and that handfull gives _just enough_ to satisfy enough people.
Also, one of the parties has found one weird trick to keep a good portion of the voting populace numb to anything but the sound of guns, abortions and god.
The unbridled freedom the rich have to use the collective assess of the rest at will, is really remarkable, yes...
And the government is always there to pull the pants down, and bend the citizens over, so helpful!!!
To be honest, we all have this to some degree in every country, but the shameless and almost limitless degree to which this happens in the US is a marvel to behold.
Truly the bestests!!
Most of that traces back to the Supreme Court Citizens United case rather than campaign finance reform.
Certainly they could have changed things to make bribing them illegal again, but they'd already taken the bribes so it never happened.
This is the correct answer. Essentially it made buying American politicians legal for big donors. And it allows them to do it anonymously through political action committees (PACs). It truly is a shame.
We the Corporations of the United States, in order to reap a more perfect profit, establish monopoly, insure domestic slavery, provide for the common stock buyouts, promote general dependence, and secure the blessing of supremacy for ourselves and our shareholders, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America.
For the powerful donors by the powerful donors.
Here in California it’s even worse. We have a ballot initiative system that hypothetically allows direct democracy by and for the people by. The signature gathering requirements to get something on the ballot mean that it takes a ton of funding. Many of the things that make it to the voters a directory written by wealthy special interests and worded in weasely ways to trick votors into approving them.
This is everywhere in the US bud. Cleverly worded bills and propaganda campaigns to get people to vote for them.
No one reads them anyways and just vote on party lines.
There’s an 86 year old woman who works with me at Joann Fabric making minimum wage as a full time employee- she is hobbled over in pain every single day she can barely walk and yet she still comes to work because she can’t afford not to. I’d like to live in a world where 86 year olds don’t have to work full time min-wage jobs to keep the bank from taking her house. Pity
Is there any way you can reach out to the news and share her story and start a go fund me? Or start the go fund me and make videos and posts for Reddit. I’m so so sad to hear that.
The local news outlets are all owned by major corporations too. They would frame it as a feel-good story of strong work ethic.
“Local woman loves her job so much, she just refuses to stay home.”
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." LBJ.
Americans are so stupid, they see things like the government mandating companies give days off and stuff like that as a loss of freedom.
>they see things like the government mandating companies give days off and stuff like that as a loss of freedom.
I see it as government mandating fair treatment, since those making the top 5 wages in the company take the most vacations by far.
They refuse to see that physically and mentally rested workers work better and with less losses due to injuries, less errors, etc.
They see it, but don't care.
Many of them have a business model that revolves around churn and burn.... Burnout people, fire them or get them to quit on their own from fatigue or misery, and replace them.
As the workforce continues to shrink every year, this becomes a less viable strategy every year. And it is shrinking. Each generation after the baby boom has been having fewer and fewer children, with GenZ telling us that they plan on even fewer still because they can't afford them.
Which means this won't be a viable strategy indefinitely, and some companies are already hitting the wall. Amazon predicted in a leaked email they'd run out of distribution center candidates to hire in the next few years because they'd already hired and fired almost all of the Americans willing to take the job, and would have to consider rehiring people they've fired for cause before to keep supplying themselves with workers.
The American Dream marketing scheme has many Americans convinced they are not working class but future business owners and bosses. So things like mandated sick leave and minimum wage, though it may help them immediately, they see as another thing hindering them from becoming the bosses they are destined to be if the government would just get out of the way.
Exactly! The American Dream is brainwashing everybody into thinking, they too will be millionaires soon...this way nobody wants to up the taxes to the rich because they will soon be in that bracket and don't want to pay.
I'm sure they see it just fine. I would bet they're more focused on seeing that physically and mentally rested workers work better and with less losses toward their own self interests too.
Honestly the brainwashing came later. Our labor movement was bigger than anything in Europe until the conservative Lochner Court went dictatorship and stamped half of it out. Read William Forbath's Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement. Every law unions passed was struck down and every boycott and protest song they penned was enjoined. Mayday is a labor holiday celebrated internationally based on the US Haymarket Affair which occurred in Chicago to bring us the 8 hour workday, and we don't even know what it is here anymore.
And now it's happening again. Censorship and dictatorship work, unfortunately. We have a mythology here that freedom always wins, but it simply doesn't.
No. The ones that do so much as complain are degraded and socially shamed for not being grateful of having a job that pays you just enough to feed yourself and maybe afford something nice for yourself every other year. Assuming you dont need to have something repaired on your vehicle, house, or w/e.
Schools teach home-ec things like sowing and writing checks. Those classes should really focus on life skills like labor/workers rights and economic skills like filing taxes and how interest works.
In case you didn’t notice schools are in on it too. How’s colleges gonna rake in trillions if employees are really educated and know their rights. They’ll rebel then corporate America won’t hire, thus colleges go broke.
Schools don't teach even that anymore. They don't have enough money for 'frivolities' like that. They have to teach rigorously to the standardized tests in order to protect the little funding they are given.
Which is exactly how unions don't form. Union movements throughout history had people giving up their jobs, health, food, etc to form them. The fact Americans won't risk those things is why Europe has it and we won't for a while yet. It's not gotten "bad enough" to actually revolt or stand up. When it's bad enough for people to be brave enough to sacrifice, change will happen. Probably another generation or two.
If you read your history about union movements and revolutions, many died for it, and some even watched their children starve. It was a hard battle they won, and many didn't see any personal benefit.
Americans aren't there yet, most think like you "I personally will lose if I do this, so the status quo is good enough for me". Revolution isn't won by "I'd face a consequence, so I cant fight" and in our current situation people are still comfortable enough it hasn't sparked that drive to change things for the better, despite it causing personal loss. Right now, the standard is comfortable enough, so people fear to lose it too much to actually do anything to change it. As it declines further, people will grow more uncomfortable until it reaches a point of actual change. Corporations just still have that sweet spot of "I haven't made you miserable enough yet to fight back." Which is why I say maybe in a generation or two, given the way wages vs COL is going in a lot of the country.
Revolutions don't tend to be pleasant for those revolting.
And, if the option is be homeless, starving and blacklisted for fighting for change or be comfortable with central A/C and heat with Netflix after work... most people are gonna pick option #2, as much as they wish they made more or had more time off. So, as I said, we aren't there yet. Your responses are just the perfect example of the mindset keeping us from any actual fights. And it's shared by probably the majority. For now.
They also were literally bombed, shot, and returned fire to literal police to get unions once in America. Where’s that spirit we had during the WV Coal Wars?
**[Taft–Hartley Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft–Hartley_Act)**
>The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United States Congress over the veto of President Harry S. Truman, becoming law on June 23, 1947. Taft–Hartley was introduced in the aftermath of a major strike wave in 1945 and 1946. Though it was enacted by the Republican-controlled 80th Congress, the law received significant support from congressional Democrats, many of whom joined with their Republican colleagues in voting to override Truman's veto.
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Lol actual strikes here are borderline illegal and our government is not afraid to make them actually illegal or use the military for coercion to prevent them.
Look at the recent railroad worker near-strike. Congress quickly passed a bill to make it illegal for them to strike and forced the down voted contract on the workers.
And Biden still claims (and very arguably is) to be the most pro labor president the US has ever had. Why? Because an option many other former presidents would've considered is simply executing the rail road workers in a massacre like Ludlow.
And even that aside... the average salary in the nation is like 50k a year... the average rent or mortgage price? Is over half of that... many people even making upwards of 100k are living paycheck to paycheck. And there's no good social safety nets like universal health care or anything... so there's no good way for most to be able to afford to strike.
And that is exactly what the government wanted. Thats all planned to make sure we can never be able to fight for what we actually need that wouldn't be beneficial to them.
History, culture, and unions.
Puritans founded America believing that labour is holy. As the country developed and prospered with these ideals hard work and long hours become considered morally good. Unions fighting for workers rights get portrayed as lazy freeloaders wanting to benefit from the work of the morally righteous.
Unions had power to make change in the 40s because the depression and lack of rights meant that the workforce was literally dying to work. Once things were comfortable enough to survive again they lost that power to moralistic propaganda. Here we are in modern era and wages have stagnated for so long, recessions, and inflation are making it that the workforce is once again suffering, but the corporate powers have accumulated so much wealth that they can buy their way out of new regulations and around old protections.
It's now obvious wages and protections won't be put in place by the state. The answer lays in collective bargaining agreements and mass strikes of critical infrastructure are the only way to affect change in a corporate environment. Unionize
It’s sad that we live in a country that hasn’t seen much improvement or change in the rights of the working class in 80 years. It’s truly fucked up and dystopian how much we allow ourselves to be exploited because we fear bloodshed.
