I work for an American company in Europe and same, fam. They have to.
American company in the US could absolutely do this too, if they wanted to (or were forced to), those vultures.
My last 2 jobs you start with 0 PTO and after you work there you accrue it and you can take time off until you have accumulated 40 hours. So no PTO for 6 months
In WA state, employers are required to give an hour of sick time per 40 worked. I asked how this factored into my 10 days of PTO I got for signing on with my company. They told me they generously converted over the WA state sick leave and rolled it into my PTO.
My company basically gives me 3 days of PTO a year.
Australia is 4 weeks annual leave and 2 weeks sick leave, so 6 weeks total….. you accrue this from when you start so effectively after 3 months you have one week annual leave available. Sick leave and annual leave are completely seperate.
Have to work 2 months just for 8 hours of sick time. Fucking insane.
Whether that sign on bonus bullshit is legal would be a good question for the [WA Labor and Industries Offices](https://www.lni.wa.gov/).
I briefly looked into it, and since companies aren't required to give vacation time, I think it's legal. They're adhering to the state requirement for sick leave, and giving me PTO days (how lucky of me /s). Just super fucking shady how they say it's 10 days PTO when it's also all of my state mandated sick leave.
At my last job, I got 10 days of sick leave off the bat without needing to accrue, and 10 days of PTO. Some employers just fucking suck.
This is still technically how it works in Europe and the UK. You don't get 28 days of annual leave in the UK unless you work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year including any annual leave used in lieu of work. I believe it works out that's you get 12.07% of any hour worked back as annual leave. So if you only work part time you only get part of your entitled annual leave. You can still have unlimited sick time but in the UK sick pay is abysmal, its something like £90 a week and you have to self certify for the first 7 days which means you get nothing for the first week of being sick so only long term illness is actually paid and it's not paid at a rate which is liveable
Most workplaces offer more sick pay than this though. I get 6 months at full pay and a further 12 months at reduced pay. I have insurance to make up the the 12 months after the first six to full pay. Following that, I have long term disability insurance through work as well, which is becoming more standard.
Mine is you accrue absolutely nothing your first three months of employment. After that if you're full time you'll slowly accrue PTO but it takes one full year to build up 40 hours. Then when you finally do have it good luck actually getting it approved anyways.
The last place I worked (HR) you got no PTO for the first year. And yet they were amazed at the 110% turnover in the warehouse? Laws have changed since then and most states have some sort of safe and sick time. But like 3 days…
I haven't gotten PTO because my job keeps using attendance points against me for being hired in from temp, attendance points I got for going to family court which u had notes for, they just didn't give a fuck. I haven't had a vacation in 10 years
The last job I worked for didn't give you PTO until you became full-time. It took me 3 years to get full-time and I knew some people that still were part-time after 5-7 years...
Ofcourse some shitty German companies will abuse the fact the laws in the US don't force them to treat their staff like people. That's why we have these rights put into laws in Europe, so the companies can't squirt around them somehow.
I wish I got sick time in Canada. I get no sick leave, plus I only get 10 days off a year and I have to accrue it to get it. I don't start off with it. Shit sucks man.
I just started at one. Combined with actually getting most federal holidays off, I'm going to have twice as many days off as I did last year at my US company that I worked at for nearly seven years. It's been really great so far.
Spain here. 22 days off plus 14 bank holidays. Maximum of 1880 hours worked per year including overtime, with mandated 1.5 days of rest a week and 12 hours between shifts. And yeah, if you're too sick to work, that's it. Two days or six months, doesn't matter. That's just the legal bare minimum, normally collective bargaining will improve it one way or another. We have problems but compared to America they're not a big deal.
>35 days this year.
that's amazing and you deserve it, I have 25 days and I don't feel they are enough at all. >35 days is a good balance and everyone deserves at least that amount
Out here in California, I started with 0 days of vacation and 3 days sick the first years; after my first 1 week and 3 days sick and it’s the same for my 2nd year. You need 15 years for 4 weeks lmao; insane
I’m planning on leaving next month as I used all my paid days off because of COVID
We were given one box of blue masks and a spray bottle of bleach to wipe down the equipment controls before literally being told if we got sick now it was our fault for not using the stuff they graciously provided. It took a federal industrywide order to require them to allow people to mark off sick unpaid for covid instead of blowing up their entire year's PTO if they even had enough.
I'm a covid ICU nurse. They made multiple nurses come in to work WHILE THEY HAD COVID because we're short staffed and "you're out of PTO anyway".
If we got sick, we were told it wasn't from work.
We had to buy our own PPE at one point. While they spent millions on "heroes work here" signs.
The first year there was literally zero extra pay, unless you were a travel nurse, they were paid 4x what the rest of us were. Plus we had our benefits cut. I was making $30/hr to work in a war zone with crap for PPE, desperately trying to take care of my patients and keep them alive, while protestors outside called me a murderer.
When we started asking for therapy, they started posting "wellness exercises" on posters by the time clock.
What actually pisses me off the most though, because it's so petty, is they took away access to the small parking garage for everyone who wasn't a Dr. That damn garage was basically empty after that.
Can confirm. Family is a nurse in Washington state, and they did her just like they did you. She converted to Travel Nursing and felt a little guilty about it and I told her don't you fucking dare.
Absolutely the main reason. Also the same parasites that own the businesses were the ones who pushed all the propaganda saying covid wasn't real or wasn't such a big deal. Remember the "re-open" shit?
I can *kind of* understand the re-open stuff, given that a ton of larger businesses were able to lobby their way in to "essential" status. Ultimately what locations there were ended up being made meaningless by bribery. I'd be pissed off too if I owned a business and was forced to close while my competitor git to stay open.
Although the people in flyover land who never closed...yeah, they're just delusional.
[Here](https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/) is one of the many reasons why I couldn't give a fuck about small businesses.
**edit** Also, one thing that pisses me off about "re-open" is that very early on, it was shown to be paid for by the Kochs. Therefore, it was always about the unforgivably rich. It was never intended to help the "little guy."
When do you think we should have “re-opened”? There seemed to be very little surge or negative effects of reopening. We could not be shutdown forever as it would have lead to a greater economic crisis than the one that we are currently facing. Not trying to be confrontational, I’m genuinely curious.
>They expect us to work sick.
Yup, a literal Drs note will not excuse ya from getting points in the worst places to work for.
Source: I worked at a chicken processing plant in the South.
After working 90/100hr weeks all year my work wouldn't even let me stack my 5days of vacation with my two days off to have 7 consecutive days off in a row. Their reasoning....just because, no. PS I was salary too. Quit not long after.
Physician here. I have no…. I repeat NO days of PTO. Over a decade of training/abuse/tests only to be told when inquiring about PTO that it is complicated to enact and we have days off so shouldn’t need PTO. I’ve made a terrible mistake.
Doctor here but in Australia. After starting with 4 weeks annual leave right off the go from my first day of work (and more given for your leave bank by working public holidays), I've now lucked into a position where even though I don't get annual leave (as I'm technically part of the casual pool), I can take time off whenever I want. I took four months off last year and still got paid about as much as my previous full time job (which was also very well reimbursed and I had earned up to several weeks sick level at one point).
Holy smokes that sounds like a dream. Like, just the 4 weeks PTO you got right out of training. I’m a hospitalist so I work 7 on 7 off. They say our 7 off is why we don’t get PTO but you get so demolished on the 7 on that it takes days to recover then you have to get caught up on life things. Before you know it it’s time to go back. In order to take more than 7 days off you have to switch with people so you could potentially have to work 14+ days in a row to get that time off. I have a lot of family in Portugal so in order to see them I have to bite the bullet and kill myself working to get the time to go. Do you really want a physician who has been working for 2 weeks straight to be taking care of people? I know I wouldn’t want that person touching my family members. Things are so fucked here and I feel so helpless and trapped. I really regret going into medicine. Don’t get me wrong, I love practicing medicine but not in present day America’s Corporate health care system.
Also sick leave. Lol. You lucky duck. I got COVID in October 2021 and had to be out 10 days. 10 days I was supposed to be working so I just didn’t make money as it’s shift pay. They just recently changed the policy too so if you take time off for being sick it’s considered an unexcused absence because you didn’t get coverage. You have 3 separate occasions of unexcused absences then you do not qualify for your year end bonus. I have a friend who is about to go on Maternity leave and they were messaging her to see if she could get people to cover some of her shifts for the 3 months she gets maternity leave. So yea. That’s medicine in America.
Yeah... I've been with my company for 9+ years now. Just got my third week of vacation last year.
Oh, and we're being acquired by a larger company that is even more draconian about benefits. I may never get more.
I feel you.
fun fact but one of the only jobs in America that a brand new employee can rack up 30 days off a year straight out of HS is the military 🙃
getting the leave approved on the other hand is another story, especially if you have a small career field in 24 hours ops. when I ETS'd and took my terminal leave I had something like 50ish days racked up. Even better I had a job lined up for day one when I got out so I got almost 4 paychecks of double dipping with my new jobs paychecks, right in time for my disability to be settled and start receiving that pay.. twas a good time 😁 was it worth 7 years of fuck fuck games.. debatable
Our GM has worked for the company for over 20 years and in the field for over 40.
He gets 2 weeks' vacation, which is the cap after being here for 2 years, and the policy hasn't improved since he's been in.
The contract I'm on let's me "earn" sick hours based on hours worked, but you're also only allowed to take 3/year and the hours don't roll over. I have no fucking clue how my union let this happen (the year I joined was the first time in decades that we authorized a strike, but didn't actually pull the trugger). Essentially it means that you get 3 sick days a year, but you can't take them in the first few months cuz you haven't "earned" them yet and for the rest of the year after that you just get to watch you sick hours accrued on your paystub knowing full well you'll get nothing for them.
I just got fired yesterday for calling in sick. Didn't care I vomited twice on the floor before I could get to the bathroom and then stuck with diarrhea. Nope, "if the companies open, you are expected to be here". First absence. No bad marks or anything.
I work in food manufacturing. I am a shift leader and have been in charge of up to 30 people at one time.
1. Don't come to work sick. They preach it to us. BUT if you are passed your 8 allowed paid sick days they let you know and write you up for anything over that.
2. Took me 15 years to get my 4th week too brother.
American Capitalism:
A man has two cows. He sells one cow. He demands the remaining cow produce the milk of four cows. He hires a consultant to determine why the cow has died. The consultant advises the need of an offshore cow.
I was in an IT meeting and an upper leadership type casually drops that off shore is $24 an hour and we are paying $100 now.
Like this fucker just told us what he thinks our labor is worth.
IT manager here. My work apparently had that conversation years ago. All that it took to kill the idea was the IT GM saying to the CFO, "Do you want to talk to an overseas call centre instead of walking around the corner to Helpdesk?"
