Us Old Farts Win!

[kennyc]

Older Workers Are a Unique Resource

ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2011) — Older workers could prove to be a new and unique resource but risk being squeezed by pressures from their children, their parents and their employers, according to new research from Kingston University.

Kingston University's Professor of Corporate Responsibility and Working Life Richard Ennals sees this as a potentially exciting development. "For many companies this will be the first time they have ever had employees who have working lives stretching back fifty years or more. If handled properly, they could be invaluable," Professor Richard Ennals said.....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0421130314.htm

[The Terminator]

Except for the union workers in Victoria, They are too old to be able to see the postage address and too stubborn to get glasses, and guess what..... the mail goes to the wrong place. But since Canada post is union (which by the way government workers should never ever be union) can not lay them off for younger people who can sort the stuff faster and better and are not too stubborn to get glasses so they can see.


Absolutely no offence to the older people who can still do a very good job, and have fun working. It's just that this group of postage sorters should lay off the work and get their pension (which is very high since they are union)

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by THE TERMINATOR

Except for the union workers in Victoria, They are too old to be able to see the postage address and too stubborn to get glasses, and guess what..... the mail goes to the wrong place. But since Canada post is union (which by the way government workers should never ever be union) can not lay them off for younger people who can sort the stuff faster and better and are not too stubborn to get glasses so they can see.


Absolutely no offence to the older people who can still do a very good job, and have fun working. It's just that this group of postage sorters should lay off the work and get their pension (which is very high since they are union)

These people you talk about don't work for the union, they work for the Canada Post. These older employees can't be replaced by younger workers because it is the law, it has nothing to do with the unions.

When I was younger I worked for a unionized company, in the beginning it helped improve our benefits, meant we would get overtime rather than work for 12 hours one day and 4 the next, because they didn't want to pay the OT. In those days the Unions were helping, but now, in Canada, the unions aren't helping much, because the labor laws have caught up. Unions are great when companies are simply trying to make a buck one the sweat of the employees. When I decided to start working for that company as a manager, I had to think long and hard, it meant that I wouldn't have to work 4 months straight 12 hours a day without days off, but I also wouldn't earn almost a full years salary in that 4 months. In our case the union just meant we would get paid for what we deserved. The beauty of it is the company can't fire you because you don't want to work the OT, but they have to pay you double time to do it.

[wyndslash]

one of my mother's friends is still working, and she is still older than my mom by ten years or so (the friend is around seventy), but she is still as sharp as a tack. still driving, still pretty smart. her children don't want her to work. i get really pissed because well yeah, i get it, you don't want your mom to work, so what do you want her to do instead? stay at home all day with nothing to do? hell, that will fry your brains faster than who knows what! besides, they get off on talking big and all that, but they'd balk at the suggestion of supporting their own mother. &#^$&*@

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

one of my mother's friends is still working, and she is still older than my mom by ten years or so (the friend is around seventy), but she is still as sharp as a tack. still driving, still pretty smart. her children don't want her to work. i get really pissed because well yeah, i get it, you don't want your mom to work, so what do you want her to do instead? stay at home all day with nothing to do? hell, that will fry your brains faster than who knows what! besides, they get off on talking big and all that, but they'd balk at the suggestion of supporting their own mother. &#^$&*@

You're my girl.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

.... but they'd balk at the suggestion of supporting their own mother. &#^$&*@

I think for the majority of people at retirement age, the ability to continue working is something that most people want.

I worked with a guy that was already 69 when I met him, I remember the age because he joked about it all the time, he was a true dirty old man. He was told by the company that the retirement age was 65 and it was up to him to decide. He continued working until he was 82, he started having trouble reading what he was supposed to be proofing. He decided to leave and passed away 6 weeks later. This old guy had no one in his life except for the guys he worked with, his wife passed away very young in her early 50's they had one son who was killed in a car accident, so work was everything he had.

Doctors have said for years that people need something to live for when they get older and working is a way for them to feel self worth and occupy all the time they have left to live.

[sebastiandark]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I think for the majority of people at retirement age, the ability to continue working is something that most people want.

I worked with a guy that was already 69 when I met him, I remember the age because he joked about it all the time, he was a true dirty old man. He was told by the company that the retirement age was 65 and it was up to him to decide. He continued working until he was 82, he started having trouble reading what he was supposed to be proofing. He decided to leave and passed away 6 weeks later. This old guy had no one in his life except for the guys he worked with, his wife passed away very young in her early 50's they had one son who was killed in a car accident, so work was everything he had.