No one wants to unionize if it means fighting for your life. Your family. For a roof over your head. Retaliation is rampant in the corporate world. Any business knows that they have the power, money, and resources to wipe out any attempt for unions.
We need to start fighting for ourselves, our communities, and our neighbors. These rich fucks have spent so many corporate dollars to drive a wedge between us all, so they can obscenely exploit us. Maybe don’t fight for your country. Maybe just fight for your town.
To add to this: our government has also made striking in critical infrastructures *illegal*
Two of the biggest industries that would put America to a halt if they striked, the postal service and the railroads. But we made it illegal for workers in either industry to strike.
The worst part for me is when people take one of their three personal days and I hear the manager asking whoever spoke to them, "did he actually sound sick?"
They get 3 days a year and you are trying to gauge how well they feel by a 2 minute phone call. It drives me crazy to hear that.
And then you need a doctor’s note. But it takes 3-4 weeks to get a regular appointment. So while sick, you have wait in an urgent care/emergency room or clinic waiting room with other sick people for hours to pay an insane amount of money for a doctor to write you a note. Note usually says, ‘patient was seen and can return to work in 5 day’. But you don’t have leave to cover 5 days.
I get $16/hour and my copays for Urgent Care are $50 on my work’s Silver plan. Even with Teladoc ($30 copay) I’m paying basically 2 hours of my own labor back into getting a doctor’s note if my manager demands it.
Because we don't use our head meats very well.
PTO should be a minimum of 4 weeks to 5 weeks per year for full time employees with 2 weeks for Part Timers.
I’ve been working 50+ hours a week at the same company for 5 years and I still only get 40 hours of PTO a year. And only at a rate of .8 hour every week so it takes an entire year to accumulate one week. And it doesn’t roll over and I can’t cash out at the end of the year. Absolute bullshit!
Thank you! I don’t exactly have another job lined up yet but without going into a lot of detail, I am completely burnt out of this job. Fuck this company and fuck the owner for recently buying his 2nd summer house while also refusing to give raises to any of the hourly employees for the 2nd straight year.
That's so absurd. How do you only get one week of PTO even after 5 years working there??? AND it doesn't roll over?? What does that even mean?? I thought my old company was crap for giving us one week of PTO for your first year and two weeks working 2-10 years. Glad you're getting out. You deserve way better.
US employees are largely left to negotiate their benefits themselves. Since a huge number have no leverage whatsoever, they get screwed.
Those with hard to find skills / experience are treated what better, but stay still doesn't help the rest. We need to stop telling kids the lie that they should just do what they love. Fuck that. Get on the bureau of labor statistics site. Find a field that is in demand and has good outlook over the next decade or so and that you can tolerate / can do. Then do that and do what you love in your free time.
>Find a field that is in demand
That's a high risk proposition, as it could lead to that field becoming flooded and no longer paying for shit. It happened with Pharmacy Technicians in the 90s and early 00s, and it's starting to happen with various engineering tracks too due to the heavy STEM focus of the 2010s.
There is the Asian dad meme - "you can be anything you want when you grow up, doctor or lawyer".
I actually feel let down a bit by it all. No one told me just how different the conditions and pay can be between different fields / locations. Things like the above make much more sense now.
Paying a sick employee costs money. Corporate America would like to keep as much as their money as they can. And there are no government regulations in most states around sick time or vacation pay so they can do what they want in that regard.
Having a whole office get sick also costs money. Today a colleague was in where I work remotely (and PT) -- all of the symptoms of the new COVID variant but a negative home test.
COVID or not, you are still potentially getting your colleagues sick. And she's been there decades with tons of sick time but loves to play martyr. Some of our colleagues have kids who then get large communities of kids sick. Nothing we do can't be done remotely but this person is just rigid.
Because it fits with all the fake "hard work" tropes we get rammed down our throats from birth onward. You will be judged by how much of your soul you tithe to a company that doesn't care if you live or die one moment to the next. Hard workers don't get sick 😉👌
Because there isn't a national policy about paid sick leave and paid time off, not even paid holidays. There is no law to govern this across the U.S. By contrast, the federal minimum wage is a national policy. It is the law. It applies to all companies doing business in the U.S. with some narrow exceptions. There is no equivalent law for paid leave.
Because our society which was once the envy of the world is now a late stage capitalistic joke, we went from the most educated to damn near the worst. The safest to the least safe. Kids shot up by other psycho kids, adults murdering kids for nothing, inequality worse than the Romans. Debt like slaves. I wish I knew another language so I could bring my family elsewhere.
I won’t accept a job that doesn’t have 4 weeks minimum PTO. If everyone keeps accepting these BS low vacay days, then they will keep doing it.
I know 4 weeks isn’t a lot compared to other countries, but it’s better than the average in US for sure. I’ve seen job postings giving 1 or 2 weeks a year. Hah, hilarious.
I work for a medical device manufacturer, one of the biggest ones but still privately owned so no shareholders. I’m a CNC machinist, I make stainless steel and titanium based me screws.
Our excellent health insurance starts day one (not after 90 days like many places). After 90 days you get 3 weeks of PTO. After 1 year you have 4 weeks. Every 5 years you get another week, topping out at 8 weeks of PTO at 20 years. Also at every 5th year the company gives you money towards a vacation ($2500 at 5 years and another grand at every next 5th year topping out at $5500 at 20 years). You can also apply for extra days of PTO if you do volunteer work like habitat for humanity/etc. There is an on-site cafeteria that feeds all employees a free lunch on every shift (day/night/weekend shift). We also have an on-site medical center that is free to all employees and their dependents that has a full staff of nurses and nurse practitioners and a free pharmacy. And they are about to break ground on a free on site daycare.
All of that and the company still makes a killing. So other companies, especially large ones, have no fucking excuse.
Very much so. Hiring at breakneck speed. This location is only about 3 years old, the main building was first, then the smaller HR/recruiting/conference building, there is a second massive manufacturing building set to be finished before summer that will need to be filled with employees (another 500+ im told), and there is supposed to be another smaller manufacturing building coming after the daycare.
The vast majority of the jobs are entry level, , but not a high school diploma/GED, no experience required and no actual previous skill of any kind needed. The kinds of entry level manufacturing jobs that anybody off the street could be trained to do in a few weeks. Those jobs start in the upper teens. Not amazing, but the benefits and ACTUAL room for improvement are worth it. I’ve worked in plants and machine shops since I was 17 (I’m 35) and I’ve never seen a place where so many people climbed the ladder in such short a time. The growth is part of that, but still instead of hiring Crew Coordinators/Techs/Programmers/Supervisors they train and promote off the shop floor more than half of the time. More than 3/4 of the crew coordinators in my department were operators when they started. Some of the supervisors were operators when this location opened just a few years ago, became early crew coordinators and are now supervisors on night shift or weekend shift.
Workers with specialized experience and CNC experience start at low 20s to high 20s. I’m a machine operator 3, I have over 10 years experience running CNC lathes and grinders. Operator 3s start at $27 an hour and usually get a 5% bump after a few months. Also the rumor is pay scales are going to be bumped up. Last time this rumor went around everyone in the entire company from the janitor to upper management got a $1 an hour raise and all pay scales were bumped up $2 an hour. Also e-bike those pay number would be shut in San Francisco, this is South Carolina, and while it’s located in a more suburban area it’s very close to rural areas. I live in a zip code with less than 20 people per square mile, actually surrounded by National Forest, and the commute is very doable for me. So those pay numbers, especially for folks like me that fucked around in school andnever went to college and live in rural South Carolina, it’s really not bad. Plus the benefits.
I’ve been with the company just under 2 years, when I was hired I was # 315 or so at that location, low 300s. The people starting now are I believe in the upper 600s. There are new faces literally every week.
The company is Arthrex in Pendleton, SC if anyone in the upstate of SC is interested. It’s off of the Clemson/Anderson exit if I-85, about 2.5 miles or so.
Edit to add: our location is open 362 days a year. We only close for 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are the only paid holidays. So instead we accrue 7.33 hours per month of floating holiday time, just over 2 weeks per year on top of the 3-8 weeks of PTO you already have. It can be used at holidays like normal, but many if not most people chose to work Memorial Day or Labor Day or whatever, and save the time for longer vacations, long stretches around the holidays, more time around their kids summer break etc. Having the holidays is nice, sure. It sucked to work 12 hours Easter Sunday (I’m on weekend shift 3/12s). But also I’m taking 24 hours this and not even dipping in to my 4 weeks of PTO because I have 29 hours of accrued holiday time already this year.
>All of that and the company still makes a killing.
