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0 pointsgiantg25y ago0 comments

Well put.

I have a friend with a union job (construction) and is overtime eligible. I would love to get paid for the hours I actually work and have a contract that details what I'm responsible for. I know tons of people who consistently work more hours than required and get a small bonus relative to the extra hours (9-11 hour days vs 7.5 required). Then the rest of us are seen as lacking potential because we 'only' work 7.5-8 hours. They are constantly adding additional responsibilities and expectations at an unrealistic rate without any real training.

When I was hired, they hired me for a Java developer position and then stuck me into Filenet work immediately. The company is notorious for hiring under a generic title and then placing you into some obscure stack like FileNet or Neoxam.

I know unions can have their downside, but having a contract and representation when dealing with violations of it would be awesome.

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justaguyhere5y ago

From what little I know of unions, I'd say it is better to have unions (with all the problems they bring) than not at all. With unions, workers have a chance at least to get fair treatment. Without them, it is totally one sided. Just look at the way Amazon treats their employees - who has the balls to take on them? Cities and mayors are bending over backwards to get Amazon come to them. The power imbalance is pathetic.

Another problem are the middlemen. In my own case, all the middleman company did was organize an interview. I haven't met them, they don't care about the candidates they place. They do nothing but write contracts and make phone calls. They lie to everyone - their clients, the candidates they place, and fellow middlemen. And for that, they take a huge cut of the candidate's salary/billing rate.

40-50 years ago, it was easier to do protests, spend time on policy/societal issues etc. Today's society is held hostage by high tuition, expensive healthcare and a hostile police force. It is hard to muster the energy to do anything but survive.

I don't know what the solution is. It is not pretty though - we cannot continue like this and still hope to support 7+ billion people (and rising).

giantg2OP5y ago

The population and future population events (pandemics, wars, control policies) are something I've wondered a lot about. I wonder if things will happen slowly enough that a sufficient portion of the population will voluntarily say "I don't want to bring a kid into this world" or if controls will be necessary. Of course with the economy being consumption driven, we will have a massive problem either way.

justaguyhere5y ago

The no kids thing is already happening on a small scale. I decided when I in college that I'll never bring a child into this world.

There was even a guy who wanted to sue his parents for his birth. As absurd as this sounds, it makes one think. Maybe that was his motivation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

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0 pointsgiantg25y ago0 comments

Well put.

I know unions can have their downside, but having a contract and representation when dealing with violations of it would be awesome.

0 comments

justaguyhere5y ago

I don't know what the solution is. It is not pretty though - we cannot continue like this and still hope to support 7+ billion people (and rising).

giantg2OP5y ago

justaguyhere5y ago

The no kids thing is already happening on a small scale. I decided when I in college that I'll never bring a child into this world.

There was even a guy who wanted to sue his parents for his birth. As absurd as this sounds, it makes one think. Maybe that was his motivation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse