Under what conditions do we accept that a Canadian citizen can lose their rights in this country? Well, you can lose your freedom if you commit a crime. You can lose some of your property to cover your debts, or you can be forced to surrender some part of your private property to pay taxes at a level that is agreeable in a democratic society. (Regardless of the hysterical rantings of the Fraser Institute.) I suppose in Canada, your right to free speech is limited by libel laws and the US-phrase: "Can't shout 'fire' in a crowded theatre."
And, of course, you can be expected to surrender many of your rights (privacy, free speech, freedom of movement, religious freedom, control over your actions) when you go to your place of work.
If you don't like that, you can starve. Or, realistically, you can go on welfare, and be abused and mocked and scorned by government service agencies that will try to compell you back to another workplace to surrender your rights to, ... or by people in the wider society who have swallowed their pride and submitted themselves to the tyranny of the workplace, so why can't you? Work hard, study, and you might get a job that allows you your rights so long as the boss is a benevolent dictator, or so long as you're valuable enough that they tolerate your limited use of your human rights.
Of course, spending the majority of your waking hours in a position of subordination to a boss is going to have an effect on your behaviour as a citizen. And thank God, say the masters and their political hirelings! You'll have a mentality of compliance and submission ingrained into you. Accept what you're told. Do as you're told.
But don't worry. When you're not at work, but out shopping, or dining, or vacationing, the advertisors have told you you're a king or a queen. So treat those people paid to serve you as they deserve.
Is this a great world or what?
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5 comments:
Where the heck do you live thwap?
The work place has not been like that around here since the late 1800s. I am truely in the middle of know where, backwoods. If anything it is the other way around, bosses scared to fire people who should be fired. People taking sick time to go shopping.
If you don't like where you work, do what I did, find something your good at and start your own business. Start small in your home and work up from there. You won't make as much money as a union job but at least your as free as you can get.
I have been self-employed since I was 21, I did not like what I saw in the work place. Far to many lazy people, I could not handle it. I worked in a closed shop. We were getting paid $7.50 per hour in 1978, full benifits etc. People were still stealing things and yapping that they weren't paid enough.
I deal with many businesses in Manitoba and have not seen what you have discribed. If there is such a place it should be shutdown.
PS I typed this with my thumbs on my palm pilot, so forgive my mistakes.
I am also going to take what you wrote and show workers around my comunnity and see if they feel the way you do. Maybe I am blinded, but I see people working and getting along quite well! Maybe it is because in a small town everyone has to get along to survive.
I don't know Wayne, ... what sorts or rights do you imagine that temp workers enjoy?
What do you think would happen if a Wal-Mart worker told the boss that the "cheer" was stupid and they weren't going to do it anymore?
Is it totally outside of your experience to hear about workers being given dangerous work without proper safety equipment, and that complaints to provincial safety watchdogs just invite reprisals and firings?
Have you never heard of bosses monitoring workers' e-mails? phone calls? trips to the bathroom?
Has it never been the case that workers' knowledge about the best ways to do things, or new ideas are met with ignorance or abuse by employers?
Obviously, skilled workers can enjoy benefits, and occasionally they have their bosses over a barrel. Same thing for regular workers in a tight labour market. Especially in a democratic country like Canada.
But the bargaining power of Canadian workers has eroded over the last couple of decades, thanks to NAFTA and assaults on workers' rights.
Even in the 1970s, when Canadian workers were at their most militant, the dominant position was enjoyed by the bosses.
You can't pretend to believe that at the end of the day, bosses are outgunned by the working class, can you?
People entitled to their entitlements.
I don't know Wayne, ... what sorts or rights do you imagine that temp workers enjoy?
Seeing they are temps they should not have the same rights as a fulltime employee, however the temps in our area get paid quit well because labour is tight.
What do you think would happen if a Wal-Mart worker told the boss that the "cheer" was stupid and they weren't going to do it anymore?
They would get warned. Wal-Mart is a very successful business and they have a right to have things done their way. A fellow that I went to school with has been working at Wal-Mart for 15 years. He tells me he is doing quite well, and enjoys working there.
Is it totally outside of your experience to hear about workers being given dangerous work without proper safety equipment, and that complaints to provincial safety watchdogs just invite reprisals and firings?
We have very good labour laws in Manitoba, and rarely do we have these types of problems. The businesses that I deal with go out of their way to be good corporate citizens. Maybe because they have to, I hope it is because they want to. Everything here is so close that we had a councillors boss, coming to council for some rezoning for his bussiness.
Have you never heard of bosses monitoring workers' e-mails? phone calls? trips to the bathroom?
Yes, have you ever heard of employees abusing said items, I just witnessed a 1/2 hour private phone call, by a nurse at our local hospital!!! I know that she is being paid $28.00 per hour plus benefits, so get off the phone.
Has it never been the case that workers' knowledge about the best ways to do things, or new ideas are met with ignorance or abuse by employers?
Ignorance yes, I have never seen abuse, have only heard about it. That employer had 18 employees and now only has 2. I hope the bastard goes broke. Any employer would be nuts not to, at the very least, listen to their front line workers.
Obviously, skilled workers can enjoy benefits, and occasionally they have their bosses over a barrel. Same thing for regular workers in a tight labour market. Especially in a democratic country like Canada.
Very true, and where I live the labour market has been very tight. I don't like seeing anybody have anyone over the barrel.
But the bargaining power of Canadian workers has eroded over the last couple of decades, thanks to NAFTA and assaults on workers' rights.
Global competition has eroded the bargaining power of the Canadian worker. Somebody that is willing to work for $1.00 a day is going to be the one with the job. We need to do more to get wages up in all countries in the world.
Even in the 1970s, when Canadian workers were at their most militant, the dominant position was enjoyed by the bosses.
True, but I felt sorry for them. The head of my union told me to slow my work down because I was taking away another mans job. I told him I was working for XYZ not the union. We were actually making so much money we did not know what to do with it all. We also had cost of living and all benefits. We still went on strike twice in one year. I crossed the picket line.
You can't pretend to believe that at the end of the day, bosses are outgunned by the working class, can you?
Maybe not out gunned, but hurt by crappy, lazy employees. You would not believe the kind of crap I have seen in the last week. Very well paid employees abusing everything from sick time, to surfing the internet, to sleeping on the job. The one caught sleeping can't be fired, they need to be wrote up a couple of more times. That is bull.
"They would get warned. Wal-Mart is a very successful business and they have a right to have things done their way. "
Ah, I see. And why do they have this right? Because it's their business, and employees are dependent nobodies, pleading for a job? So who cares about their dignity or their freedom to make their own decisions? You've revealed exactly what I've been saying. Thanks for proving my point for me.
"A fellow that I went to school with has been working at Wal-Mart for 15 years. He tells me he is doing quite well, and enjoys working there."
Well, in the reality-based community, it's universally acknowledged that Wal-Mart pays shit wages, fucks people over for their hours, forces people to work overtime for no pay, and deliberately withholds promotions to women. They were successfully sued on this in the US.
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