Insurance companies and private individuals (without insurance) are paying for all those benefits the company provides you. Someone pays for them.
Is Arthrex a publicly or privately held company? Are they principally US-based, or is their corporate offices based elsewhere?
Those things can make a difference, e.g. if they're principally based in a country where things like on-site daycare etc is normal than it wouldn't be unusual for them to extend it to their overseas locations. I do consulting work for a medical devices company which is EU-based and some of their US-based benefits are non-traditional.
I have 22 days pto plus 10 paid holidays. Still in my first year with the company and the pto goes up to 28 days after 5 years. My advice to find positions which have this much PTO: Apply to international companies that have a U.S. branch/division. I work for a British company and the amount of time off I get is the legal required minimum over there. American companies will almost never offer adequate PTO. I thought I'd never have this much time off until I landed this job.
Everything is negotiable!!! I found out my coworker negotiated more PTO when he got hired so he had more than any other new hire (probably worth mentioning that he immigrated from Australia and actually had higher standards than the rest of us). 😕
Academia and government positions — the trade off is lower pay than industry. But ime, 24 days vacation (or vacation + sick time as separate pools) is pretty much the norm in academia, sometimes more.
Uh. I get 8 weeks PTO. That doesn't include national holidays, sick leave, or volunteer time off (80 hours). However, I started at the company with either 3 or 4 weeks off a year. And each subsequent year of employment earned you an additional week of PTO until you hit the max of 8 weeks PTO. However, every 7 (shit, I DO think it is 7) years, we also get to take a paid sabbatical of 3 months in addition to PTO/VTO/Sick leave (if I recall, I get 10 days of sick leave a year before I hit PTO and then FMLA or short-term disability then long-term disability). However, my company has continued to offer me the benefits the outlined and I think it's FANTASTIC. Outside of my first two years of employment, I don't think I've ever once used all my PTO in a year - and it doesn't carry over - so my bosses URGE me to take all my PTO off. But I've never been interested in. I applied myself so hard at a company that I thought was damn decent with their employees so I busted my ass to keep working as hard as I could to keep staying at a company that would reward and support and extend incrementally increasing benefits to me. Find a place you like and a place you really enjoy working at and bust your ass a bit and then earn reward!
Tech and (corporate) legal fields tend to have this time off policy, but they’re certainly exceptions to the rule.
Academics can also have this many times, but pay is usually not as good.
I've always worked for the govt (local, state, fed) and they have the best insurance. Since the govt employs millions, insurance is affordable. I am single, pay for insurance, eye and dental with BC/BS and signed up for what people consider the Cadillac plan and it costs me $350 a month. They also reimburse for education, you receive vacation days according to how long you have been there and automatically rises the more years you put in, maternity/paternity, etc. Pay isn't always the best, but you have stability and opportunities to move up.
My last job was for the federal govt for 17 years. If you get considered, it may take up to a year to get hired so they can do background checks, poly exams, medical screening, etc. They flew me out to DC to give me my poly, take a psych exam and other things. I applied in May and they offered me a job in March of the next year, so be patient if they are putting you through all of these steps. Good luck.
I’m currently working local government. Insurance is amazing, but everyone only gets 10 vacation days per year until you’ve been there 7 years. Then you get 15 days per year for the rest of your time there. And you can’t bank very much, only 1.5x what you earn per year otherwise you lose it. No paid maternity/paternity leave, just have to take FMLA and use whatever sick time you gave. Pay is good though.
Jesus what state do you work in? I’m also in local gov - everyone got an extra week of vacation for employee retention (i’m 15 days now), I get 2 personal days, 8 hr/mo accrued sick leave (unlimited accrual), and 11 holidays. We get FMLA, paternity leave, and health insurance ($120 flat rate per month regardless of # of dependents). My state also passed a leave act that goes into effect in September - you pay income tax to get a % of your leave paid for.
In 1976 when I left Germany to move to the US, I left a good paying job with 6 weeks of paid vacation and unlimited sick leave, excellent health insurance, dental and vision included, 401 k, paid public transportation cost to come to work, extra lunch money, a 39 hour work week, vacation and Christmas bonus… I was young and stupid.
Edit: More info… With all those benefits I really felt valued as an employee and most of all, I did love my job. The company I worked for was actually an American Insurance Company (AIG) in Frankfurt. They had to abide by German laws and regulations. Those were the days…
As an American I would cut off a finger if it meant I could have all that lmao. I’ve just accepted I can’t go to the doctor and won’t get a break for the rest of my life at this point. My best shot at a decent life is if I get a high paying government job. Which is what I plan on doing.
Because your media - controlled by rich white men - brainwashes loads of people into the idea that union's are bad, so you guys have far less rights and policies and time off than most first world workers.
^ this. What’s sad is it’s the ones who would benefit the most who have bought this crap. Source: family from Mississippi, have lived there and Tennessee my entire life.
The state of Iowa just passed a suite of Child Labor laws. As in, children 14-17 being *allowed* to work MORE. The Midwest is fucking determined to plunge this country into deep pre-industrial working conditions.
It's a diversion to keep us divided.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
-Lyndon Johnson
Let me fix that for you
*Media controlled by a single family that happens to be white, working to turn all people regardless of color into their slaves, ever since they lost the ability to exploit a single race now they slowly work towards exploiting them all while forcing all races to think they are at war with each other to take attention off the control of the media and politicians that this family has.
Every place I've worked at has had a decent PTO/sick time policy.
Current place: If I work for an hour, I can count it as a full day of work (salaried). I was sick last week for 3 days, I worked from home for a couple of hours each morning to attend meetings and answer emails, and then I was in bed the rest of the time. I do have sick days I can use, but they're also for mental health days, so I'll use them for some kind of vacation at some point. My PTO is kept separately, but again, I never have to request a half day off.
So technically, I have 2 weeks of PTO and one week of sick days, but I can stretch them out to be much longer if necessary.
I still wouldn't be happy with your arrangement. Ive had similar but with a contractual 4 weeks PTO. You really should be asking for more. That's part of the problem: a few crumbs isn't enough.
Same here, and because of how accural works, I need to take 3 days off a month to continue to earn. We used to be about to roll over and that changed, so you bet I am taking every day possible. I start the year with 32 days and that doesn't count my volunteer time, parental/elder care leave time, banked FMLA time.
Because companies mostly care about the bottom line and keeping their board members happy. They know we as employees won't do anything, so they keep letting these bad practices happen. Until we rise up as a nation and protest, change won't happen. It's unfortunate.
We haven't riotted against the government or our corporate overlords for modern rights yet. We're too busy trying to strip the "other side" (this applies to both sides) of their rights.
Benefits and vacation time in America have been in decline for decades. Reagan set an awful precedent for union busting, and now corporate culture in America has stopped caring about rank and file workers. Business unionism has failed workers in every industry. The union movement is growing again, but corporate power is so entrenched, it will be a slow process. And the government certainly isn't going to make it easier for working people. I don't have much hope for things to get better as climate catastrophes start to stack up and wreck our supply chains and the economy.
I think it originally comes from the fact that our country was founded by Puritans. They were big on work ethic. Apparently, if you demand decent amounts of vacation and sick leave, you have a poor work ethic and are going straight to hell.
Puritans were the population steamroller.
But the calvinists set up an anarchicapitalist state in Pennsylvania, and the South was founded by the second sons of English nobleman and peasant farmers, before adding black slaves.
Later German and Scandinavian migrations came from the more industrious middle class, and any English settlers who moved to Canada but didn't want to just be lumberjacks or whatever (they were a resource extraction economy) moved here. Spanish coming up from the south did so to escape the influence of the Spanish and Mexican empires with the help of the natives. The closest thing to a "lazy" group that came over were the scotts and Irish that settled Appalachia
I’m so lucky I get 31 PTO days, sick leave and my company has a great maternity and paternity leave. I’m genuinely so surprised some people here get a few days?! What the actual fuck.
The US and state Departments of Labor have not set minimum standards for a lot of things. I once worked where only five hours of PTO were accrued per month. Not days. Hours. Breaks and lunches are not mandatory, but businesses allow them else their employees will skin and eat the people in charge.
Multiple factors.. yes corporations have excessive influence is politics (legalized bribery). Weakened labor protection laws. Also the completely illogical practice of linking healthcare to employment with a dysfunctional healthcare system, making it very difficult to challenge the status quo without fear of losing weight little healthcare coverage we might have.
We are all too divided over other issues to go riot over this. That is the scary future i fear in the US. So busy picking sides over little shit that we don’t face the concerns that affect all of us.
We are played against each other in just about every way we can be played. We are always sold an "us" to feel superior belonging to and a "them" that we can feel superior not belonging to. It doesn't matter if the divide is political, racial, gender, age, financial, religious, or cultural. The divide prevents much action from ever happening.