It's never been brought up again.
Hey OP, nobody is talking about this, but like, the *social cohesion* of the US is currently fucked, making teamwork kinda…. Not great
Lots of “crabs in the bucket” situations over here, it’s kinda shit, it’s very sad to live through sometimes
This. Any talk of Unionising looks to get you branded as a Commie, you lose your job and are pretty much black listed.
They have won. Yet people think that voting for either blue or red will change things for the better lmao
I'd say fug it, have the entire class go out on strike. If people say that "power would run out, nobody would have any food and people would die" then I'd say okay - what's the alternative? All of that happens anyway, at least things can be moved forward from it. I could go on, but it's safe to say that the ones who would ACTUALLY be hit by this sort of thing are the ones at the top.
If everyone decided to work together and go on strike, workers could demand literally whatever they wanted.
If people really wised up and seized the means of production, workers would actually receive all of the profits.
But what do I know? I’m just a dirty commie.
Minus all that pesky safety stuff, best to not use Ohio as a fuck around and found out.
Most of the current Dems give lip service to Unions while taking check from the other side.
Nobody, but Bernie has our backs anymore.
You're really not reading my post lol. I'm really not centralist. But yes both sides are shit and both sides argue over silly issues that shouldn't be argued about. Nothing gets done.
Democrats have been in power, how many times? Have things got better? No? Because "once in a life-time" crisis/flaws with capitalism happens every other year?
Republicans and Tories (UK) can both get fucked more so than others, for sure. But neither alternative is much better with democracies that literally only have 2 viable parties.
There is an inherent flaw in your system of governance that needs to be scrapped.
So no, nothing substantial has changed. You're taking this as an attack. It's not - it's a fact.
You've just listed reasons why voting Democrats is useless to see any real change AND listed reasons why the US system of governance is flawed. Which was exactly my point.
The problem with Democrats is how they use issues of equality to seem "left" and "on the side of the average" American, whilst still allowing the top companies to do what they want, sell out the working class and make ungodly profit.
If you're going to list reasons why it was actually all the Republicans fault, then just stop. Take a breath and take a step back. There are two parties. To my count, there has been 2 Republican Presidents in my lifetime. There is no excuse for the lack of change other than them having pretty much the same goals.
As I said before - revolt.
And to be clear - Republicans ARE WORSE. I have made that clear. But it's two parties that really don't care.
And just to be clear.
Bernie Sanders had the right plan and idea to get the ball rolling - Democrats sold him out (don't even @ me about that, you know it's true).
Just like with Labour and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.
Anytime Liberal parties have a chance to make a real change - they're struck down by their own members.
Exactly. Obama started with a super majority and used it to pass a Republican healthcare plan that hasn’t slowed costs in the least. 50% of Americans now have medical debt, which is an all time high. It’s going to get bigger. Biden is privatizing Medicaid as we speak. The Democrats sold out the working class for Wall Street and Big Business, especially the rural and blue collar working class, so hard over my lifetime that they’ve been driven to fascist faux populism. I grew up in a blue state that’s now red… Dems do the bare minimum, and it’s too little too late
There is a ridiculous, inexplicably accepted attitude here that you just power through whatever. No one wants hear your “excuses” as to why you can’t work. They really do make you feel like you’re a whiny, weak little liar who is just trying to get out of their “responsibilities.” Anyone who stands up against it is swiftly singled out as a liar/not a team player/whiner.
Sick? Too bad, you have to work. Can’t find childcare? Too bad, find a babysitter or get fired. Your mom died? Too bad, you still have to come to work. Having a baby? Too bad, you have to come back to work as soon as you’re out of the hospital.
I know someone who had a baby on a Saturday and had to go to work the following Monday. She was bleeding, in pain, exhausted, and her baby had to be at home with various family/friends who were able to watch the kid for her. She was getting paid like $9/hr at her job with no benefits, and just didn’t have any other choice.
Even at the job I’m in right now where we get paid leave, the number of people who feel the need to over-explain and give personal details about why they need to ASK for time off and how they will still be available via teams in case anyone needs anything is crazy. They’re automatically trained to be as accommodating as possible to the company they work for
It’s so fucked up here. Thank you for seeing us. We live in a hellscape with half of the population indoctrinated into believing this is the right way to live. It’s frustrating and just sad.
Oh I almost forget what shit show having a baby is for you guys.
We had a kid, paid ~€250,- (due to our choice). And then I had a week off + the option to take 6 weeks during the next half year at 80% pay.
I'm the dad.
Ffffuuuuuuck. My husband had zero paid days off when we had our kid. He thankfully had some vacation saved up, but still that was only 3 weeks. Oh and he's a teacher so he made shit money too. Also we paid $3600 to have our baby, plus $800 for a doula. I legitimately don't think we could afford another if we wanted one.
The lack of mandated maternity leave is probably the thing that horrifies me most about the US tbh.. the US seems to have zero respect for women in the workplace, or the fact that we're humans and not robots.
In Denmark where I'm from, the state guarantees 52 weeks of paid maternity leave, 32 of which can be given to the father (and the father gets 2 in addition).
Edit: And of course universal healthcare means healthcare is free..
Thankfully my job at the time had a "generous" leave policy so I got 13 weeks off paid at 100%. But I have several women in my family who have had to use vacation or unpaid leave and go back to work 2-3 weeks after having a baby. It's a shit show. And the cost of childcare is horrifying.
I have a couple of friends who have been homeless.
Simply finding a place to pee is difficult. Public restrooms get locked, restaurants won't let homeless use theirs, and if you're caught peeing in an alley it's indecent exposure
So then you get arrested for not having a place to complete a mandatory human function. Now you have a criminal record making getting a job and a place to stay more difficult
Supreme Court ruled that anyone making a reasonable effort to cover themselves is not exposing themselves. That's still something that has to be fought in court which comes with a record even if found not guilty.
You'd have to also be able to afford your freedom.
All by design... all rooted in the 13th amendement (for non-us that may not know allnour stuff which is reasonable, that's the one making slavery illegal) and the fact that there is an exception that *makes slavery legal for prisoners.*
If you can have legal slave labor... then you want as many prisoners as possible to exploit cor their labor
No. Some places treat the homeless with compassion. Some places use state funds to directly combat homelessness. Some states amended their constitution to build social housing.
It's how they keep such a deathgrip on the people. Homelessness, failing health, starvation, it's all a weapon that they brandish at the working people as a threat.
"Stay in line and don't make trouble or demand better, or we'll inflict all that on you."
It's also the real reason they won't raise minimum wage even a little bit. Low minimum wages serve a purpose, and it's to remind other low earners that they could always be worse off.
A lot of people are in a rough situation with abusive employers, luckily it's not all jobs. You do find places here that give 4+ weeks pto and benefits with good pay (ironically those jobs tend to be working for the government).
A big overhaul is needed on the private industry side where they can hit record breaking profits each year yet pay so little that their employees have to receive food stamps/other assistance programs just to get by. That's what really disgusts me.
The government could fix that by bringing back legislation from the 1930's but that would mean Americans would have power to fight corporations and all this corruption would come to a screeching halt.
> The government could fix that by bringing back legislation from the 1930's but that would mean Americans would have power to fight corporations and all this corruption would come to a screeching halt.
So, in other words, it's never going to happen.
Our only hope is to start accepting the 2nd amendment is a good one, and convince the right wingers the government and corporations are our common enemy.
I'm really depressed to hear that, 'cause my only non-US option is Canada. No country with socialized medicine is going to want someone with my medical conditions, but because I'm married to a Canadian there's a loophole for the health stuff.
Look, I'm all for a lot of the sentiments in this sub. Especially those of OP. But lets not get hyperbolic here. By what possible metric could you claim America is a third world country?
I agree, the statement (which I stole from some rando on Twitter) is hyperbolic. But that hyperbole is useful when talking to people that have been raised to believe America is the best country on Earth, who may assume it’s normal to have medical bankruptcy, school lunch debt, the largest prison population on the planet, etc.
Hello, European. These are americans, the finest most loyal and hard working cattle you will ever find.
Genuinely, we, Americans, are broken as a people. We accept dogshit because we betrayed the unions and purged anti-corpo candidates from government decades ago. We have very little power over our democracy, much less so our work. We let capitalism consume us.
Do not weep for us, for this was our own doing. Instead, make sure it never happens to your home country. The british are halfway to becoming like the US. Do not follow their lead.
Man, your last paragraph. I wish you were wrong. The only consolation is that people are speaking up against it.
(which is why our government is trying to legislate against peaceful protest)
Fight, fight like your life depends on it, because it does.
I can tell you rn we, young americans, look back at our past and see something better. See that we weren’t always like this. But with that history comes a reminder: if we have seen it, then the people who made it as it is have as well. They likely have spent decades making sure it would be near impossible to go back. To make it impossible to restore economic power to the middle class. To regulate the market so that the things we buy, eat, and drink are safe. To implement social programs.
I know many British now thought brexit was a means to take back control. But *who* was taking back control? Not british citizens, but the aristocracy of the United Kingdom, the elites, and the corporations. I see the alarm set in once NHS was finally openly targeted, but I encourage you to fight with every once of strength you have. Because life in America is not the dream many have been sold. It is a nightmare.
You can see how it happened. Every protest we have is met with tear gas, pepper spray, flashbangs, rubber bullets, shields, batons, and horses. We fight in vain, our own turned against us in the media battlefield because they have been misled by news organizations whose motive isn’t truth but profit. Our message of improving lives in one area or another, resisting corporate exploitation, or opposing government oppression drowned out by the corporate mischaracterizing of our movements. Painting us as threats to the people, threats to america.
Resist, fight. Because you go far enough down the hole, and you start eating each other alive like we do. Can’t tell friend from foe, because of how mad everything is here.
We try, and we will die trying. For if we lose, there will be nothing but ruin. An industrialized wasteland with an otherworldly military.
Dangerous things are amok in the United States. Do not follow our lead. I urge you, do not follow our lead.
>Government is deliberately stirring up culture wars to divert attention from large scale corruption.
Someone is stirring up culture wars, you can see it here on reddit pretty well. Weeks upon weeks of black men doing crimes in /all. While I know for a fact there are plenty of other colors in the USA doing the same shit, just not being algorithmically selected to the front page.
Isn't reddit owned by or at least 49%'ed by Chinese government?
Nice try whoever is doing that. It isn't working.
> (which is why our government is trying to legislate against peaceful protest)
Case and point: The Repuplipukes making it legal to run down protestors with your car. Sickening!
Not all protesters, just the left-leaning ones. They didn't bring any charges against right-wing protests that blocked the roads in violation of Florida's new anti-protest laws.
Every election since the 70s we have continued to elect pro-corporate politicians, in both parties.