Doctors have said for years that people need something to live for when they get older and working is a way for them to feel self worth and occupy all the time they have left to live.

Absolutely. There was a psychology study done back in the 1970's where university students went to a retirement home and gave the residents a single potted plant as a gift. There was nothing significant about this plant -- it was just a simple, green, oxygen-producing living being. Anyway, they split the residents into two groups: one group who would have to take care of the plant by themselves, and the other who would get a student to come in once a week to water the plant and make sure it's getting enough sun and other such things.

They then tracked the lifespan of the residents. A study like this would be totally against any regulations of a university psychology department today, but back then they could do it. And guess what they found? The intuitive answer may be that those residents who had the students come in every week tended to live longer, as they had someone to interact with, socialize with more, etc. But the opposite happened. What did the researchers pin this one? They said that the group that just got the plant and had to take care of it by themselves were given a sense of control. And that people intrinsically desire being in control. That's why it's nearly impossible to watch a pre-recorded sports game... as silly as it is, people love screaming at the TV and cheering for their team because they believe they can influence the even in real time. Not so fun when the outcome's already determined.

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I think for the majority of people at retirement age, the ability to continue working is something that most people want.

I worked with a guy that was already 69 when I met him, I remember the age because he joked about it all the time, he was a true dirty old man. He was told by the company that the retirement age was 65 and it was up to him to decide. He continued working until he was 82, he started having trouble reading what he was supposed to be proofing. He decided to leave and passed away 6 weeks later. This old guy had no one in his life except for the guys he worked with, his wife passed away very young in her early 50's they had one son who was killed in a car accident, so work was everything he had.

Doctors have said for years that people need something to live for when they get older and working is a way for them to feel self worth and occupy all the time they have left to live.

that's true, i completely believe that. i would still want to be working until i die; certainly not full-time work, maybe part-time and maybe some volunteer work, just something to keep the mind occupied. our elderly neighbor's wife passed away years ago, and he's still working everyday, just not all day. his driver comes to pick him up in the morning, and he comes home in the afternoon.

@desert:

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I think for the majority of people at retirement age, the ability to continue working is something that most people want.

I worked with a guy that was already 69 when I met him, I remember the age because he joked about it all the time, he was a true dirty old man. He was told by the company that the retirement age was 65 and it was up to him to decide. He continued working until he was 82, he started having trouble reading what he was supposed to be proofing. He decided to leave and passed away 6 weeks later. This old guy had no one in his life except for the guys he worked with, his wife passed away very young in her early 50's they had one son who was killed in a car accident, so work was everything he had.

Doctors have said for years that people need something to live for when they get older and working is a way for them to feel self worth and occupy all the time they have left to live.

I might have just found a new hero, 82 you say? Bravo!

My experience is that folks retire, then they die. I have decided that they will have to carry me out of here feet first.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I think for the majority of people at retirement age, the ability to continue working is something that most people want.

I worked with a guy that was already 69 when I met him, I remember the age because he joked about it all the time, he was a true dirty old man. He was told by the company that the retirement age was 65 and it was up to him to decide. He continued working until he was 82, he started having trouble reading what he was supposed to be proofing. He decided to leave and passed away 6 weeks later. This old guy had no one in his life except for the guys he worked with, his wife passed away very young in her early 50's they had one son who was killed in a car accident, so work was everything he had.

Doctors have said for years that people need something to live for when they get older and working is a way for them to feel self worth and occupy all the time they have left to live.

Originally Posted by wodin

I might have just found a new hero, 82 you say? Bravo!

My experience is that folks retire, then they die. I have decided that they will have to carry me out of here feet first.

WOW! Me too!

[The Terminator]

Canada post is part of the union see here.

[The Terminator]

I don't think government workers should be able to strike.

[Shimarenda]

We are having a 90th birthday party next week for a woman where I work. She finds the lost books and has an amazing knack for it. In my 18 years at this library, I have found exactly 1 book after she had searched and didn't find it, and it was in an off-site repository. She moves slower these days, and I think she may be part-time now, but the job is definitely important to her.

Oh, and in general, taxpayers make the most unreasonable employers. Since state workers are not permitted to unionize where I live, we just deal with the turnover and underfunding as best we can.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by THE TERMINATOR

I don't think government workers should be able to strike.

I don't either, and I AM ONE, one of my bigger headaches are some of my colleagues who are union members. It’s nearly impossible to get (some of) them to do their jobs, and it takes an act of congress (metaphorically speaking) to fire them.

[DixieGal]

We are retired and loving every minute of it!