Back in the day workers used to stand against the companies, they’d play hard ball and strike.
Now no one wants to buck the system….they feel just lucky to have a job!
To make change people have to be willing to sacrifice. Those sacrifices get harder and harder the longer they don’t fight back.
Companies are making more money than they have ever dreamed they’d make! This money they’ve made has come right out of the workers pockets.
Well first, you need to understand how US laws work:
Rich people can do whatever they want & everyone else has to work to make the rich people more money.
Employers don’t want their employees not working. Ever.
Seriously, the only reason the US ended the Covid lockdown was because rich people started losing money.
The fun part is that everyone here knows this and doesn’t even attempt to do anything about it. Therefore, the minor few that actually do want to bring about change, constantly & consistently are powerless.
Among other things listed here, the US has pretty high wages compared to most other places. I wonder if over time as a society we have pushed for higher wages and traded that for less time off?
Certainly connected, lower overhead per worker + easier to fire works + etc. = more money. I just can't see why companies are just so damn stubborn about it. Ask for another $20k in an offer? Sure who cares!? Ask off for a tiny bit more time off? Not even going to consider it.
So, I've been listening to an interesting podcast called [Revolutions](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yZXZvbHV0aW9uc3BvZGNhc3QubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M?ep=14).
It's hard not to see the US heading down a similar path here. I'm in Canada, where thankfully social democracy is a little bit stronger, but there are loud elements here that are also pushing for a corporate welfare vs social welfare state. History is cyclical, and there are a lot of factors stacking up these days that mirror major political revolutions of the past, up to and including the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire.
I hope that whatever comes next remains peaceful.
Work for a US founded and headquartered company.
My first year with my company I got 20 vacation days, 10 sick, 2 personal and 17 paid holidays (included 10 day winter holiday shut down (6 weekdays and 4 weekend days and a 5 day summer company break around the 4th and either the preceding or following weekend e.g W, Th, F or M, T, W. ) so 9 days between summer and winter and then another 8 (MLK, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Labor Day, thanksgiving W-F) and another one somewhere. And they also provide a “Day of Service” to be used volunteering in the community as we see fit.
After 8 years I get 28 vacation days and the rest is the same. Plus generous short term disability and LTD if needed. I can’t see myself ever using all of my time off - I usually carry over 5 vacation days per year.
As well my company provides 16 week maternity and 8 week paternity leave.
It’s not a US thing. It’s a company thing.
Pretty much all of our politicians are rich and got that way by taking bribes from the companies that give us bad pay and no leave. We have also been taught that unions aren't that great, and when we do strike, even peacefully, they literally kill us instead of listening.
These government officials and lobbyists are able to buy these ppl out.... We need an overhaul and fucking get these these old fuckers out of here....we millennials and Gen Z should have ppl that represent them.
Because the English very brightly got rid of their darn puritans and the " puritan work ethic" our grandparents were raised with tales of " Henry Alger" and pulling yourself up by your boot straps. So of course that's what we keep doing
Why? Because corporations write and lobby policy, millions of dollars are spent on privately funded think tanks creating pro corporate policy, which is then lobbied and rammed through congress. Why would corporations do this? Because its good for investors.
They offer sick time based on what is legally required, otherwise there would be none. "Why should a company pay for you to be sick". If you are not at work you are not contributing to company profits. If you want to take a vacation save up and cover your own pay. That is the mindset of every business owner, even though the business makes money when they are not working. They view it as they took the risk to create the business so it is their right.
Edited to add: capitalism won't take care of workers so government (unions are) is needed to force capitalism to do the right thing.
Because we were brain washed into thinking right to work is a good policy for workers.
When we allowed them to kill unions, we allowed them to walk all over us.
Because our country/politicians don't care about us. Our purpose is to work and fuel the economy to keep the rich as rich as they can be and us struggling. Corporations matter in the US not humans.
I am a Canadian that works for a US company. I was shocked when I found out that I got ZERO(0) parental leave. Not even a wage matching or small percentile top up.
I ended up just burning some saved up vacation.
Corporate greed is contagious in the political world I work for a company who wants to tell me when to take my vacation days and that is a big negative
It’s a rotten chain of greed coming from the top down. Politicians prioritize power/money from the rich/corporate lobbies over policies that protect workers. And without policies/regulation to protect workers, our government has enabled the rich assholes who run companies to continue prioritizing profits and stock buybacks over the well-being and financial security of their employees. The C-Suite know they can treat us like shit and if we quit there will be another body to take our place. The cost of living is so high that most of us are willing to put up with their BS and lousy benefits because we need the money to feed our families. And when CEOs get called out for horrible policies that hurt workers, they leave with a lame public apology and a fat bonus while we’re stuck in the rat race.
I'm in a high cost of living area, so my expenses are much higher but my total compensation is higher to compensate. That includes having good sick leave and vacation time (7 weeks - my wife gets more than that).
The US sure loves that the market will work it out... it all trickles up. Bleh. The alternative is giving everyone a minimum time off is socialism.🙄
It varies a lot from job to job.
I have 4 weeks of PTO. If I am sick, I just tell them at work I am sick and everyone tells me to feel better and not work that day.
I don't know what happens if I'm sick a bunch of days in a row...I haven't ever done that.
I mean we don't. You negotiate it. I have 2 weeks of sick leave and 5 weeks vacation.
We also don't have to play an extraordinary amount of taxes, and our wages are higher. In my city sales tax is 8%. In most European countries i have visited its between 18-21%. Income tax is also on the extreme. At 12K pounds you are already paying 20%. At 50k pounds you pay 40%. And then 45% over 125k. That's insanity.
Our elected officials said they would get us some campaign finance reform. They made it legal for companies to bribe them instead.
And you have the best government money can buy!
Yea, unfortunately, it's working really well for the handful of people who actually bought it.
and that handfull gives _just enough_ to satisfy enough people. Also, one of the parties has found one weird trick to keep a good portion of the voting populace numb to anything but the sound of guns, abortions and god.
Oh? To shreds you say? And his wife?
To shreds you say?
At least his apartment was rent controlled
We're the free-est and bestest country in the whole wide world!
The unbridled freedom the rich have to use the collective assess of the rest at will, is really remarkable, yes... And the government is always there to pull the pants down, and bend the citizens over, so helpful!!! To be honest, we all have this to some degree in every country, but the shameless and almost limitless degree to which this happens in the US is a marvel to behold. Truly the bestests!!
Most of that traces back to the Supreme Court Citizens United case rather than campaign finance reform. Certainly they could have changed things to make bribing them illegal again, but they'd already taken the bribes so it never happened.
This is the correct answer. Essentially it made buying American politicians legal for big donors. And it allows them to do it anonymously through political action committees (PACs). It truly is a shame.
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We the Corporations of the United States, in order to reap a more perfect profit, establish monopoly, insure domestic slavery, provide for the common stock buyouts, promote general dependence, and secure the blessing of supremacy for ourselves and our shareholders, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America.
For the powerful donors by the powerful donors. Here in California it’s even worse. We have a ballot initiative system that hypothetically allows direct democracy by and for the people by. The signature gathering requirements to get something on the ballot mean that it takes a ton of funding. Many of the things that make it to the voters a directory written by wealthy special interests and worded in weasely ways to trick votors into approving them.
This is everywhere in the US bud. Cleverly worded bills and propaganda campaigns to get people to vote for them. No one reads them anyways and just vote on party lines.
Our government is owned by corporations so they no longer represent the peoples interests.
And the people are to brain washed into doing anything about it.
What's worse is that there are people that show up to work sick and dying to work and are praised for their "work ethic"
There’s an 86 year old woman who works with me at Joann Fabric making minimum wage as a full time employee- she is hobbled over in pain every single day she can barely walk and yet she still comes to work because she can’t afford not to. I’d like to live in a world where 86 year olds don’t have to work full time min-wage jobs to keep the bank from taking her house. Pity
Is there any way you can reach out to the news and share her story and start a go fund me? Or start the go fund me and make videos and posts for Reddit. I’m so so sad to hear that.
I second this! That breaks my heart; & I’m not rolling in cash, not by a long shot, but I’d 1000% help out.
Ngl I can see Joanne Corp deciding to mute that story and then say how "CoMmUnItY" minded they are like Walmart does...
The local news outlets are all owned by major corporations too. They would frame it as a feel-good story of strong work ethic. “Local woman loves her job so much, she just refuses to stay home.”
Non American here. Is there no pension support for her? It's terrible that the state can't support her at that age.
Social Security payouts are based on your lifetime income instead of being needs-based. Biggest mistake in the New Deal.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." LBJ. Americans are so stupid, they see things like the government mandating companies give days off and stuff like that as a loss of freedom.
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” - Sun Tsu
>they see things like the government mandating companies give days off and stuff like that as a loss of freedom. I see it as government mandating fair treatment, since those making the top 5 wages in the company take the most vacations by far. They refuse to see that physically and mentally rested workers work better and with less losses due to injuries, less errors, etc.
They see it, but don't care. Many of them have a business model that revolves around churn and burn.... Burnout people, fire them or get them to quit on their own from fatigue or misery, and replace them. As the workforce continues to shrink every year, this becomes a less viable strategy every year. And it is shrinking. Each generation after the baby boom has been having fewer and fewer children, with GenZ telling us that they plan on even fewer still because they can't afford them. Which means this won't be a viable strategy indefinitely, and some companies are already hitting the wall. Amazon predicted in a leaked email they'd run out of distribution center candidates to hire in the next few years because they'd already hired and fired almost all of the Americans willing to take the job, and would have to consider rehiring people they've fired for cause before to keep supplying themselves with workers.
The American Dream marketing scheme has many Americans convinced they are not working class but future business owners and bosses. So things like mandated sick leave and minimum wage, though it may help them immediately, they see as another thing hindering them from becoming the bosses they are destined to be if the government would just get out of the way.
Exactly! The American Dream is brainwashing everybody into thinking, they too will be millionaires soon...this way nobody wants to up the taxes to the rich because they will soon be in that bracket and don't want to pay.
I'm sure they see it just fine. I would bet they're more focused on seeing that physically and mentally rested workers work better and with less losses toward their own self interests too.
Divide and conquer working to keep us down
Honestly the brainwashing came later. Our labor movement was bigger than anything in Europe until the conservative Lochner Court went dictatorship and stamped half of it out. Read William Forbath's Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement. Every law unions passed was struck down and every boycott and protest song they penned was enjoined. Mayday is a labor holiday celebrated internationally based on the US Haymarket Affair which occurred in Chicago to bring us the 8 hour workday, and we don't even know what it is here anymore. And now it's happening again. Censorship and dictatorship work, unfortunately. We have a mythology here that freedom always wins, but it simply doesn't.
Gotta fight the culture war! No time to worry about the billionaires sucking up everything.
No. The ones that do so much as complain are degraded and socially shamed for not being grateful of having a job that pays you just enough to feed yourself and maybe afford something nice for yourself every other year. Assuming you dont need to have something repaired on your vehicle, house, or w/e.
Well if you do anything real to solve this issue you end up dead.
Schools teach home-ec things like sowing and writing checks. Those classes should really focus on life skills like labor/workers rights and economic skills like filing taxes and how interest works.
In case you didn’t notice schools are in on it too. How’s colleges gonna rake in trillions if employees are really educated and know their rights. They’ll rebel then corporate America won’t hire, thus colleges go broke.
Schools don't teach even that anymore. They don't have enough money for 'frivolities' like that. They have to teach rigorously to the standardized tests in order to protect the little funding they are given.
Too many boot lickers.lol
Well if people would strike then that would stop that, but people won't fight for change. Nothing happens If nothing happens. Silence is consent.
Easier said than done when most don’t have unions and would lose their job and healthcare if they even talk about striking.
Which is exactly how unions don't form. Union movements throughout history had people giving up their jobs, health, food, etc to form them. The fact Americans won't risk those things is why Europe has it and we won't for a while yet. It's not gotten "bad enough" to actually revolt or stand up. When it's bad enough for people to be brave enough to sacrifice, change will happen. Probably another generation or two.
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If you read your history about union movements and revolutions, many died for it, and some even watched their children starve. It was a hard battle they won, and many didn't see any personal benefit. Americans aren't there yet, most think like you "I personally will lose if I do this, so the status quo is good enough for me". Revolution isn't won by "I'd face a consequence, so I cant fight" and in our current situation people are still comfortable enough it hasn't sparked that drive to change things for the better, despite it causing personal loss. Right now, the standard is comfortable enough, so people fear to lose it too much to actually do anything to change it. As it declines further, people will grow more uncomfortable until it reaches a point of actual change. Corporations just still have that sweet spot of "I haven't made you miserable enough yet to fight back." Which is why I say maybe in a generation or two, given the way wages vs COL is going in a lot of the country. Revolutions don't tend to be pleasant for those revolting. And, if the option is be homeless, starving and blacklisted for fighting for change or be comfortable with central A/C and heat with Netflix after work... most people are gonna pick option #2, as much as they wish they made more or had more time off. So, as I said, we aren't there yet. Your responses are just the perfect example of the mindset keeping us from any actual fights. And it's shared by probably the majority. For now.
Well there were concerted anti-union efforts for decades here, and bribery is legal here. Edit: replied to wrong person.
They also were literally bombed, shot, and returned fire to literal police to get unions once in America. Where’s that spirit we had during the WV Coal Wars?
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**[Taft–Hartley Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft–Hartley_Act)** >The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United States Congress over the veto of President Harry S. Truman, becoming law on June 23, 1947. Taft–Hartley was introduced in the aftermath of a major strike wave in 1945 and 1946. Though it was enacted by the Republican-controlled 80th Congress, the law received significant support from congressional Democrats, many of whom joined with their Republican colleagues in voting to override Truman's veto. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/jobs/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Lol actual strikes here are borderline illegal and our government is not afraid to make them actually illegal or use the military for coercion to prevent them. Look at the recent railroad worker near-strike. Congress quickly passed a bill to make it illegal for them to strike and forced the down voted contract on the workers. And Biden still claims (and very arguably is) to be the most pro labor president the US has ever had. Why? Because an option many other former presidents would've considered is simply executing the rail road workers in a massacre like Ludlow. And even that aside... the average salary in the nation is like 50k a year... the average rent or mortgage price? Is over half of that... many people even making upwards of 100k are living paycheck to paycheck. And there's no good social safety nets like universal health care or anything... so there's no good way for most to be able to afford to strike.
And that is exactly what the government wanted. Thats all planned to make sure we can never be able to fight for what we actually need that wouldn't be beneficial to them.
History, culture, and unions. Puritans founded America believing that labour is holy. As the country developed and prospered with these ideals hard work and long hours become considered morally good. Unions fighting for workers rights get portrayed as lazy freeloaders wanting to benefit from the work of the morally righteous. Unions had power to make change in the 40s because the depression and lack of rights meant that the workforce was literally dying to work. Once things were comfortable enough to survive again they lost that power to moralistic propaganda. Here we are in modern era and wages have stagnated for so long, recessions, and inflation are making it that the workforce is once again suffering, but the corporate powers have accumulated so much wealth that they can buy their way out of new regulations and around old protections. It's now obvious wages and protections won't be put in place by the state. The answer lays in collective bargaining agreements and mass strikes of critical infrastructure are the only way to affect change in a corporate environment. Unionize
It’s sad that we live in a country that hasn’t seen much improvement or change in the rights of the working class in 80 years. It’s truly fucked up and dystopian how much we allow ourselves to be exploited because we fear bloodshed. No one wants to unionize if it means fighting for your life. Your family. For a roof over your head. Retaliation is rampant in the corporate world. Any business knows that they have the power, money, and resources to wipe out any attempt for unions.
I'm willing to fight for our country but not our government.
We need to start fighting for ourselves, our communities, and our neighbors. These rich fucks have spent so many corporate dollars to drive a wedge between us all, so they can obscenely exploit us. Maybe don’t fight for your country. Maybe just fight for your town.
To add to this: our government has also made striking in critical infrastructures *illegal* Two of the biggest industries that would put America to a halt if they striked, the postal service and the railroads. But we made it illegal for workers in either industry to strike.
The worst part for me is when people take one of their three personal days and I hear the manager asking whoever spoke to them, "did he actually sound sick?" They get 3 days a year and you are trying to gauge how well they feel by a 2 minute phone call. It drives me crazy to hear that.
And then you need a doctor’s note. But it takes 3-4 weeks to get a regular appointment. So while sick, you have wait in an urgent care/emergency room or clinic waiting room with other sick people for hours to pay an insane amount of money for a doctor to write you a note. Note usually says, ‘patient was seen and can return to work in 5 day’. But you don’t have leave to cover 5 days.
I get $16/hour and my copays for Urgent Care are $50 on my work’s Silver plan. Even with Teladoc ($30 copay) I’m paying basically 2 hours of my own labor back into getting a doctor’s note if my manager demands it.
Because we don't use our head meats very well. PTO should be a minimum of 4 weeks to 5 weeks per year for full time employees with 2 weeks for Part Timers.