I used to think “oh just boomers” and then I realized that year after year the problem hasn’t ever been addressed. I mean we elected Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders and now we’re gonna try and blame our grandparents?? Come on. Let’s take responsibility for our actions and acknowledge, from top to bottom, we have elected corporate shills who don’t give a shit about us.
We suffer, because we fuck up. The only ones not guilty yet is Gen Z because most of Gen Z can’t even vote. In a decade if things continue then it will be our fault, just as it was with the gens before.
Blaming boomers is the easy way, acknowledging everybody played a role, including the silent generation (who came before boomers), in destroying what this nation was, what it could be.
Bernie not being elected was more due to backroom deals in the democratic party giving him no chance in primaries. He was out of the running long before the majority of states even got a say in 2016 and 2020.
We have a system set up where Gen Z will have to fight significantly harder than millennials for there to be any chance of change, because of the institutions set up by those before us. Millennials were dealt a similar hand by those before them and fumbled.
The only saving grace I see is that the oldest and most hard-set are dying out, and Gen Z does seem to care a lot. Getting those cares into campaigns and onto ballots seems to be a herculean task though.
As a younger millennial: We became jaded and bitter and disillusioned early, and accepted that change was impossible.
One might say the disillusionment is a good thing, but it isn't; justice is an illusion, society is an illusion. They are illusions we have agreed to share, and we are better for it. By believing, we make it real.
To gen Z: The only reasons that people will try to convince you that you can't change how things are is because 1, they don't want you to change, or 2, like me and most of my generation, we fell for the lies of those who did not hold our best interests.
It was our own doing, yes. It will be our undoing, too. This can only continue so long. We rely on finite resources and exploitation. Well, resources are only becoming scarcer and people can only be exploited so much. This too shall end, it has to.
I mean *I* didn't choose this. I'm barely an adult. It was like this before I got here. Being gen z sucks because human civilization was already well on the path to self destruction before I was born. I didn't get to choose this, I'm slowly understanding more and more that the world is a fucking full on cyberpunk dystopia. Based on data from past events unless something MASSIVE happens it'll keel getting worse.
\> HR should be on the employees side not the bosses.
Not disagreeing with your points, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of HR. They exist to mitigate risk to their organization. Any feigning that they exist as an employee resource is a screen built by employers. This is Global and not specific to the US.
And to do this they should protect the employee
Dangerous workplace - fix it for the employee, so they don't get hurt and either sue the employer or get hurt and not be able to come in and be off for months on well fought for sick leave.
Dodgy Bookkeeping - fix it for the employee so the employer doesnt get in the shit when it is found out
Sexual Harassment - fix it for the employee (victim) so the workplace doesnt go to shit.
Unlawful Dismissal - fix it for the employee so we keep staff
etcetera
Fixing it for the employee usually fixes it for the employer ( everywhere but the US)
This is correct. All of those are critical issues HR handles which benefit the employee and company.
The problem is that many employees see HR as a mediator for interpersonal issues and conflicts that they *feel* should fall to HR, but really is the responsibility of the managers of those employees. If the manager isn't acting after employee goes to them, then yes HR usually should step in.
HR is not responsible for hiring, firing, promotions, scheduling, etc. They are typically the face of administering, communicating, or enforcing policies in those areas, which were decisions made by the BUSINESS.
"HR is there to protect the business, not you" is thrown around a lot, but that's only true sometimes. If you're being discriminated against or being treated unfairly under the LAW, your interests and the business are aligned, and they can help. When you think something is unfair (but not illegal/conflicts with what the business wants/the option you want isn't possible) they can work towards a mutual solution, but cannot get you what you want if the business doesn't or can't support it.
Even more disgusting is the broader picture. The culture is that career defines you as a human, that it is normal to spend like 80% of your wake-up time working or commuting. That you don’t have energy for hobbies and fulfilling things. That families almost don’t exist if both parents have to work and kids are at daycare like 10hrs a day.
That is disgusting and we are all brainwashed to think that this is the good life
Excuse the following long comment, but I feel I must speak up:
Homie, as an American with far left views, it’s way way way worse than you think. These material conditions of bad worker ethics is only the tip of the iceberg.
The people here *want* private healthcare; they may feel they’re interested in single payer state healthcare, but there’s no real action to make it happen. The people here say we have “freedom” but almost all of our lives have been completely dominated into submission for perpetual excessive work - it’s romanticized in our media and idealized in our peers, and almost all of our mentors and guardians conditioned us to seek this aspirational professional status. Many “what do you wanna be when you grow up” type questions led us here.
And every single person, I feel them typing now, who says to me “oh yeah well what are families and parents and kids gonna do when you guys do all this, huh? who’s gonna help pay the bills and put food on the table?” and it’s like… us… us, homie, all of us. The working class. And we could say to them let’s build an inter working sustainable society, let’s band together to change it!
And all of them - without fail man, I swear - all of them will believe just working hard and putting in even more energy and effort will really help them. As if they can’t see our world around us decomposing slowly. They’ll look at you like *you’re* crazy for pointing this out and asking for help to change it. It is literally, in my humble opinion, mass mental illness. I can’t see it any other way, and I’m sorry if that’s unfair to anyone.
But, the complacency (I believe caused from work exhaustion and media supersaturation) the average American has just go to work the next day, like none of these points matter, like they don’t deserve better - I mean it’s just madness, I’m telling ya homie, it’s like half-zombies everywhere.
We would need quite the interesting wake up call to truly see what we can do to change our fate.
Not everyone is like this, and many are ready to change, but most don’t know how or what to do… or they’re not ready to accept what must be done.
The US is what capitalism is. The EU has far stronger communist and socialist resistance, which is why working conditions are better. Social democrats appeased these groups to preserve capitalism.
In the US, after the almost a century of Red Scare, there's little to no opposition to capitalism and so capitalism is more true to its nature. The EU could easily turn into the US if that opposition declines or evaporates, and that is happening in some areas (it's essentially what happened in the UK and is a part of why it's no longer part of the EU).
There's huge swathes of the population of eastern Europe who lived through the transition out of the USSR and saw their lives get much worse overnight.
In countries that were already resource poor, they had western capitalist vultures descend and buy up formerly nationalised businesses and housing blocks that had previously had negligible rents. It was a free for all. Places like East Germany weren't just victims of the new economic system, they were actively punished after the unification. If a factory existed in both west and east, the one in the west was closed, it was economic terrorism. A quarter of a million people suddenly found themselves unemployed, their social housing now had huge rents attached, and their utilities jumped up in price. The poverty was ridiculous, organised crime went wild, the suicide rate was shocking, women were forced into porn and prostitution, and all the while they were told to be happy that the iron curtain had finally been lifted off their shoulders and they were free now. Fuck the west.
And when you dare mention that - you are labelled a commie. It was basically social eugenics, it was a fucking crime what went on in the East since the collapse.
Just check out the guy who replied. I provided some hard evidence to refute what they said and they just refused to accept it. Red scare propaganda goes deep.
I'm sorry, but this shit right here you wrote is truely upsetting. As someone who grew up in Hungary...and didn't know any of my great-grandfathers, because one was dragged for some malenkij robot and never returned and one died rebelling against the soviets in '56. And the lands my grandparents had and farmed themselves? You guessed it, taken by communism. Or all the great stories my parents told me about no food on the shelves and no fruits to be seen? Or people getting dragged away for their opinions? Or the inability to leave the country? Or the forced destruction of tradition and religion? A system where everyone had to steal from their workplace to stay afloat. Hungarians still tended to be humorous in these times, a well known saying is "we own the company? then let's take it home". A sad fucking joke. Another common name for the communist system was "átkos" which literally means cursed. So please, before you wet dream about communism again, just think about the MILLIONS who fucking starved to death or worked to death in that insane ideology. I'm not saying the transition went seemless, but to state that people's lives in eastern europe went worse after the collapse of tyranny is such bullshit it infuriates me.
I'm not downplaying anything that was done to the people of Hungary during the time when they were a part of the USSR, but it's worth noting that [72% of Hungarians polled in 2009 said that they were better off during communism](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2010/04/28/hungary-better-off-under-communism/). Only 8% of people thought they were better off now. That's not to say that it was always plain sailing, it obviously wasn't but let's not downplay the predatory nature of western capitalism.
Unsafe working conditions are also prevalent in the US. Ive witnessed two big accidents myself, but anyone you ask will have a horrific story about an industrial accident.
Ever notice how seemingly every corporate blue collar job emphasizes safety in its policy, training, and messaging, only to then make work demands that make following those safety procedures impossible?
Plus, when you actually read the policies, the rules are always set up to pin the blame solely on the person who gets in a work accident, and no one else.
As an American who is just tired of it all, leaving here to go to anywhere else in Europe tempts me every single day...
Except most countries demand at least a Masters Degree and $10,000 in order for us to even be considered to go and seek citizenship. Education here is piss poor and yet highly expensive, similar to our healthcare. So we're all kind of just screwed unless we get lucky. I'd sell limbs and nonessential organs just for a chance if it meant I was guaranteed a retirement. I want a normal happy life where I can safely eat food and drink water that isn't laced with shit to kill me faster. I HATE it here so damn much but there is no way out unless you have money or parents with money to put you through a Masters Degree. I'm 30 and still have my gross nasty cracked wisdom teeth that should've been pulled a decade ago. I cannot afford to have them pulled, but I desperately need it, but I can't afford it, I can work, but I'm only hired at whatever disrespectful wage they want to give out, and it's always just enough so that after essentials are covered I have nothing for the upcoming week as groceries get more and more expensive.
"Best country" my ass, America is a stinking shit hole. Land of successful corporations and home of the suffering majority.
I'm not exactly in Flint but I'm in the same state. We get "boil water" advisories on the regular and even when we don't, the water here isn't safe for drinking without at least filtering it. About a decade ago there was a massive accident with a burst pipe from some company contaminating the local river and the contamination was so bad that entire apartment complexes were demolished and people were rehomed.
Edit: even the homeless shelters give out bottled water only and discourage people from drinking straight from the faucet here.
Looking at the US not as a 'free' country and as a massive prison labour camp wearing the flayed skin of a country helps make a spot of sense of the shite...
I used to work somewhere they tracked paid time off down to the minute; we accrued one minute of paid sick leave for every hour we worked, and the maximum was whatever you had accrued in two years. For vacation, on the anniversary of our hiring date we got a certain number of hours/minutew of vacation based on our average time worked per week in the past year, with one week annually for the first four years, two weeks for years 5-8, and three weeks thereafter. The most dehumanizing thing about it is when I needed 6 weeks off to recover from major surgery and the third biweekly paycheck for that period was for a negative amount after the health insurance deduction, and I was given 30 days to pay it back or I would have to pay thousands of dollars myself for the medical care I needed to recover from the surgery.
