General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy co-worker who is a temp said she is finally poor enough to get medicaid.
Temps here do not get benefits from my employer and it looks like the temp place doesn't have good benefits.
Yesterday I got an email listing a bunch of accounting jobs in the Bakersfield CA area. Over half were temp jobs probably with low pay and lousy or no benefits.
This is evidence of the race to the bottom we are in.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)the country! Actually, they were getting oodles and oodles of part-time jobs, but now we have "just in time" workers, so it's even better! You get 14 hours of work, but have to have be available at any time. What's so bad about that? It's a wonderful day in Obama's America!
My buddy works at a major corporation's call center, and this is what they do. It's modern times and so convenient! The people there fight for time in a big pool, and they are all part-timers, getting that oh so livable 24 hours a week. They are available 24/7 but only work 24. It's so great!
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)Things are worse then I imagined.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)upaloopa
(11,417 posts)lived when I did. I feel lucky I am not a young person looking for work today. It almost brings me to tears when I see what young people have to go through today.
My generation (not all of us) let this happen. We were too willing to accept the corporation propaganda. So now and after we are gone in 20 or so years the fight is in the court of young people. Hopefully they can learn from our mistakes.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)I get very angry when it appears clear to me (as it often does) that my parents' generation has no clue what younger people are going through today. What's worse is the utter lack of sympathy and understanding that typifies their reactions to us.
Thank you for offering a little sympathy (though I am less thankful for your ready willingness to throw this ball into our court and to expect us to clean up the messes your generation made).
In any event, cheers!
-Laelth
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)It is time and place you happen to be born in this time and place and this is what is going on.
Second I personally haven't stopped trying to fix things.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)My mom always bitches about the young women at her work who "have no idea what work ethic means. They don't work nearly as hard as *I* did at their age!"
She fails to mention that she got a great job without any education, and had great benefits, great hours, lots of flexibility, profit sharing, share options....and that these young women all have degrees, make the *same* salary she made 30 years ago and have no benefits, smaller profit sharing and no share options for 5 years.
I'm in business school and it's well known (to those who pay attention in school) that if an employee feels short changed, they will make up for it in other ways. I try to explain to my mom that they are being treated like crap compared to how she was treated and so they are shirking. She doesn't get it. She says if they hate it so much they should work at another company and that her company treats employees really good compared to other places. This is true - it's gone downhill everywhere, I tell her. But I explain that is exactly why there is no longer company loyalty and why young people seem to not 'work as hard' (I would argue this though - young people work 'differently'). She's still convinced the reason she is where she is today (net worth over a million, 6 figure salary) is her hard work, and not the timing of when she entered the workforce. She's also lucky she works in Canada where companies don't turf old people because of increase in medical costs.
It's so frustrating to have these conversations with her. She's one of the ones who doesn't have a clue.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Your Mom is not alone. From my limited experience, our elders have no clue and perhaps, can not understand how much harder life is for us. In the grand scheme of things, I am not starving. Life here and now is not nearly as miserable as it might be in other places in the world, but it is also true that the U.S. was at its absolute wealthiest in 1973, and that we have been getting poorer every year since then. It is much, much harder for us to maintain the lifestyles into which we were born and which our parents (unfairly) expect us to maintain.
They have no clue why it is so hard for us. They blame us, personally, instead of blaming themselves for the political choices they made that put us in this position. My gripe is that many, if not most, of them, don't even want to understand. Nor will they take any responsibility.
In my book, that's just wrong.
-Laelth
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)I'm 67 and I can tell you that people my age don't understand what you are going through. We only see what life was like for us and are in denial about the changes that have created the problems you face. My guess is the denial is there because like you said we don't want to take responsibility for the world you were born in.
I know this from listening to my mother-in-law talking about my nephews, her grand kids and that they are lazy and are not making anything of their life. Her freinds repeat the same type of ideas.
I know my nephews struggle much harder than I did at their age and that I had many more opportunities they they have.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)I appreciate that you feel some responsibility for the current state of affairs and that you can at least try to see the world from the point of view of those of us who are younger.
Thank you for that.
-Laelth
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)There should be a popular TV show or movie that is written by young people to teach us what you want us to know.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)... Here's what I'd recommend:
Reality Bites - a good intro to Gen X's angst
Generation X - the seminal novel by Douglas Coupland
Those two would be a good place to start. Mrs. Laelth and I, after discussing this a bit, came to the conclusion that the mass media has, generally speaking, ignored the resentment that my generation feels towards its predecessors. That topic does not exactly create feel-good television. My generation has been called "whiners" so often, that we are well-programed to bury our resentment and press on.
In any event, I appreciate your sympathy and your interest in this topic. Among your cohort, you are exceptional.
-Laelth
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)that's why we rebelled in the 60's
They drafted me and sent me to war.
I can relate that way only
"up agsinst the wall mother f..ker"
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Not only is work/life balance upset by things like split shifts (8-10am, 2-6pm) but when you add erratic start and end times to that - forget trying to plan anything much less get a second gig.
Here is the NPR story on it: http://www.npr.org/2013/07/18/202744981/part-time-workers-say-schedules-are-getting-more-erratic
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)galileoreloaded
(2,571 posts)Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Ever heard of the Republican congress in session, who has blocked every effort to improve the employment situation he has proposed?
No of course not, it's the President's fault because he is an easy target for your hysteria.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)galileoreloaded
(2,571 posts)made her Secretary of Commerce with little backlash or accountability because sycophants all around are afraid to look racist (which, like misogyny is a word tossed around when an argument is being lost) by calling an asshole who sold out (or maybe never cared in the first place)....well, an asshole who sold out.
that's just one anti-american on his Cabinet serving at the request and pleasure of the president....want me to go on?
school is dismissed.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Unfortunately, we will probably never know.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Your lack of respect by calling the President gets you instant access to my ignore list. I would expect that kind of a comment from a Puke or Tea Partier, but from a supposed participating progressive on DU.
Nah
I'll pass
galileoreloaded
(2,571 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)your feigned indignance is hilarious!
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Happy new Year
frylock
(34,825 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)robinlynne
(15,481 posts)Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)fighting a Republican controlled congress NOW RIGHT NOW TODAY or he's useless?
I waited from 1981 till 1992 for Bill Clinton to fix the damage done by Reagan, and all he did was sign a bunch of Trade agreements that screwed the American worker six ways to Sunday, along with the defense of Marriage Act, and President Obama is to blame?
I wonder why I get nauseous here at times. Not today.
Enjoy your afternoon......
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)Obama cannot change business culture and he alone cannot change it. Only voters can by supporting real pro labor legislators. If you blame the labor conditions on Obama you have been scammed.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Sorry, Obama isn't doing enough.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)In 1981 Reagan said he would create a service economy. I knew then that full time jobs and decent paying jobs would be going the way of the Dodo bird over time. Yet Americans loved him and vote him in again and kept putting in conservative Republicans who supported Reaganomics. Temp jobs started growing during his first term after the 1982 recession. They now make up about 40% of the work force.
I was at DOL at the time and have been dumbfounded that Americans bought the BS hook line and sinker since 1981. And many still do.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)We can thank St. Ronnie for starting this shift in our relationship with employers. Breaking the ATC union was one of the jumpstarts.
I was a temp in the early '80s and even temps could qualify for some benefits after a year of working for one of the bigger temp agencies. Not so much these days.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)It has always been my understanding that Medicaid covers poor children under the age of 18, and those over 65 who live below the poverty line and are in need of nursing home care.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)Her son qualifies to go to a summer camp for poor kids but mom has to provide insurance in case the kid gets hurt.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)Hope he has fun at summer camp.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)It is almost impossible to get insurance.
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)We have done a lot of hiring in my office, over a dozen new caseworkers, across the state, hundreds. What do we do? SNAP and Medicaid, grab a number peeps.