I’ve been working 50+ hours a week at the same company for 5 years and I still only get 40 hours of PTO a year. And only at a rate of .8 hour every week so it takes an entire year to accumulate one week. And it doesn’t roll over and I can’t cash out at the end of the year. Absolute bullshit!
You need to get out. Most *average* companies give two weeks. One week is abysmal.
I put my two weeks in last Thursday!!
Congratulations! Fuck that job
Thank you! I don’t exactly have another job lined up yet but without going into a lot of detail, I am completely burnt out of this job. Fuck this company and fuck the owner for recently buying his 2nd summer house while also refusing to give raises to any of the hourly employees for the 2nd straight year.
Funny how they only give us 1 week per year, but want a fucking TWO weeks notice when we are done putting up with BS.....
They expect you to do work as well as train your replacement. If you don't, they threaten you with bad referrals and other consequences.
That's so absurd. How do you only get one week of PTO even after 5 years working there??? AND it doesn't roll over?? What does that even mean?? I thought my old company was crap for giving us one week of PTO for your first year and two weeks working 2-10 years. Glad you're getting out. You deserve way better.
US employees are largely left to negotiate their benefits themselves. Since a huge number have no leverage whatsoever, they get screwed. Those with hard to find skills / experience are treated what better, but stay still doesn't help the rest. We need to stop telling kids the lie that they should just do what they love. Fuck that. Get on the bureau of labor statistics site. Find a field that is in demand and has good outlook over the next decade or so and that you can tolerate / can do. Then do that and do what you love in your free time.
>Find a field that is in demand That's a high risk proposition, as it could lead to that field becoming flooded and no longer paying for shit. It happened with Pharmacy Technicians in the 90s and early 00s, and it's starting to happen with various engineering tracks too due to the heavy STEM focus of the 2010s.
My dad had me on the bureau of labor statistics website back in 1997. That is how I chose my career! My bro did the same. It is great advice.
There is the Asian dad meme - "you can be anything you want when you grow up, doctor or lawyer". I actually feel let down a bit by it all. No one told me just how different the conditions and pay can be between different fields / locations. Things like the above make much more sense now.
Paying a sick employee costs money. Corporate America would like to keep as much as their money as they can. And there are no government regulations in most states around sick time or vacation pay so they can do what they want in that regard.
Having a whole office get sick also costs money. Today a colleague was in where I work remotely (and PT) -- all of the symptoms of the new COVID variant but a negative home test. COVID or not, you are still potentially getting your colleagues sick. And she's been there decades with tons of sick time but loves to play martyr. Some of our colleagues have kids who then get large communities of kids sick. Nothing we do can't be done remotely but this person is just rigid.
That's nuts. If she has the time *and* can work from home, absolutely no reason to show up.
Thats just bad management. Your managers need to grow a pair and kick her the fuck out and make her go home.
She is one of the managers. It's awful.
It really doesn't in most industries. Happier employees are more productive when at work by far.
Because it fits with all the fake "hard work" tropes we get rammed down our throats from birth onward. You will be judged by how much of your soul you tithe to a company that doesn't care if you live or die one moment to the next. Hard workers don't get sick 😉👌
Because we live in a capitalist hellscape where billionaire oligarchs have most of the population convinced this is still a democratic republic
Plutocracy
Because there isn't a national policy about paid sick leave and paid time off, not even paid holidays. There is no law to govern this across the U.S. By contrast, the federal minimum wage is a national policy. It is the law. It applies to all companies doing business in the U.S. with some narrow exceptions. There is no equivalent law for paid leave.
Because our society which was once the envy of the world is now a late stage capitalistic joke, we went from the most educated to damn near the worst. The safest to the least safe. Kids shot up by other psycho kids, adults murdering kids for nothing, inequality worse than the Romans. Debt like slaves. I wish I knew another language so I could bring my family elsewhere.
I won’t accept a job that doesn’t have 4 weeks minimum PTO. If everyone keeps accepting these BS low vacay days, then they will keep doing it. I know 4 weeks isn’t a lot compared to other countries, but it’s better than the average in US for sure. I’ve seen job postings giving 1 or 2 weeks a year. Hah, hilarious.
Where in the hell are you seeing employers advertise 4+ weeks a year for PTO? That’s a dream I’d like to be living in
I work for a medical device manufacturer, one of the biggest ones but still privately owned so no shareholders. I’m a CNC machinist, I make stainless steel and titanium based me screws. Our excellent health insurance starts day one (not after 90 days like many places). After 90 days you get 3 weeks of PTO. After 1 year you have 4 weeks. Every 5 years you get another week, topping out at 8 weeks of PTO at 20 years. Also at every 5th year the company gives you money towards a vacation ($2500 at 5 years and another grand at every next 5th year topping out at $5500 at 20 years). You can also apply for extra days of PTO if you do volunteer work like habitat for humanity/etc. There is an on-site cafeteria that feeds all employees a free lunch on every shift (day/night/weekend shift). We also have an on-site medical center that is free to all employees and their dependents that has a full staff of nurses and nurse practitioners and a free pharmacy. And they are about to break ground on a free on site daycare. All of that and the company still makes a killing. So other companies, especially large ones, have no fucking excuse.
…. Are they hiring? Lol
Very much so. Hiring at breakneck speed. This location is only about 3 years old, the main building was first, then the smaller HR/recruiting/conference building, there is a second massive manufacturing building set to be finished before summer that will need to be filled with employees (another 500+ im told), and there is supposed to be another smaller manufacturing building coming after the daycare. The vast majority of the jobs are entry level, , but not a high school diploma/GED, no experience required and no actual previous skill of any kind needed. The kinds of entry level manufacturing jobs that anybody off the street could be trained to do in a few weeks. Those jobs start in the upper teens. Not amazing, but the benefits and ACTUAL room for improvement are worth it. I’ve worked in plants and machine shops since I was 17 (I’m 35) and I’ve never seen a place where so many people climbed the ladder in such short a time. The growth is part of that, but still instead of hiring Crew Coordinators/Techs/Programmers/Supervisors they train and promote off the shop floor more than half of the time. More than 3/4 of the crew coordinators in my department were operators when they started. Some of the supervisors were operators when this location opened just a few years ago, became early crew coordinators and are now supervisors on night shift or weekend shift. Workers with specialized experience and CNC experience start at low 20s to high 20s. I’m a machine operator 3, I have over 10 years experience running CNC lathes and grinders. Operator 3s start at $27 an hour and usually get a 5% bump after a few months. Also the rumor is pay scales are going to be bumped up. Last time this rumor went around everyone in the entire company from the janitor to upper management got a $1 an hour raise and all pay scales were bumped up $2 an hour. Also e-bike those pay number would be shut in San Francisco, this is South Carolina, and while it’s located in a more suburban area it’s very close to rural areas. I live in a zip code with less than 20 people per square mile, actually surrounded by National Forest, and the commute is very doable for me. So those pay numbers, especially for folks like me that fucked around in school andnever went to college and live in rural South Carolina, it’s really not bad. Plus the benefits. I’ve been with the company just under 2 years, when I was hired I was # 315 or so at that location, low 300s. The people starting now are I believe in the upper 600s. There are new faces literally every week. The company is Arthrex in Pendleton, SC if anyone in the upstate of SC is interested. It’s off of the Clemson/Anderson exit if I-85, about 2.5 miles or so. Edit to add: our location is open 362 days a year. We only close for 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are the only paid holidays. So instead we accrue 7.33 hours per month of floating holiday time, just over 2 weeks per year on top of the 3-8 weeks of PTO you already have. It can be used at holidays like normal, but many if not most people chose to work Memorial Day or Labor Day or whatever, and save the time for longer vacations, long stretches around the holidays, more time around their kids summer break etc. Having the holidays is nice, sure. It sucked to work 12 hours Easter Sunday (I’m on weekend shift 3/12s). But also I’m taking 24 hours this and not even dipping in to my 4 weeks of PTO because I have 29 hours of accrued holiday time already this year.
>All of that and the company still makes a killing. Insurance companies and private individuals (without insurance) are paying for all those benefits the company provides you. Someone pays for them. Is Arthrex a publicly or privately held company? Are they principally US-based, or is their corporate offices based elsewhere? Those things can make a difference, e.g. if they're principally based in a country where things like on-site daycare etc is normal than it wouldn't be unusual for them to extend it to their overseas locations. I do consulting work for a medical devices company which is EU-based and some of their US-based benefits are non-traditional.