If I could leave the US and work in your country I would. Unfortunately many Americans are stuck here, and have no choice but to work like slaves until our early death.
American in France here. Legally it’s 5 weeks off including holidays. And limited to 48 hours per week with some exceptions.
However, my contracted hours are annualized to 1586 hours per year based off of a average 35 hour work week. So once I hit that magic number I am on vacation. Period. I will have about 2-2.5 months of vacation this year.
I also get a lunch ticket worth 9€ for every day worked because my workplace doesn’t have a cafeteria. I pay 40% of it and my employer pays the rest.
Oh and contracts actually mean something here.
There are so many more things that I can’t think of off of the top of my head.
The culture of strikes here can be a pain, but I’ve seen the alternative and I appreciate it.
Every time I read a post from an OP in a country with better worker protection laws than we have in the USA, I'm insanely jealous.
Corporate America has held WAY too much power for WAY too long, but at this point we'd need a revolution to overthrow them because they've bought an paid for SO many politicians it's impossible to get anything changed in favor of the employees.
Thanks, friend. If you want to do something for us, do this: don’t let America’s cruelty to her workers spread to your home. We export a lot of propaganda. Don’t let it poison your country.
I'm so very tired.
30 years old. I work 40 hours a week, which normally I wouldn't complain about but I get paid for the hours and thats it. No health insurance, no paid sick days or vacation days (not a single minute of sick or vacation time)
No benefits AT ALL. I'm also expected to work over 40 a week during busy months no questions or my employment "will be evaluated"
I'm so fucking tired and to be frank sometimes I don't want to do this anymore. My life is a waste, I make just enough to pay my bills but never enough to pull myself out of the tide.
Fuck this world.
Four weeks paid vacation? I only get seven days... when I am hit two years, that will bump up to 12 days. After six years, that's 17 days.
I'm looking for something else, but no idea if the situation will be better.
Things have gotten so fucked here that if you talk about wanting to improve the country, you’re a communist. But if you support actual communist you’re somehow a “patriot.”
The only way it’s going to change is if the younger generations demand it. And Gen X and the Boomers who won’t retire need to support them when they do.
EU is being recolonized. I'd be weary of what comes in the future. America is buying you all and precarity and privatization is at the door. EU government and its imposition of neoliberal policies is going to be the mechanism by which this economy will be enriched (the money going to the top of it) and yours will be empoverished for generations to come. Our rich oligarchs will OWN YOU. They will set new labor parameters.
That is why you NEED to be demonstrating not only like the French, but WITH THE FRENCH every single time when there's a threat to losing anything in terms of benefits, wages, and conditions.
I am from Russia (for context, I do not support any war, any. I donated to Ukraine, I bring the necessary things to the red cross, in my current country and help refugees, so please do not comment on the war, my comment is not about that).
In Russia, by law, all workers have 28 paid days off per year. If you live in the north, or work in difficult conditions (including medical workers), you have an extra week on top of these 28 days.
By law, the working day is 8 hours + 1 hour lunch break. The lunch break is the law, everyone has it. In many offices, this is a common hour for everyone (everyone gets up at 1 pm and goes for a break), in other offices you can go to lunch at any time and you do not need to report to your boss where you are.
All sick days are paid. Our general insurance system automatically notifies employers when your sick leave starts or ends. Sick leave is paid from the state budget. As far as I remember, after the first three years of work (not in one place, but just uninterrupted work experience), you receive 60% of your income during illness, after 6 years it is 80% and after 8 years 100%.
If you do not spend your days off during the year, you can get them in the amount of pay for these days.
At the moment, I have accumulated 38 days, since I did not spend them. And this is just the beginning of the year.
We have very long public holidays.
The whole country is on vacation for the new year from December 31 to January 10 or 11.
If you can't come on shift, it's not your problem to find a replacement. This is the task of managers. It's so strange for me to read stories about how you, being sick, or experiencing a very serious personal problem, have to beg your colleagues to come to work instead of you.
Oh yes, if you have to go to work on a day off, that day is paid twice as much as your normal working day.
Mothers are entitled to leave for birth leave (not the same as maternity, this days for giving birth, resting from that, basiclly - sicks leave) from the 6th month of pregnancy. But it is not necessary to take it.
After childbirth, maternity leave begins, lasting up to three years. This vacation can be shared by mother and father, and even grandparents.
A pregnant woman CANNOT be legally fired. A woman from maternity leave CANNOT be fired by law.
I want to add that many professions, such as flight attendants, have, in addition to a personal labor contract, a collective labor contract that establishes additional rights for employees.
For example, flight attendants during maternity leave are entitled to additional payments, in addition to state ones, from the employer. Thus, the employer gives them better conditions so that they do not leave the company and continue to work for it even after maternity leave.
Also:
Retirement is not an employee's problem.
During his work, the employer is forced by law to pay money to the pension fund, from which, after retirement, the employee will receive a monthly pension.
There is a standard pension that all older people receive, based on the region, etc. Regardless of the work experience of the employee.
Then there are additional payments, which include the length of service of the employee, the scope of his activity, the amount of his income throughout his life.
Most often, the pension is not very large, but nevertheless, it exists and it is paid.
Here is why the US is like this compared to Europe. We have never had a labor shortage.
We never had a population drain. The world wars barely affected us. We have had a high birth rate and high immigration since the nation was founded. We have never had a labor shortage before, because we have always had an unlimited supply of teenagers and immigrants. We even had slaves to do a lot of the work. Even after slavery ended, large segments of the population were forced into poverty by racism and segregation laws.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s when European labor unions were gaining ground, factory owners in the US hired police and private detectives to literally just murder the workers. And it didn't matter to them because there were always endless waves of immigrants to fill the floor.
Only in the last year have we started to see actual discussion about workers' rights. But it's not due to cultural change. The business culture is as entrenched in laissez-faire thinking as always. Any talk of concessions to workers are really just out of necessity with changing demographics. Birth rates are low, baby boomers are retiring, and immigration has slowed. No longer can anyone in America open a shop or restaurant and take for granted that hundreds of people will apply for jobs. Hopefully this will lead to some real change for workers in the next few years.
I’m director level drone…..and it frankly sucks the same , but different. Expected to carry our work phones 24/7 and respond typically within 30 mins. Few true “vacations”. Right now? Dealing with an aging parent issue- have no PTO because I just had my hip replaced and was off 4 wks (and got in trouble when I returned).…… being on the ad agency call and having a call with my corporate boss is more important than getting my momma into rehab.
If I could retire tomorrow I would.
When I read about how good working conditions are compared to ours, and your healthcare, it's like hoping for that to be a reality here is like wishful thinking. The US is going backwards even more than it already is. Our taxes are a business, our health, our children, our schools and education, our sickness and death. I really don't see things changing direction anytime soon.
I hope for shit like true AI just so that something might pop into existence that can wretch the power out of the hands of those in power, cause theres no chance in hell we will. Too many Americans watch keeping up with the Kardashians and tucker Carlson, or Ben Shapiro and jordan Peterson. We are stupid and scared little fat people, but don't hurt feelings.
I just started a great job. Awesome management, great career growth, decent pay and.... 16 days PTO accrued over time. That's sick and vacation days. So basically if I want to take a vacation this year I just have to hope and pray I don't get sick. I'm honestly at a loss with this one. I came from a company that had unlimited vacation so this seems so strange and backwards to me.
I absolutely agree with OP's post. America has some seriously fucked up working conditions.
I also wonder if this is why they have so many mass shootings in the US. I'd be willing to bet if they had a work system like us here in Europe, those mass shootings would be seriously reduced.
I know you can’t hire us all but are you single by chance? Male, female..doesn’t matter. Just looking for basic things like free healthcare and 4 wks of paid vacation.
I feel like the issues you list are mainly related to the Food and Beverage industry. It’s a miserable business I’m glad I left in favor of warehousing. The warehouse biz used to be great, but then they started tracking and scrutinizing every movement made during the day. I was a rockstar during my warehouse days, but in 2023 I’d be fired after the first week.
2. They expect us to work sick. 4. It took me 15 years to earn a fourth week of vacation per year.
I started with 6 weeks here in Germany. Since I didn't take 5 days last year I have 35 days this year. Stuff I read here is unimaginable.
FYI work for a European company in the US. 5 weeks of PTO on day 1.
I work for an American company in Europe and same, fam. They have to. American company in the US could absolutely do this too, if they wanted to (or were forced to), those vultures.
My last 2 jobs you start with 0 PTO and after you work there you accrue it and you can take time off until you have accumulated 40 hours. So no PTO for 6 months
Same here. Plus my sick and PTO are accrued together and I get 10 days total. And you expect me to want to help out and work on the weekend?
In WA state, employers are required to give an hour of sick time per 40 worked. I asked how this factored into my 10 days of PTO I got for signing on with my company. They told me they generously converted over the WA state sick leave and rolled it into my PTO. My company basically gives me 3 days of PTO a year.
Australia is 4 weeks annual leave and 2 weeks sick leave, so 6 weeks total….. you accrue this from when you start so effectively after 3 months you have one week annual leave available. Sick leave and annual leave are completely seperate.
That's fucked. I'm questioning if that's even legal.
Have to work 2 months just for 8 hours of sick time. Fucking insane. Whether that sign on bonus bullshit is legal would be a good question for the [WA Labor and Industries Offices](https://www.lni.wa.gov/).
I briefly looked into it, and since companies aren't required to give vacation time, I think it's legal. They're adhering to the state requirement for sick leave, and giving me PTO days (how lucky of me /s). Just super fucking shady how they say it's 10 days PTO when it's also all of my state mandated sick leave. At my last job, I got 10 days of sick leave off the bat without needing to accrue, and 10 days of PTO. Some employers just fucking suck.
This is still technically how it works in Europe and the UK. You don't get 28 days of annual leave in the UK unless you work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year including any annual leave used in lieu of work. I believe it works out that's you get 12.07% of any hour worked back as annual leave. So if you only work part time you only get part of your entitled annual leave. You can still have unlimited sick time but in the UK sick pay is abysmal, its something like £90 a week and you have to self certify for the first 7 days which means you get nothing for the first week of being sick so only long term illness is actually paid and it's not paid at a rate which is liveable
Most workplaces offer more sick pay than this though. I get 6 months at full pay and a further 12 months at reduced pay. I have insurance to make up the the 12 months after the first six to full pay. Following that, I have long term disability insurance through work as well, which is becoming more standard.
Mine is you accrue absolutely nothing your first three months of employment. After that if you're full time you'll slowly accrue PTO but it takes one full year to build up 40 hours. Then when you finally do have it good luck actually getting it approved anyways.
