I can't agree more. The rest of the firstworld pities us. They also take advantage. I've been working on contract at a plant here in Louisiana. I'm not technically with the company and I've been working here TWO YEARS. I make good money but zero benefits, 401k etc. 40 hours a year paid vacation. That's it. I'm breaking my back for these people with nothing to show for it. Find another plant you say? They're all going contract. It's more economically viable. For every $10 I make the contract company makes $50 saving this multibillion dollar corporation God knows how much in health insurance and everything else I should be getting if I had this same job fifteen years ago. It's all a fucking scam and people like me take it because it's the only decent living to be had without a degree. This is THE CHEMICAL COMPANY and while their own countrymen would revolt at these bullshit conditions we here in the Land of Opportunity beg for the privilege because our own worker's rights were trampled long ago. Sorry for the rant. We had a big peppy meeting with the whitecollars this morning spoonfeeding their HOORAY FOR TEAM BULLSHIT and I almost threw up in anguish. It reminds me of that line in Scarface.You know what capitalism is? Getting fucked.
Have you compared what would be taken out of your salary for benefits vs. what you would pay for Obamacare, and the coverage each affords? I'm on pace to understand healthcare sometime in my late 70's. That reminds me, I need to finally capitalize on my own healthcare before I'm back on a university's plan. Unfortunately (bahaha), I'm in pretty good health. Sometimes being salaried is nice, except for all the unpaid overtime. I get compensated in skillz.
We signed my girlfriend up for ACA at $115 a month which is a wonderful deal I think. I'm in a younger bracket so I'd be paying about three times that so we just let mine stall. It's a better gamble just taking my chances and a hit on my refund. The insurance my contract firm offers is even more ridiculous. They keep promising to hire me on but I know they're bullshiting. They'll just keep squeezing blood from a stone because where else am I gonna go? Our annual physicals here are a fucking joke. Like they wouldn't drop my ass like a bad habit the second my blood starts showing the wrong levels of all the nasty shit we fool with out here. Savages.
It's pathetic when an employer offering "enviable" maternal leave policies merely affords women up to (but not exceeding!) three months of unpaid time off. And "paternity leave"? There's practically a red squiggle under those two words. Doesn't exist yet in the U.S. "Project work", fairly common in science, is particularly bad for baby-having. When employees carry important pieces of projects in their minds, and then announce that they'll be leaving relatively quickly for a pretty long time ("eh, maybe forever, dunno yet"), it's just a shitty situation. That said, I don't know why we're so afraid of part-time work and working from home. If I am meeting deadlines and keeping my coworkers' needs met, why should you care that I'm remote desktop'ing into my work computer instead of spending 8 to 5 in an office, like it's an attendance grade? Have issues with how I report my hours? Ask me what I'm up to. Draconian work policies cheat employers out of an important resource: happy workers. The flipside: don't be a lazy asshole sitting on paid leave for huge chunks of time. Good article.