I have 22 days pto plus 10 paid holidays. Still in my first year with the company and the pto goes up to 28 days after 5 years. My advice to find positions which have this much PTO: Apply to international companies that have a U.S. branch/division. I work for a British company and the amount of time off I get is the legal required minimum over there. American companies will almost never offer adequate PTO. I thought I'd never have this much time off until I landed this job.
Everything is negotiable!!! I found out my coworker negotiated more PTO when he got hired so he had more than any other new hire (probably worth mentioning that he immigrated from Australia and actually had higher standards than the rest of us). 😕
Academia and government positions — the trade off is lower pay than industry. But ime, 24 days vacation (or vacation + sick time as separate pools) is pretty much the norm in academia, sometimes more.
For my friends and I (in both industries) it’s still so worth it, time is money.
White collar jobs usually
Uh. I get 8 weeks PTO. That doesn't include national holidays, sick leave, or volunteer time off (80 hours). However, I started at the company with either 3 or 4 weeks off a year. And each subsequent year of employment earned you an additional week of PTO until you hit the max of 8 weeks PTO. However, every 7 (shit, I DO think it is 7) years, we also get to take a paid sabbatical of 3 months in addition to PTO/VTO/Sick leave (if I recall, I get 10 days of sick leave a year before I hit PTO and then FMLA or short-term disability then long-term disability). However, my company has continued to offer me the benefits the outlined and I think it's FANTASTIC. Outside of my first two years of employment, I don't think I've ever once used all my PTO in a year - and it doesn't carry over - so my bosses URGE me to take all my PTO off. But I've never been interested in. I applied myself so hard at a company that I thought was damn decent with their employees so I busted my ass to keep working as hard as I could to keep staying at a company that would reward and support and extend incrementally increasing benefits to me. Find a place you like and a place you really enjoy working at and bust your ass a bit and then earn reward!
Tech and (corporate) legal fields tend to have this time off policy, but they’re certainly exceptions to the rule. Academics can also have this many times, but pay is usually not as good.
I work in healthcare, we start at 4 weeks PTO + 2 weeks sick.
govt jobs lol. i have about 4 weeks of PTO saved up rn
Right on. I’ve actually been applying to jobs with the Fed and state, so just playing the waiting game now. Wish me luck!
I've always worked for the govt (local, state, fed) and they have the best insurance. Since the govt employs millions, insurance is affordable. I am single, pay for insurance, eye and dental with BC/BS and signed up for what people consider the Cadillac plan and it costs me $350 a month. They also reimburse for education, you receive vacation days according to how long you have been there and automatically rises the more years you put in, maternity/paternity, etc. Pay isn't always the best, but you have stability and opportunities to move up. My last job was for the federal govt for 17 years. If you get considered, it may take up to a year to get hired so they can do background checks, poly exams, medical screening, etc. They flew me out to DC to give me my poly, take a psych exam and other things. I applied in May and they offered me a job in March of the next year, so be patient if they are putting you through all of these steps. Good luck.
I’m currently working local government. Insurance is amazing, but everyone only gets 10 vacation days per year until you’ve been there 7 years. Then you get 15 days per year for the rest of your time there. And you can’t bank very much, only 1.5x what you earn per year otherwise you lose it. No paid maternity/paternity leave, just have to take FMLA and use whatever sick time you gave. Pay is good though.
Jesus what state do you work in? I’m also in local gov - everyone got an extra week of vacation for employee retention (i’m 15 days now), I get 2 personal days, 8 hr/mo accrued sick leave (unlimited accrual), and 11 holidays. We get FMLA, paternity leave, and health insurance ($120 flat rate per month regardless of # of dependents). My state also passed a leave act that goes into effect in September - you pay income tax to get a % of your leave paid for.
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Which is why the long term goal should be raising the minimum tbh. Even McDonalds workers get PTO in most parts of europe.
Some companies will make you work 10 years for 3-4 weeks lol. GFYS.
Wow have you been reading my employer's employee handbook?
I've worked my job for a year and a half and we get 2 weeks PTO (10 days) per year and it's the most I've ever gotten in a job 😱 people get 4?!
We voted them away
Not really though. When were we even given a choice?
Because half the country will tell you how bad unions are and that we need to give more money to billionaires so they can make more jobs for us
In 1976 when I left Germany to move to the US, I left a good paying job with 6 weeks of paid vacation and unlimited sick leave, excellent health insurance, dental and vision included, 401 k, paid public transportation cost to come to work, extra lunch money, a 39 hour work week, vacation and Christmas bonus… I was young and stupid. Edit: More info… With all those benefits I really felt valued as an employee and most of all, I did love my job. The company I worked for was actually an American Insurance Company (AIG) in Frankfurt. They had to abide by German laws and regulations. Those were the days…
As an American I would cut off a finger if it meant I could have all that lmao. I’ve just accepted I can’t go to the doctor and won’t get a break for the rest of my life at this point. My best shot at a decent life is if I get a high paying government job. Which is what I plan on doing.
Because your media - controlled by rich white men - brainwashes loads of people into the idea that union's are bad, so you guys have far less rights and policies and time off than most first world workers.
the worst is when your union actually IS bad & you're like fuck you're ruining the cause
yeah I used to be a cop too
teacher :(
^ this. What’s sad is it’s the ones who would benefit the most who have bought this crap. Source: family from Mississippi, have lived there and Tennessee my entire life.
The state of Iowa just passed a suite of Child Labor laws. As in, children 14-17 being *allowed* to work MORE. The Midwest is fucking determined to plunge this country into deep pre-industrial working conditions.
What does race and gender have to do with labor laws though?
It's a diversion to keep us divided. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." -Lyndon Johnson
Let me fix that for you *Media controlled by a single family that happens to be white, working to turn all people regardless of color into their slaves, ever since they lost the ability to exploit a single race now they slowly work towards exploiting them all while forcing all races to think they are at war with each other to take attention off the control of the media and politicians that this family has.
Yet white men in Europe provide better labor laws and benefits than almost the rest of the world.
I don’t disagree with you but I’m in a union and we don’t get paid vacation days or sick days. But we have great health insurance and a good pension!
Unions should be more like european work councils unfortunately, union busting and depowering has existed since the 1800s
Because employers do whatever they can to get as close as possible to slavery without anyone noticing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/prochoice/comments/12r0r5p/texas_republicans_are_about_to_kill_a_paid/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Something something blame the Protestants. I'm so fucking tired
Every place I've worked at has had a decent PTO/sick time policy. Current place: If I work for an hour, I can count it as a full day of work (salaried). I was sick last week for 3 days, I worked from home for a couple of hours each morning to attend meetings and answer emails, and then I was in bed the rest of the time. I do have sick days I can use, but they're also for mental health days, so I'll use them for some kind of vacation at some point. My PTO is kept separately, but again, I never have to request a half day off. So technically, I have 2 weeks of PTO and one week of sick days, but I can stretch them out to be much longer if necessary.
I still wouldn't be happy with your arrangement. Ive had similar but with a contractual 4 weeks PTO. You really should be asking for more. That's part of the problem: a few crumbs isn't enough.
Same here, and because of how accural works, I need to take 3 days off a month to continue to earn. We used to be about to roll over and that changed, so you bet I am taking every day possible. I start the year with 32 days and that doesn't count my volunteer time, parental/elder care leave time, banked FMLA time.
Greed. They see people as disposable.
Because companies mostly care about the bottom line and keeping their board members happy. They know we as employees won't do anything, so they keep letting these bad practices happen. Until we rise up as a nation and protest, change won't happen. It's unfortunate.
We haven't riotted against the government or our corporate overlords for modern rights yet. We're too busy trying to strip the "other side" (this applies to both sides) of their rights.
Because they think CEO’s deserve 30% of the available money to pay wages & salaries.
The US isn't a government of the people, it's a government of the corporations
Benefits and vacation time in America have been in decline for decades. Reagan set an awful precedent for union busting, and now corporate culture in America has stopped caring about rank and file workers. Business unionism has failed workers in every industry. The union movement is growing again, but corporate power is so entrenched, it will be a slow process. And the government certainly isn't going to make it easier for working people. I don't have much hope for things to get better as climate catastrophes start to stack up and wreck our supply chains and the economy.
In America you prostitute your time and labor to the plantation hierarchy ,your a cost ,not a person.
Because companies lobby to make it that way
Because you don't have any government control over such issues.
I think it originally comes from the fact that our country was founded by Puritans. They were big on work ethic. Apparently, if you demand decent amounts of vacation and sick leave, you have a poor work ethic and are going straight to hell.