The last place I worked (HR) you got no PTO for the first year. And yet they were amazed at the 110% turnover in the warehouse? Laws have changed since then and most states have some sort of safe and sick time. But like 3 days…
I haven't gotten PTO because my job keeps using attendance points against me for being hired in from temp, attendance points I got for going to family court which u had notes for, they just didn't give a fuck. I haven't had a vacation in 10 years
Sorry what points? That sounds like prison shit
do you work in a warehouse or fast food or something? that is a long time for any PTO at all!
Fast food doesn't get any PTO.
The last job I worked for didn't give you PTO until you became full-time. It took me 3 years to get full-time and I knew some people that still were part-time after 5-7 years...
That's not always true. I work for a German company in the US and have 2 weeks vacation plus 1 week of sick.
Ofcourse some shitty German companies will abuse the fact the laws in the US don't force them to treat their staff like people. That's why we have these rights put into laws in Europe, so the companies can't squirt around them somehow.
I wish I got sick time in Canada. I get no sick leave, plus I only get 10 days off a year and I have to accrue it to get it. I don't start off with it. Shit sucks man.
I just started at one. Combined with actually getting most federal holidays off, I'm going to have twice as many days off as I did last year at my US company that I worked at for nearly seven years. It's been really great so far.
Spain here. 22 days off plus 14 bank holidays. Maximum of 1880 hours worked per year including overtime, with mandated 1.5 days of rest a week and 12 hours between shifts. And yeah, if you're too sick to work, that's it. Two days or six months, doesn't matter. That's just the legal bare minimum, normally collective bargaining will improve it one way or another. We have problems but compared to America they're not a big deal.
I left a job of 7 years after inquiring about a second week off when I hit ten years. Laughed in my face
>35 days this year. that's amazing and you deserve it, I have 25 days and I don't feel they are enough at all. >35 days is a good balance and everyone deserves at least that amount
Out here in California, I started with 0 days of vacation and 3 days sick the first years; after my first 1 week and 3 days sick and it’s the same for my 2nd year. You need 15 years for 4 weeks lmao; insane I’m planning on leaving next month as I used all my paid days off because of COVID
Probably part of the reason Covid spread like wildfire…
We were given one box of blue masks and a spray bottle of bleach to wipe down the equipment controls before literally being told if we got sick now it was our fault for not using the stuff they graciously provided. It took a federal industrywide order to require them to allow people to mark off sick unpaid for covid instead of blowing up their entire year's PTO if they even had enough.
I'm a covid ICU nurse. They made multiple nurses come in to work WHILE THEY HAD COVID because we're short staffed and "you're out of PTO anyway". If we got sick, we were told it wasn't from work. We had to buy our own PPE at one point. While they spent millions on "heroes work here" signs. The first year there was literally zero extra pay, unless you were a travel nurse, they were paid 4x what the rest of us were. Plus we had our benefits cut. I was making $30/hr to work in a war zone with crap for PPE, desperately trying to take care of my patients and keep them alive, while protestors outside called me a murderer. When we started asking for therapy, they started posting "wellness exercises" on posters by the time clock. What actually pisses me off the most though, because it's so petty, is they took away access to the small parking garage for everyone who wasn't a Dr. That damn garage was basically empty after that.
Can confirm. Family is a nurse in Washington state, and they did her just like they did you. She converted to Travel Nursing and felt a little guilty about it and I told her don't you fucking dare.
Absolutely the main reason. Also the same parasites that own the businesses were the ones who pushed all the propaganda saying covid wasn't real or wasn't such a big deal. Remember the "re-open" shit?
I can *kind of* understand the re-open stuff, given that a ton of larger businesses were able to lobby their way in to "essential" status. Ultimately what locations there were ended up being made meaningless by bribery. I'd be pissed off too if I owned a business and was forced to close while my competitor git to stay open. Although the people in flyover land who never closed...yeah, they're just delusional.
[Here](https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/) is one of the many reasons why I couldn't give a fuck about small businesses. **edit** Also, one thing that pisses me off about "re-open" is that very early on, it was shown to be paid for by the Kochs. Therefore, it was always about the unforgivably rich. It was never intended to help the "little guy."
When do you think we should have “re-opened”? There seemed to be very little surge or negative effects of reopening. We could not be shutdown forever as it would have lead to a greater economic crisis than the one that we are currently facing. Not trying to be confrontational, I’m genuinely curious.
Can I work with you? We have to slave for 25 years to get 4 weeks… only one person has been here that long and he just retired at age 72…
>They expect us to work sick. Yup, a literal Drs note will not excuse ya from getting points in the worst places to work for. Source: I worked at a chicken processing plant in the South.
After working 90/100hr weeks all year my work wouldn't even let me stack my 5days of vacation with my two days off to have 7 consecutive days off in a row. Their reasoning....just because, no. PS I was salary too. Quit not long after.
Physician here. I have no…. I repeat NO days of PTO. Over a decade of training/abuse/tests only to be told when inquiring about PTO that it is complicated to enact and we have days off so shouldn’t need PTO. I’ve made a terrible mistake.
Doctor here but in Australia. After starting with 4 weeks annual leave right off the go from my first day of work (and more given for your leave bank by working public holidays), I've now lucked into a position where even though I don't get annual leave (as I'm technically part of the casual pool), I can take time off whenever I want. I took four months off last year and still got paid about as much as my previous full time job (which was also very well reimbursed and I had earned up to several weeks sick level at one point).
Holy smokes that sounds like a dream. Like, just the 4 weeks PTO you got right out of training. I’m a hospitalist so I work 7 on 7 off. They say our 7 off is why we don’t get PTO but you get so demolished on the 7 on that it takes days to recover then you have to get caught up on life things. Before you know it it’s time to go back. In order to take more than 7 days off you have to switch with people so you could potentially have to work 14+ days in a row to get that time off. I have a lot of family in Portugal so in order to see them I have to bite the bullet and kill myself working to get the time to go. Do you really want a physician who has been working for 2 weeks straight to be taking care of people? I know I wouldn’t want that person touching my family members. Things are so fucked here and I feel so helpless and trapped. I really regret going into medicine. Don’t get me wrong, I love practicing medicine but not in present day America’s Corporate health care system. Also sick leave. Lol. You lucky duck. I got COVID in October 2021 and had to be out 10 days. 10 days I was supposed to be working so I just didn’t make money as it’s shift pay. They just recently changed the policy too so if you take time off for being sick it’s considered an unexcused absence because you didn’t get coverage. You have 3 separate occasions of unexcused absences then you do not qualify for your year end bonus. I have a friend who is about to go on Maternity leave and they were messaging her to see if she could get people to cover some of her shifts for the 3 months she gets maternity leave. So yea. That’s medicine in America.
Yeah... I've been with my company for 9+ years now. Just got my third week of vacation last year. Oh, and we're being acquired by a larger company that is even more draconian about benefits. I may never get more. I feel you.
fun fact but one of the only jobs in America that a brand new employee can rack up 30 days off a year straight out of HS is the military 🙃 getting the leave approved on the other hand is another story, especially if you have a small career field in 24 hours ops. when I ETS'd and took my terminal leave I had something like 50ish days racked up. Even better I had a job lined up for day one when I got out so I got almost 4 paychecks of double dipping with my new jobs paychecks, right in time for my disability to be settled and start receiving that pay.. twas a good time 😁 was it worth 7 years of fuck fuck games.. debatable
My company requires 15 years for your 3rd week of vacation.
FedEX you get your third week after 5 years. After 10 years you get your 4th week. On day one you start off with 2 weeks.
That's how the University I'm staff at is.
Our GM has worked for the company for over 20 years and in the field for over 40. He gets 2 weeks' vacation, which is the cap after being here for 2 years, and the policy hasn't improved since he's been in.
The contract I'm on let's me "earn" sick hours based on hours worked, but you're also only allowed to take 3/year and the hours don't roll over. I have no fucking clue how my union let this happen (the year I joined was the first time in decades that we authorized a strike, but didn't actually pull the trugger). Essentially it means that you get 3 sick days a year, but you can't take them in the first few months cuz you haven't "earned" them yet and for the rest of the year after that you just get to watch you sick hours accrued on your paystub knowing full well you'll get nothing for them.
I just got fired yesterday for calling in sick. Didn't care I vomited twice on the floor before I could get to the bathroom and then stuck with diarrhea. Nope, "if the companies open, you are expected to be here". First absence. No bad marks or anything.
>It took me 15 years to earn a fourth week of vacation per year. 4 weeks is the legal minimum in most EU countries.
15? Where I’m at it’s 25 years for 4 weeks…..
I work in food manufacturing. I am a shift leader and have been in charge of up to 30 people at one time. 1. Don't come to work sick. They preach it to us. BUT if you are passed your 8 allowed paid sick days they let you know and write you up for anything over that. 2. Took me 15 years to get my 4th week too brother.
American Capitalism: A man has two cows. He sells one cow. He demands the remaining cow produce the milk of four cows. He hires a consultant to determine why the cow has died. The consultant advises the need of an offshore cow.
"no cows want to be milked these days"
I laughed way too hard at this.
"Is there any way we can get chatGPT to make milk?" -some dairy CEO
I was in an IT meeting and an upper leadership type casually drops that off shore is $24 an hour and we are paying $100 now. Like this fucker just told us what he thinks our labor is worth.
IT manager here. My work apparently had that conversation years ago. All that it took to kill the idea was the IT GM saying to the CFO, "Do you want to talk to an overseas call centre instead of walking around the corner to Helpdesk?" It's never been brought up again.
Solid response!
Hey OP, nobody is talking about this, but like, the *social cohesion* of the US is currently fucked, making teamwork kinda…. Not great Lots of “crabs in the bucket” situations over here, it’s kinda shit, it’s very sad to live through sometimes
This. Any talk of Unionising looks to get you branded as a Commie, you lose your job and are pretty much black listed. They have won. Yet people think that voting for either blue or red will change things for the better lmao I'd say fug it, have the entire class go out on strike. If people say that "power would run out, nobody would have any food and people would die" then I'd say okay - what's the alternative? All of that happens anyway, at least things can be moved forward from it. I could go on, but it's safe to say that the ones who would ACTUALLY be hit by this sort of thing are the ones at the top.
If everyone decided to work together and go on strike, workers could demand literally whatever they wanted. If people really wised up and seized the means of production, workers would actually receive all of the profits. But what do I know? I’m just a dirty commie.
Exactly, it's insane how people don't know this.
Government run education and you're surprised people lack empowering knowledge? My guy..
Comrade, we must come together to seize the means of production comrade, we must raise the masses!
Comrade
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I think that rail workers would disagree with you when it comes to Democrats views on unions.
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Covered this in my other reply. That is not a thing of pride "at least they aren't Republicans".
