union NO and that would be a strike issue . They relented and doped it out of the contract . If you people don't like how your employer is treating you get together and form a union . Hay the coffee servers at Starbucks did so can you .
Fun Fact - Companies want you to sign an online employment contract that is soo long it would take a few days to read and comprehend even with a lawyer. When I pointed out that I wanted a hard copy of what I was agreeing to they said no. As I found out later, this is so they can change this agreement online at will without informing you. There is something highly illegal about this.
Missclassification is also something real in the Netherlands, and here it's legal-ish; people worked as cleaners, got laid off and were being contracted as independent contractors with only one cliënt.
My favorite job I ever had was working in a hospital kitchen, it was a small company that worked within the hospital. During the burn out of the Pandemic, a lot of hospital staff was refusing vaccines and constantly becoming sick. I was vaccinated. One day I had an ear/sinus infection that required an ear-nose-throat specialist to look at, since it was so severe they gave me a doctor's note for over a week off work and left a note that if I tested positive for covid the date of return may change. My job didn't ask how I felt. They called my doctor when they received the note. They wanted to know what was keeping me out for so long, and they wanted to know if I could have the note voided so I could come back to work. After my doctor refused to give them information, they called back asking again. My doctor's office then called me and said "Uhh, who the heck do you work for because he's harassing our front desk associates" and the entire thing was escalated to the manager of that clinic. After calling my doctor's office twice, they decided to call me saying that the doctor had okay'd me to return "Tomorrow" (This was on my second day out) which was a total lie. I said that was not correct and I'd be calling my doctor to confirm that. They then tried to say that "It is only if you feel better, of course." I loved that job, but I felt so uncomfortable after they had tried to call my doctor asking for information about my condition and after they tried to void my doctor's note. I couldn't sue them. I couldn't get unemployment. I was stuck with them calling me every day asking if I felt better, a feigned "We care about you' when I was sicker than a dog and had a massive infection in my head. I eventually felt so harassed I quit after 4 days of them calling me, texting me, and pretending to care about my illness. My boss decided to tell all the co-workers I had loved that I "quit because my schedule changed". All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us.
Okay? The first one with the working overtime seems odd to me but I kinda understand. I was told by both my business management class in high school and my mom that working overtime without permission is considered stealing from the company. However, I can see that employers would rather be understaffed and making their employees work to the bone than pay more workers who may or may not even do any work plus pay them benefits of any sort. I do agree with other stuff like the scheduling conflicts. When I worked at a grocery store, it seemed like my schedule could be crazy, work late one day and then have to be in to work early the next day. They told us that they have a computer program to make schedules based on last year's sales and such. But still, it's not healthy to not get a good night's sleep, as you said it makes it difficult to plan life outside of work - and possibly help the economy by maybe celebrating your kid winning a sports game by going out to eat or something -, it probably doesn't help with job stability - Jeff Lerner did say in the ENTRE institute thing that job security was difficult -, and probably more stuff I can't think of at the moment. I know some people want the government to stay out of things but it seems like some businesses need a big scary leash like the federal government.
I was asked to work on both of my days off Christmas week with less than 24 hours notice, would have been 12 hour shifts as well. I was sick with what I thought was CoViD so I didn't go to work that week. I asked for a raise, and winter uniforms and received no answer. I asked HR about job openings within the company that paid better. No response. I make $10 an hour and I'm seeking another job. If I don't find another job soon I will be unable to keep my apartment.
If you are going to ban mandatory arbitration, don't just ban it for employment contracts. Mandatory arbitration, wherever you find it, is the result of a power imbalance. If you are willing to leave it in place for rental agreements, banking, utilities, and other services, employment is no different. Now, I can see eliminating mandatory arbitration across the board. No one should be required to sign away the right to a jury trial because he needs something.
This is something about American politics. Worker solidarity and poverty can not both exist at once. The truth of our political values lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that corporations find unacceptable.
This from a man paid $300 k to teach ONE class atBerkeley. A man closely tied to the one political party that has destroyed California for the middle class. Why did California lose a representative in Congress? That’s a real puzzler you have there Robert.
I was misclassified as a Director to bypass paying overtime, the company also refused to pay for mileage or any other business expenses. They also misclassified most of the lower level employees as 1099 even though they clearly were not. The company ended up being all around shady.
I worked for a company who did debt collections for the dept of ed defaulted student loans. They did mandatory overtime every year from jan-march due to increased call volumes because thats when the federal government would collect peoples federal tax returns to pay their defaulted student loans. 10-12 hour days. Paychecks were nice but the callers were not.
Toyota of Texas in San Antonio has forced overtime everyday 6 days a week. Your working 12 hours 6 days a week. You will be fired if you don’t do the overtime. And we had forced arbitration.
I used to get pressure to serve customers until the closing minute and at the same time have the store completely closed in under 10 minutes. Often, we clocked out and did the work which took about an hour. Of course, we weren't told to do that, but the pressure was there.
Employees are finally saying 'I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore'. None of us should begrudge low wage workers a living wage even if it causes prices to rise a bit. Federal legislation regarding employee/employer relations is necessary to prevent a race to the bottom by states trying to attract employers. The so called 'right to work' laws in some states is a perfect example of this strategy which hurts workers.
Walmart just take the bonus from workers that it's been years working with them ! That's not fair and they just give to certain people in the job? What to do? How do you do address this just they throw some cents on payment that is not even close to the bonuses.
Organize. Go find another job. When those bonuses come out to only the favorites, everyone who didn't get a bonus could call in sick the next day? I avoid shopping at Walmart because of their crappy labor practices.