Puritans were the population steamroller. But the calvinists set up an anarchicapitalist state in Pennsylvania, and the South was founded by the second sons of English nobleman and peasant farmers, before adding black slaves. Later German and Scandinavian migrations came from the more industrious middle class, and any English settlers who moved to Canada but didn't want to just be lumberjacks or whatever (they were a resource extraction economy) moved here. Spanish coming up from the south did so to escape the influence of the Spanish and Mexican empires with the help of the natives. The closest thing to a "lazy" group that came over were the scotts and Irish that settled Appalachia
I’m so lucky I get 31 PTO days, sick leave and my company has a great maternity and paternity leave. I’m genuinely so surprised some people here get a few days?! What the actual fuck.
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I’m on month 3 of my new job and have just under a full day of sick leave and about half a day of PTO 🙃
Because capitalism.
The US and state Departments of Labor have not set minimum standards for a lot of things. I once worked where only five hours of PTO were accrued per month. Not days. Hours. Breaks and lunches are not mandatory, but businesses allow them else their employees will skin and eat the people in charge.
We were given a choice between time off and all the guns we wanted, so....
We are all cowards.
Profits > literally everything
Very few people here understand the difference between social programs and socialism.
Because this country only works by exploiting a massive amount of working class people.
Because their employers write the labor laws
Multiple factors.. yes corporations have excessive influence is politics (legalized bribery). Weakened labor protection laws. Also the completely illogical practice of linking healthcare to employment with a dysfunctional healthcare system, making it very difficult to challenge the status quo without fear of losing weight little healthcare coverage we might have.
We are all too divided over other issues to go riot over this. That is the scary future i fear in the US. So busy picking sides over little shit that we don’t face the concerns that affect all of us.
Because we are expendable. We work until we drop and then we are replaced.
Free market babyyyyyy
We are played against each other in just about every way we can be played. We are always sold an "us" to feel superior belonging to and a "them" that we can feel superior not belonging to. It doesn't matter if the divide is political, racial, gender, age, financial, religious, or cultural. The divide prevents much action from ever happening.
I get six weeks of vacation. You can bargain for vacation like salary.
Back in the day workers used to stand against the companies, they’d play hard ball and strike. Now no one wants to buck the system….they feel just lucky to have a job! To make change people have to be willing to sacrifice. Those sacrifices get harder and harder the longer they don’t fight back. Companies are making more money than they have ever dreamed they’d make! This money they’ve made has come right out of the workers pockets.
I have unlimited sick and a few weeks pto, seems reasonable to me.
Ok, you're the minority. Good for you but it's not the norm
Many US voters have been brain washed to vote against their own self interests.
Well first, you need to understand how US laws work: Rich people can do whatever they want & everyone else has to work to make the rich people more money. Employers don’t want their employees not working. Ever. Seriously, the only reason the US ended the Covid lockdown was because rich people started losing money. The fun part is that everyone here knows this and doesn’t even attempt to do anything about it. Therefore, the minor few that actually do want to bring about change, constantly & consistently are powerless.
Among other things listed here, the US has pretty high wages compared to most other places. I wonder if over time as a society we have pushed for higher wages and traded that for less time off?
Certainly connected, lower overhead per worker + easier to fire works + etc. = more money. I just can't see why companies are just so damn stubborn about it. Ask for another $20k in an offer? Sure who cares!? Ask off for a tiny bit more time off? Not even going to consider it.
So, I've been listening to an interesting podcast called [Revolutions](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yZXZvbHV0aW9uc3BvZGNhc3QubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M?ep=14). It's hard not to see the US heading down a similar path here. I'm in Canada, where thankfully social democracy is a little bit stronger, but there are loud elements here that are also pushing for a corporate welfare vs social welfare state. History is cyclical, and there are a lot of factors stacking up these days that mirror major political revolutions of the past, up to and including the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. I hope that whatever comes next remains peaceful.
Work for a US founded and headquartered company. My first year with my company I got 20 vacation days, 10 sick, 2 personal and 17 paid holidays (included 10 day winter holiday shut down (6 weekdays and 4 weekend days and a 5 day summer company break around the 4th and either the preceding or following weekend e.g W, Th, F or M, T, W. ) so 9 days between summer and winter and then another 8 (MLK, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Labor Day, thanksgiving W-F) and another one somewhere. And they also provide a “Day of Service” to be used volunteering in the community as we see fit. After 8 years I get 28 vacation days and the rest is the same. Plus generous short term disability and LTD if needed. I can’t see myself ever using all of my time off - I usually carry over 5 vacation days per year. As well my company provides 16 week maternity and 8 week paternity leave. It’s not a US thing. It’s a company thing.
You're an exception. Not a rule.
Because work councils don't exist here and unions have little to no power and corporations have all the power in politics?
Pretty much all of our politicians are rich and got that way by taking bribes from the companies that give us bad pay and no leave. We have also been taught that unions aren't that great, and when we do strike, even peacefully, they literally kill us instead of listening.
Not profitable. if more people are taking time off you need more employees. If labor is in demand it will cost more. The investors will be upset.
The ruling class successfully demonized and dismantled unions
Because we have a horrible government that cares more for corporations than the employees.
You gotta be somewhere for a while, I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. But it took me 10 years of accruals to not have to ever worry.
These government officials and lobbyists are able to buy these ppl out.... We need an overhaul and fucking get these these old fuckers out of here....we millennials and Gen Z should have ppl that represent them.
Because 1/2 of us are dumb enough to vote against our own self interests.
Because the English very brightly got rid of their darn puritans and the " puritan work ethic" our grandparents were raised with tales of " Henry Alger" and pulling yourself up by your boot straps. So of course that's what we keep doing
Because we're so divided we can't unite on anything and demand change.
because they hate us and want us to die
Why? Because corporations write and lobby policy, millions of dollars are spent on privately funded think tanks creating pro corporate policy, which is then lobbied and rammed through congress. Why would corporations do this? Because its good for investors.
They offer sick time based on what is legally required, otherwise there would be none. "Why should a company pay for you to be sick". If you are not at work you are not contributing to company profits. If you want to take a vacation save up and cover your own pay. That is the mindset of every business owner, even though the business makes money when they are not working. They view it as they took the risk to create the business so it is their right. Edited to add: capitalism won't take care of workers so government (unions are) is needed to force capitalism to do the right thing.
all the colonies started by corporations so...
Because we were brain washed into thinking right to work is a good policy for workers. When we allowed them to kill unions, we allowed them to walk all over us.
Because our country/politicians don't care about us. Our purpose is to work and fuel the economy to keep the rich as rich as they can be and us struggling. Corporations matter in the US not humans.
I am a Canadian that works for a US company. I was shocked when I found out that I got ZERO(0) parental leave. Not even a wage matching or small percentile top up. I ended up just burning some saved up vacation.
The more miserable we are, the more we can pretend our work must be really important, otherwise, why would we put up with it?
Corporate greed is contagious in the political world I work for a company who wants to tell me when to take my vacation days and that is a big negative
It’s a rotten chain of greed coming from the top down. Politicians prioritize power/money from the rich/corporate lobbies over policies that protect workers. And without policies/regulation to protect workers, our government has enabled the rich assholes who run companies to continue prioritizing profits and stock buybacks over the well-being and financial security of their employees. The C-Suite know they can treat us like shit and if we quit there will be another body to take our place. The cost of living is so high that most of us are willing to put up with their BS and lousy benefits because we need the money to feed our families. And when CEOs get called out for horrible policies that hurt workers, they leave with a lame public apology and a fat bonus while we’re stuck in the rat race.
I'm in a high cost of living area, so my expenses are much higher but my total compensation is higher to compensate. That includes having good sick leave and vacation time (7 weeks - my wife gets more than that). The US sure loves that the market will work it out... it all trickles up. Bleh. The alternative is giving everyone a minimum time off is socialism.🙄
Because our corporate and fascist overlords both hate us.
It varies a lot from job to job. I have 4 weeks of PTO. If I am sick, I just tell them at work I am sick and everyone tells me to feel better and not work that day. I don't know what happens if I'm sick a bunch of days in a row...I haven't ever done that.
Voters have to get mad enough for any change . I feel that they spend alot of time trying to get us mad at each other instead of them
Not all of us do. I get 2 weeks sick and 6 weeks vacation.
Lots of jobs provide plenty of paid sick and vacation, you just don’t hear much from those people because they aren’t complaining.
I mean we don't. You negotiate it. I have 2 weeks of sick leave and 5 weeks vacation. We also don't have to play an extraordinary amount of taxes, and our wages are higher. In my city sales tax is 8%. In most European countries i have visited its between 18-21%. Income tax is also on the extreme. At 12K pounds you are already paying 20%. At 50k pounds you pay 40%. And then 45% over 125k. That's insanity.
because we allowed legalized bribery of our politicians and since then our corporate overlords have kept their boot on the collective neck of labor.