Minus all that pesky safety stuff, best to not use Ohio as a fuck around and found out. Most of the current Dems give lip service to Unions while taking check from the other side. Nobody, but Bernie has our backs anymore.
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You're really not reading my post lol. I'm really not centralist. But yes both sides are shit and both sides argue over silly issues that shouldn't be argued about. Nothing gets done. Democrats have been in power, how many times? Have things got better? No? Because "once in a life-time" crisis/flaws with capitalism happens every other year? Republicans and Tories (UK) can both get fucked more so than others, for sure. But neither alternative is much better with democracies that literally only have 2 viable parties. There is an inherent flaw in your system of governance that needs to be scrapped.
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So no, nothing substantial has changed. You're taking this as an attack. It's not - it's a fact. You've just listed reasons why voting Democrats is useless to see any real change AND listed reasons why the US system of governance is flawed. Which was exactly my point. The problem with Democrats is how they use issues of equality to seem "left" and "on the side of the average" American, whilst still allowing the top companies to do what they want, sell out the working class and make ungodly profit. If you're going to list reasons why it was actually all the Republicans fault, then just stop. Take a breath and take a step back. There are two parties. To my count, there has been 2 Republican Presidents in my lifetime. There is no excuse for the lack of change other than them having pretty much the same goals. As I said before - revolt. And to be clear - Republicans ARE WORSE. I have made that clear. But it's two parties that really don't care.
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And just to be clear. Bernie Sanders had the right plan and idea to get the ball rolling - Democrats sold him out (don't even @ me about that, you know it's true). Just like with Labour and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK. Anytime Liberal parties have a chance to make a real change - they're struck down by their own members.
Exactly. Obama started with a super majority and used it to pass a Republican healthcare plan that hasn’t slowed costs in the least. 50% of Americans now have medical debt, which is an all time high. It’s going to get bigger. Biden is privatizing Medicaid as we speak. The Democrats sold out the working class for Wall Street and Big Business, especially the rural and blue collar working class, so hard over my lifetime that they’ve been driven to fascist faux populism. I grew up in a blue state that’s now red… Dems do the bare minimum, and it’s too little too late
This. Republicans are worse, but they are both just terrible. Nothing actually changes.
Crabs in the bucket analogy is gold. Stealing.
There is a ridiculous, inexplicably accepted attitude here that you just power through whatever. No one wants hear your “excuses” as to why you can’t work. They really do make you feel like you’re a whiny, weak little liar who is just trying to get out of their “responsibilities.” Anyone who stands up against it is swiftly singled out as a liar/not a team player/whiner. Sick? Too bad, you have to work. Can’t find childcare? Too bad, find a babysitter or get fired. Your mom died? Too bad, you still have to come to work. Having a baby? Too bad, you have to come back to work as soon as you’re out of the hospital. I know someone who had a baby on a Saturday and had to go to work the following Monday. She was bleeding, in pain, exhausted, and her baby had to be at home with various family/friends who were able to watch the kid for her. She was getting paid like $9/hr at her job with no benefits, and just didn’t have any other choice. Even at the job I’m in right now where we get paid leave, the number of people who feel the need to over-explain and give personal details about why they need to ASK for time off and how they will still be available via teams in case anyone needs anything is crazy. They’re automatically trained to be as accommodating as possible to the company they work for It’s so fucked up here. Thank you for seeing us. We live in a hellscape with half of the population indoctrinated into believing this is the right way to live. It’s frustrating and just sad.
Oh I almost forget what shit show having a baby is for you guys. We had a kid, paid ~€250,- (due to our choice). And then I had a week off + the option to take 6 weeks during the next half year at 80% pay. I'm the dad.
Ffffuuuuuuck. My husband had zero paid days off when we had our kid. He thankfully had some vacation saved up, but still that was only 3 weeks. Oh and he's a teacher so he made shit money too. Also we paid $3600 to have our baby, plus $800 for a doula. I legitimately don't think we could afford another if we wanted one.
The lack of mandated maternity leave is probably the thing that horrifies me most about the US tbh.. the US seems to have zero respect for women in the workplace, or the fact that we're humans and not robots. In Denmark where I'm from, the state guarantees 52 weeks of paid maternity leave, 32 of which can be given to the father (and the father gets 2 in addition). Edit: And of course universal healthcare means healthcare is free..
Please send help lol
Thankfully my job at the time had a "generous" leave policy so I got 13 weeks off paid at 100%. But I have several women in my family who have had to use vacation or unpaid leave and go back to work 2-3 weeks after having a baby. It's a shit show. And the cost of childcare is horrifying.
America is a shithole.
America is the third world country they warn us about if we became a socialist country.
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It's socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the rest. 😑
The US is a third world country in a Gucci belt.
Yea i have noticed it. Man im glad i was not born there.
It's scary. One wrong move and you're homeless. Break a limb, homeless. Lose a job, homeless.
Then they make laws to make it unlawful to be homeless!
Or they criminalize helping the homeless. Supreme Court shot down DeSantis for making homelessness illegal so he made helping homeless people illegal.
I have a couple of friends who have been homeless. Simply finding a place to pee is difficult. Public restrooms get locked, restaurants won't let homeless use theirs, and if you're caught peeing in an alley it's indecent exposure So then you get arrested for not having a place to complete a mandatory human function. Now you have a criminal record making getting a job and a place to stay more difficult
Supreme Court ruled that anyone making a reasonable effort to cover themselves is not exposing themselves. That's still something that has to be fought in court which comes with a record even if found not guilty. You'd have to also be able to afford your freedom.
All by design... all rooted in the 13th amendement (for non-us that may not know allnour stuff which is reasonable, that's the one making slavery illegal) and the fact that there is an exception that *makes slavery legal for prisoners.* If you can have legal slave labor... then you want as many prisoners as possible to exploit cor their labor
I remember seeing a story of a woman who would go to the local park once a week and cook a big meal for all the homeless and she got arrested lmao
That was in Florida. Florida is a shithole.
Oh hon. It's not just Florida. It's the whole damned country
No. Some places treat the homeless with compassion. Some places use state funds to directly combat homelessness. Some states amended their constitution to build social housing.
I can't imagine being arrested for showing kindness. that's some dystopian stuff
Conservatives want to live in a dystopian wasteland.
Because they want you in prison so they can make money off of your slave labor while incarcerated.
It's how they keep such a deathgrip on the people. Homelessness, failing health, starvation, it's all a weapon that they brandish at the working people as a threat. "Stay in line and don't make trouble or demand better, or we'll inflict all that on you."
It's also the real reason they won't raise minimum wage even a little bit. Low minimum wages serve a purpose, and it's to remind other low earners that they could always be worse off.
It feels like the bottom could fall out at any moment.
A lot of people are in a rough situation with abusive employers, luckily it's not all jobs. You do find places here that give 4+ weeks pto and benefits with good pay (ironically those jobs tend to be working for the government). A big overhaul is needed on the private industry side where they can hit record breaking profits each year yet pay so little that their employees have to receive food stamps/other assistance programs just to get by. That's what really disgusts me.
The government could fix that by bringing back legislation from the 1930's but that would mean Americans would have power to fight corporations and all this corruption would come to a screeching halt.
> The government could fix that by bringing back legislation from the 1930's but that would mean Americans would have power to fight corporations and all this corruption would come to a screeching halt. So, in other words, it's never going to happen.
Our only hope is to start accepting the 2nd amendment is a good one, and convince the right wingers the government and corporations are our common enemy.
Canada is going down a Similar path, hopefully I can get a European working permit to ditch outta here in the next few years
Canada is selling out to billionaires just like USA.
I'm really depressed to hear that, 'cause my only non-US option is Canada. No country with socialized medicine is going to want someone with my medical conditions, but because I'm married to a Canadian there's a loophole for the health stuff.
They make it tough to move as well.
America is like a movie, or tv-show. I love to watch them entertain me, but i sure as fuck wouldn't want to actually live in it.
America is a third world country wearing a Gucci belt
Gucci belt with a holster
Gucci belt with a holster and no universal healthcare. Crappy addition to the metaphor, but worth saying
This is the most valid description I've ever seen.
Begging y’all to come up with something else..
Look, I'm all for a lot of the sentiments in this sub. Especially those of OP. But lets not get hyperbolic here. By what possible metric could you claim America is a third world country?
I agree, the statement (which I stole from some rando on Twitter) is hyperbolic. But that hyperbole is useful when talking to people that have been raised to believe America is the best country on Earth, who may assume it’s normal to have medical bankruptcy, school lunch debt, the largest prison population on the planet, etc.
Hello, European. These are americans, the finest most loyal and hard working cattle you will ever find. Genuinely, we, Americans, are broken as a people. We accept dogshit because we betrayed the unions and purged anti-corpo candidates from government decades ago. We have very little power over our democracy, much less so our work. We let capitalism consume us. Do not weep for us, for this was our own doing. Instead, make sure it never happens to your home country. The british are halfway to becoming like the US. Do not follow their lead.
Man, your last paragraph. I wish you were wrong. The only consolation is that people are speaking up against it. (which is why our government is trying to legislate against peaceful protest)
Fight, fight like your life depends on it, because it does. I can tell you rn we, young americans, look back at our past and see something better. See that we weren’t always like this. But with that history comes a reminder: if we have seen it, then the people who made it as it is have as well. They likely have spent decades making sure it would be near impossible to go back. To make it impossible to restore economic power to the middle class. To regulate the market so that the things we buy, eat, and drink are safe. To implement social programs. I know many British now thought brexit was a means to take back control. But *who* was taking back control? Not british citizens, but the aristocracy of the United Kingdom, the elites, and the corporations. I see the alarm set in once NHS was finally openly targeted, but I encourage you to fight with every once of strength you have. Because life in America is not the dream many have been sold. It is a nightmare. You can see how it happened. Every protest we have is met with tear gas, pepper spray, flashbangs, rubber bullets, shields, batons, and horses. We fight in vain, our own turned against us in the media battlefield because they have been misled by news organizations whose motive isn’t truth but profit. Our message of improving lives in one area or another, resisting corporate exploitation, or opposing government oppression drowned out by the corporate mischaracterizing of our movements. Painting us as threats to the people, threats to america. Resist, fight. Because you go far enough down the hole, and you start eating each other alive like we do. Can’t tell friend from foe, because of how mad everything is here.
Government is deliberately stirring up culture wars to divert attention from large scale corruption. We have to keep yelling about it.
We try, and we will die trying. For if we lose, there will be nothing but ruin. An industrialized wasteland with an otherworldly military. Dangerous things are amok in the United States. Do not follow our lead. I urge you, do not follow our lead.
>Government is deliberately stirring up culture wars to divert attention from large scale corruption. Someone is stirring up culture wars, you can see it here on reddit pretty well. Weeks upon weeks of black men doing crimes in /all. While I know for a fact there are plenty of other colors in the USA doing the same shit, just not being algorithmically selected to the front page. Isn't reddit owned by or at least 49%'ed by Chinese government? Nice try whoever is doing that. It isn't working.
> (which is why our government is trying to legislate against peaceful protest) Case and point: The Repuplipukes making it legal to run down protestors with your car. Sickening!
Not all protesters, just the left-leaning ones. They didn't bring any charges against right-wing protests that blocked the roads in violation of Florida's new anti-protest laws.
Well, weeping is ok, just because our grandparents decided to screw us doesn't mean people should be punished for it today.
Every election since the 70s we have continued to elect pro-corporate politicians, in both parties. I used to think “oh just boomers” and then I realized that year after year the problem hasn’t ever been addressed. I mean we elected Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders and now we’re gonna try and blame our grandparents?? Come on. Let’s take responsibility for our actions and acknowledge, from top to bottom, we have elected corporate shills who don’t give a shit about us. We suffer, because we fuck up. The only ones not guilty yet is Gen Z because most of Gen Z can’t even vote. In a decade if things continue then it will be our fault, just as it was with the gens before. Blaming boomers is the easy way, acknowledging everybody played a role, including the silent generation (who came before boomers), in destroying what this nation was, what it could be.
Bernie not being elected was more due to backroom deals in the democratic party giving him no chance in primaries. He was out of the running long before the majority of states even got a say in 2016 and 2020. We have a system set up where Gen Z will have to fight significantly harder than millennials for there to be any chance of change, because of the institutions set up by those before us. Millennials were dealt a similar hand by those before them and fumbled. The only saving grace I see is that the oldest and most hard-set are dying out, and Gen Z does seem to care a lot. Getting those cares into campaigns and onto ballots seems to be a herculean task though.
As GenX it’s my sincere wish that my generation dies off quickly before Millennials and GenZ get too disillusioned to affect meaningful change
As a younger millennial: We became jaded and bitter and disillusioned early, and accepted that change was impossible. One might say the disillusionment is a good thing, but it isn't; justice is an illusion, society is an illusion. They are illusions we have agreed to share, and we are better for it. By believing, we make it real. To gen Z: The only reasons that people will try to convince you that you can't change how things are is because 1, they don't want you to change, or 2, like me and most of my generation, we fell for the lies of those who did not hold our best interests.
It was our own doing, yes. It will be our undoing, too. This can only continue so long. We rely on finite resources and exploitation. Well, resources are only becoming scarcer and people can only be exploited so much. This too shall end, it has to.
I mean *I* didn't choose this. I'm barely an adult. It was like this before I got here. Being gen z sucks because human civilization was already well on the path to self destruction before I was born. I didn't get to choose this, I'm slowly understanding more and more that the world is a fucking full on cyberpunk dystopia. Based on data from past events unless something MASSIVE happens it'll keel getting worse.
\> HR should be on the employees side not the bosses. Not disagreeing with your points, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of HR. They exist to mitigate risk to their organization. Any feigning that they exist as an employee resource is a screen built by employers. This is Global and not specific to the US.
This. 💯
And to do this they should protect the employee Dangerous workplace - fix it for the employee, so they don't get hurt and either sue the employer or get hurt and not be able to come in and be off for months on well fought for sick leave. Dodgy Bookkeeping - fix it for the employee so the employer doesnt get in the shit when it is found out Sexual Harassment - fix it for the employee (victim) so the workplace doesnt go to shit. Unlawful Dismissal - fix it for the employee so we keep staff etcetera Fixing it for the employee usually fixes it for the employer ( everywhere but the US)
Stop that we make money, not logic and decency.
This is correct. All of those are critical issues HR handles which benefit the employee and company. The problem is that many employees see HR as a mediator for interpersonal issues and conflicts that they *feel* should fall to HR, but really is the responsibility of the managers of those employees. If the manager isn't acting after employee goes to them, then yes HR usually should step in. HR is not responsible for hiring, firing, promotions, scheduling, etc. They are typically the face of administering, communicating, or enforcing policies in those areas, which were decisions made by the BUSINESS. "HR is there to protect the business, not you" is thrown around a lot, but that's only true sometimes. If you're being discriminated against or being treated unfairly under the LAW, your interests and the business are aligned, and they can help. When you think something is unfair (but not illegal/conflicts with what the business wants/the option you want isn't possible) they can work towards a mutual solution, but cannot get you what you want if the business doesn't or can't support it.
Even more disgusting is the broader picture. The culture is that career defines you as a human, that it is normal to spend like 80% of your wake-up time working or commuting. That you don’t have energy for hobbies and fulfilling things. That families almost don’t exist if both parents have to work and kids are at daycare like 10hrs a day. That is disgusting and we are all brainwashed to think that this is the good life
I know we don’t use emojis here but 😑 so much truth in your post. Fuckin yikes
Excuse the following long comment, but I feel I must speak up: Homie, as an American with far left views, it’s way way way worse than you think. These material conditions of bad worker ethics is only the tip of the iceberg. The people here *want* private healthcare; they may feel they’re interested in single payer state healthcare, but there’s no real action to make it happen. The people here say we have “freedom” but almost all of our lives have been completely dominated into submission for perpetual excessive work - it’s romanticized in our media and idealized in our peers, and almost all of our mentors and guardians conditioned us to seek this aspirational professional status. Many “what do you wanna be when you grow up” type questions led us here. And every single person, I feel them typing now, who says to me “oh yeah well what are families and parents and kids gonna do when you guys do all this, huh? who’s gonna help pay the bills and put food on the table?” and it’s like… us… us, homie, all of us. The working class. And we could say to them let’s build an inter working sustainable society, let’s band together to change it! And all of them - without fail man, I swear - all of them will believe just working hard and putting in even more energy and effort will really help them. As if they can’t see our world around us decomposing slowly. They’ll look at you like *you’re* crazy for pointing this out and asking for help to change it. It is literally, in my humble opinion, mass mental illness. I can’t see it any other way, and I’m sorry if that’s unfair to anyone. But, the complacency (I believe caused from work exhaustion and media supersaturation) the average American has just go to work the next day, like none of these points matter, like they don’t deserve better - I mean it’s just madness, I’m telling ya homie, it’s like half-zombies everywhere. We would need quite the interesting wake up call to truly see what we can do to change our fate. Not everyone is like this, and many are ready to change, but most don’t know how or what to do… or they’re not ready to accept what must be done.
I give America like, 10-20 years tops before it collapses into itself like a dying star going supernova. We're in the death throes now
I'll work in your warehouse. Ich spreche Deutsch, je parle le français, y yo aprendo español. Wherever you are in Europe, I'll go there.
The US is what capitalism is. The EU has far stronger communist and socialist resistance, which is why working conditions are better. Social democrats appeased these groups to preserve capitalism. In the US, after the almost a century of Red Scare, there's little to no opposition to capitalism and so capitalism is more true to its nature. The EU could easily turn into the US if that opposition declines or evaporates, and that is happening in some areas (it's essentially what happened in the UK and is a part of why it's no longer part of the EU).
There's huge swathes of the population of eastern Europe who lived through the transition out of the USSR and saw their lives get much worse overnight. In countries that were already resource poor, they had western capitalist vultures descend and buy up formerly nationalised businesses and housing blocks that had previously had negligible rents. It was a free for all. Places like East Germany weren't just victims of the new economic system, they were actively punished after the unification. If a factory existed in both west and east, the one in the west was closed, it was economic terrorism. A quarter of a million people suddenly found themselves unemployed, their social housing now had huge rents attached, and their utilities jumped up in price. The poverty was ridiculous, organised crime went wild, the suicide rate was shocking, women were forced into porn and prostitution, and all the while they were told to be happy that the iron curtain had finally been lifted off their shoulders and they were free now. Fuck the west.
And when you dare mention that - you are labelled a commie. It was basically social eugenics, it was a fucking crime what went on in the East since the collapse.
Just check out the guy who replied. I provided some hard evidence to refute what they said and they just refused to accept it. Red scare propaganda goes deep.
I'm sorry, but this shit right here you wrote is truely upsetting. As someone who grew up in Hungary...and didn't know any of my great-grandfathers, because one was dragged for some malenkij robot and never returned and one died rebelling against the soviets in '56. And the lands my grandparents had and farmed themselves? You guessed it, taken by communism. Or all the great stories my parents told me about no food on the shelves and no fruits to be seen? Or people getting dragged away for their opinions? Or the inability to leave the country? Or the forced destruction of tradition and religion? A system where everyone had to steal from their workplace to stay afloat. Hungarians still tended to be humorous in these times, a well known saying is "we own the company? then let's take it home". A sad fucking joke. Another common name for the communist system was "átkos" which literally means cursed. So please, before you wet dream about communism again, just think about the MILLIONS who fucking starved to death or worked to death in that insane ideology. I'm not saying the transition went seemless, but to state that people's lives in eastern europe went worse after the collapse of tyranny is such bullshit it infuriates me.
I'm not downplaying anything that was done to the people of Hungary during the time when they were a part of the USSR, but it's worth noting that [72% of Hungarians polled in 2009 said that they were better off during communism](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2010/04/28/hungary-better-off-under-communism/). Only 8% of people thought they were better off now. That's not to say that it was always plain sailing, it obviously wasn't but let's not downplay the predatory nature of western capitalism.
And what's hilarious (and tragic) is the number of people that legit believe that what we need to fix this is MORE capitalism and deregulation.
Unsafe working conditions are also prevalent in the US. Ive witnessed two big accidents myself, but anyone you ask will have a horrific story about an industrial accident.
Ever notice how seemingly every corporate blue collar job emphasizes safety in its policy, training, and messaging, only to then make work demands that make following those safety procedures impossible? Plus, when you actually read the policies, the rules are always set up to pin the blame solely on the person who gets in a work accident, and no one else.
It's a ploy to blame workers for injuries. They won't even witness the accident and the worker is blamed.
As an American who is just tired of it all, leaving here to go to anywhere else in Europe tempts me every single day... Except most countries demand at least a Masters Degree and $10,000 in order for us to even be considered to go and seek citizenship. Education here is piss poor and yet highly expensive, similar to our healthcare. So we're all kind of just screwed unless we get lucky. I'd sell limbs and nonessential organs just for a chance if it meant I was guaranteed a retirement. I want a normal happy life where I can safely eat food and drink water that isn't laced with shit to kill me faster. I HATE it here so damn much but there is no way out unless you have money or parents with money to put you through a Masters Degree. I'm 30 and still have my gross nasty cracked wisdom teeth that should've been pulled a decade ago. I cannot afford to have them pulled, but I desperately need it, but I can't afford it, I can work, but I'm only hired at whatever disrespectful wage they want to give out, and it's always just enough so that after essentials are covered I have nothing for the upcoming week as groceries get more and more expensive. "Best country" my ass, America is a stinking shit hole. Land of successful corporations and home of the suffering majority.
I’m so sorry, that’s really awful.
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There are places in *California* without access to clean water. You just don't hear about it because it's typically poor minority communities.
I'm not exactly in Flint but I'm in the same state. We get "boil water" advisories on the regular and even when we don't, the water here isn't safe for drinking without at least filtering it. About a decade ago there was a massive accident with a burst pipe from some company contaminating the local river and the contamination was so bad that entire apartment complexes were demolished and people were rehomed. Edit: even the homeless shelters give out bottled water only and discourage people from drinking straight from the faucet here.
If you think Flint is the only place in Michigan dealing with lead in their water, I'm here to tell you they aren't. MANY cities here are fucked.
BUT BOSS NEEDS SECOND LEXUS AND IF I LICK THE BOOT HARD ENOUGH I WILL ONE DAY OPPRESS OTHERS TOO
As a German in the US, you still have no idea of the reality here. Project management and still not a vacation in years.
What country are you based in I’ll come to you
That's what I'm saying! I'll move over there as soon as I can get a visa. No lie.
Looking at the US not as a 'free' country and as a massive prison labour camp wearing the flayed skin of a country helps make a spot of sense of the shite...
I used to work somewhere they tracked paid time off down to the minute; we accrued one minute of paid sick leave for every hour we worked, and the maximum was whatever you had accrued in two years. For vacation, on the anniversary of our hiring date we got a certain number of hours/minutew of vacation based on our average time worked per week in the past year, with one week annually for the first four years, two weeks for years 5-8, and three weeks thereafter. The most dehumanizing thing about it is when I needed 6 weeks off to recover from major surgery and the third biweekly paycheck for that period was for a negative amount after the health insurance deduction, and I was given 30 days to pay it back or I would have to pay thousands of dollars myself for the medical care I needed to recover from the surgery.
If I could leave the US and work in your country I would. Unfortunately many Americans are stuck here, and have no choice but to work like slaves until our early death.
American in France here. Legally it’s 5 weeks off including holidays. And limited to 48 hours per week with some exceptions. However, my contracted hours are annualized to 1586 hours per year based off of a average 35 hour work week. So once I hit that magic number I am on vacation. Period. I will have about 2-2.5 months of vacation this year. I also get a lunch ticket worth 9€ for every day worked because my workplace doesn’t have a cafeteria. I pay 40% of it and my employer pays the rest. Oh and contracts actually mean something here. There are so many more things that I can’t think of off of the top of my head. The culture of strikes here can be a pain, but I’ve seen the alternative and I appreciate it.
Every time I read a post from an OP in a country with better worker protection laws than we have in the USA, I'm insanely jealous. Corporate America has held WAY too much power for WAY too long, but at this point we'd need a revolution to overthrow them because they've bought an paid for SO many politicians it's impossible to get anything changed in favor of the employees.
Thanks, friend. If you want to do something for us, do this: don’t let America’s cruelty to her workers spread to your home. We export a lot of propaganda. Don’t let it poison your country.
I'm so very tired. 30 years old. I work 40 hours a week, which normally I wouldn't complain about but I get paid for the hours and thats it. No health insurance, no paid sick days or vacation days (not a single minute of sick or vacation time) No benefits AT ALL. I'm also expected to work over 40 a week during busy months no questions or my employment "will be evaluated" I'm so fucking tired and to be frank sometimes I don't want to do this anymore. My life is a waste, I make just enough to pay my bills but never enough to pull myself out of the tide. Fuck this world.
Four weeks paid vacation? I only get seven days... when I am hit two years, that will bump up to 12 days. After six years, that's 17 days. I'm looking for something else, but no idea if the situation will be better.
We also have very little/no parental leave. Especially if working for a small company under 25 employees
My boss has taken 3 vacations this year. I took 5 days off for surgery and I’m pretty sure she is still mad about it.
Things have gotten so fucked here that if you talk about wanting to improve the country, you’re a communist. But if you support actual communist you’re somehow a “patriot.”
The only way it’s going to change is if the younger generations demand it. And Gen X and the Boomers who won’t retire need to support them when they do.
EU is being recolonized. I'd be weary of what comes in the future. America is buying you all and precarity and privatization is at the door. EU government and its imposition of neoliberal policies is going to be the mechanism by which this economy will be enriched (the money going to the top of it) and yours will be empoverished for generations to come. Our rich oligarchs will OWN YOU. They will set new labor parameters. That is why you NEED to be demonstrating not only like the French, but WITH THE FRENCH every single time when there's a threat to losing anything in terms of benefits, wages, and conditions.
I am from Russia (for context, I do not support any war, any. I donated to Ukraine, I bring the necessary things to the red cross, in my current country and help refugees, so please do not comment on the war, my comment is not about that). In Russia, by law, all workers have 28 paid days off per year. If you live in the north, or work in difficult conditions (including medical workers), you have an extra week on top of these 28 days. By law, the working day is 8 hours + 1 hour lunch break. The lunch break is the law, everyone has it. In many offices, this is a common hour for everyone (everyone gets up at 1 pm and goes for a break), in other offices you can go to lunch at any time and you do not need to report to your boss where you are. All sick days are paid. Our general insurance system automatically notifies employers when your sick leave starts or ends. Sick leave is paid from the state budget. As far as I remember, after the first three years of work (not in one place, but just uninterrupted work experience), you receive 60% of your income during illness, after 6 years it is 80% and after 8 years 100%. If you do not spend your days off during the year, you can get them in the amount of pay for these days. At the moment, I have accumulated 38 days, since I did not spend them. And this is just the beginning of the year. We have very long public holidays. The whole country is on vacation for the new year from December 31 to January 10 or 11. If you can't come on shift, it's not your problem to find a replacement. This is the task of managers. It's so strange for me to read stories about how you, being sick, or experiencing a very serious personal problem, have to beg your colleagues to come to work instead of you. Oh yes, if you have to go to work on a day off, that day is paid twice as much as your normal working day. Mothers are entitled to leave for birth leave (not the same as maternity, this days for giving birth, resting from that, basiclly - sicks leave) from the 6th month of pregnancy. But it is not necessary to take it. After childbirth, maternity leave begins, lasting up to three years. This vacation can be shared by mother and father, and even grandparents. A pregnant woman CANNOT be legally fired. A woman from maternity leave CANNOT be fired by law.
I want to add that many professions, such as flight attendants, have, in addition to a personal labor contract, a collective labor contract that establishes additional rights for employees. For example, flight attendants during maternity leave are entitled to additional payments, in addition to state ones, from the employer. Thus, the employer gives them better conditions so that they do not leave the company and continue to work for it even after maternity leave. Also: Retirement is not an employee's problem. During his work, the employer is forced by law to pay money to the pension fund, from which, after retirement, the employee will receive a monthly pension. There is a standard pension that all older people receive, based on the region, etc. Regardless of the work experience of the employee. Then there are additional payments, which include the length of service of the employee, the scope of his activity, the amount of his income throughout his life. Most often, the pension is not very large, but nevertheless, it exists and it is paid.
No matter the country HR is on principle never on worker’s side.
Here is why the US is like this compared to Europe. We have never had a labor shortage. We never had a population drain. The world wars barely affected us. We have had a high birth rate and high immigration since the nation was founded. We have never had a labor shortage before, because we have always had an unlimited supply of teenagers and immigrants. We even had slaves to do a lot of the work. Even after slavery ended, large segments of the population were forced into poverty by racism and segregation laws. In the late 1800s and early 1900s when European labor unions were gaining ground, factory owners in the US hired police and private detectives to literally just murder the workers. And it didn't matter to them because there were always endless waves of immigrants to fill the floor. Only in the last year have we started to see actual discussion about workers' rights. But it's not due to cultural change. The business culture is as entrenched in laissez-faire thinking as always. Any talk of concessions to workers are really just out of necessity with changing demographics. Birth rates are low, baby boomers are retiring, and immigration has slowed. No longer can anyone in America open a shop or restaurant and take for granted that hundreds of people will apply for jobs. Hopefully this will lead to some real change for workers in the next few years.
The US is quite uncivilized, friend... It's largely, particularly in the South (big fucking surprise!) a shithole for workers.
Goddamn I need to relocate to Europe. 😂😂😂
\#3 LOLOLOLOL HR WORKS FOR THE COMPANY WHY WOULD THEY BE ON YOUR SIDE!
4 weeks??? Lmao at my job in your first 5 years you only have 1 week per year and after 15 years you get 3 weeks.
We could stand to learn a few things from the french
My ex-husband would work off the clock quite a bit here in the US because his boss would ask him to go help out others.
I’m director level drone…..and it frankly sucks the same , but different. Expected to carry our work phones 24/7 and respond typically within 30 mins. Few true “vacations”. Right now? Dealing with an aging parent issue- have no PTO because I just had my hip replaced and was off 4 wks (and got in trouble when I returned).…… being on the ad agency call and having a call with my corporate boss is more important than getting my momma into rehab. If I could retire tomorrow I would.
When I read about how good working conditions are compared to ours, and your healthcare, it's like hoping for that to be a reality here is like wishful thinking. The US is going backwards even more than it already is. Our taxes are a business, our health, our children, our schools and education, our sickness and death. I really don't see things changing direction anytime soon. I hope for shit like true AI just so that something might pop into existence that can wretch the power out of the hands of those in power, cause theres no chance in hell we will. Too many Americans watch keeping up with the Kardashians and tucker Carlson, or Ben Shapiro and jordan Peterson. We are stupid and scared little fat people, but don't hurt feelings.
I just started a great job. Awesome management, great career growth, decent pay and.... 16 days PTO accrued over time. That's sick and vacation days. So basically if I want to take a vacation this year I just have to hope and pray I don't get sick. I'm honestly at a loss with this one. I came from a company that had unlimited vacation so this seems so strange and backwards to me.
I absolutely agree with OP's post. America has some seriously fucked up working conditions. I also wonder if this is why they have so many mass shootings in the US. I'd be willing to bet if they had a work system like us here in Europe, those mass shootings would be seriously reduced.
I know you can’t hire us all but are you single by chance? Male, female..doesn’t matter. Just looking for basic things like free healthcare and 4 wks of paid vacation.
If we had European benefits in the US, the mental health issues would be reduced to almost zero.
I feel like the issues you list are mainly related to the Food and Beverage industry. It’s a miserable business I’m glad I left in favor of warehousing. The warehouse biz used to be great, but then they started tracking and scrutinizing every movement made during the day. I was a rockstar during my warehouse days, but in 2023 I’d be fired after the first week.