The Vent and Rant Thread

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by krisk

yeah, but the deal with this is you can dash in, grab a couple of lines of MR and quickly resume gainful employment appearances. in my case however, if it is a particularly good book I might start drooling out of both sides of my mouth and become completely unresponsive to outside stimulus.

Sometimes MR is just that good too.

BOb

[Justy]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Sometimes MR is just that good too.

BOb

Yes!!! I find myself here so often during the day. It's a good thing I work from home and no one is checking over my shoulder.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think if I spent as much time reading books as I do reading this forum I could read about a book a day. Bye all.......

...I just couldn't do it.

BOb

Phew!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Sometimes MR is just that good too.

BOb

i would just like to state publicly for the record that i have never drooled while reading mr.



well, maybe during some of the food discussions my mouth does water a bit...


on the other hand, giggling like a loon happens frequently.

[krisk]

I think I wept during the Paris meetup.

[Patricia]

Thanks to new employment laws which forbid discrimination against part-time employees, my university department has decided to close more than half of its teaching and sack people, in order to avoid losing money. I am likely to lose my job in the next six months. If I am very lucky I might make a sideways move and save part of the job. But my staff are not likely to be so fortunate. And I will have to work very hard and be extremely lucky to avoid redundancy.

[krisk]

ahhhhh so sorry Patricia! I just emerged from a job elimination myself. I went from October to mid March with nothing and was fairly convinced nothing would shake loose.

[vivaldirules]

I'm very sorry to hear that, Patricia. I hope you maintain your position. It confuses and disappoints me when staff are cut over what is clearly a temporary situation. It's not as if your university is going to fold. Nor is it likely that the recession will last more than a handful of months. It seems most likely that not long after staff are left jobless, employers will have to hire again. So why not simply weather it for the benefit of the staff? The disruption is hardly worth the savings, I would think, and keeping people employed would make the overall situation less severe for everyone.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I'm very sorry to hear that, Patricia. I hope you maintain your position. It confuses and disappoints me when staff are cut over what is clearly a temporary situation. It's not as if your university is going to fold. Nor is it likely that the recession will last more than a handful of months. It seems most likely that not long after staff are left jobless, employers will have to hire again. So why not simply weather it for the benefit of the staff? The disruption is hardly worth the savings, I would think, and keeping people employed would make the overall situation less severe for everyone.

i wish vr were in charge of the world.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i wish vr were in charge of the world.

Me too

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Thanks to new employment laws which forbid discrimination against part-time employees, my university department has decided to close more than half of its teaching and sack people, in order to avoid losing money. I am likely to lose my job in the next six months. If I am very lucky I might make a sideways move and save part of the job. But my staff are not likely to be so fortunate. And I will have to work very hard and be extremely lucky to avoid redundancy.

Oh no!

I'm confused about what kinds of laws we're talking about, though. Is this about providing benefits to part-time employees? You folks don't have employer-provided health insurance, but I suppose there are other employer-provided benefits? That kind of thing has happened in the US-- the laws get tighter, and employers get rid of employees, rather than follow the intent of the law.

[Patricia]

Part-timers who have been around for a couple of years can no longer be paid an hourly rate, when full time workers are paid a salary on a different scale. Instead they are due a fraction of a full-time salary. This is the law. I'm not disagreeing with it. But the result is that the pay costs are going to expand dramatically, so massive job cuts are proposed. They can't sack just the part-timers, because that would be an obviously discriminatory and illegal thing to do. So several entire sections are likely to be axed instead.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i wish vr were in charge of the world.

I'm not too sure of the uniforms he'll have us wear...

Originally Posted by Patricia

Part-timers who have been around for a couple of years can no longer be paid an hourly rate, when full time workers are paid a salary on a different scale. Instead they are due a fraction of a full-time salary. This is the law. I'm not disagreeing with it. But the result is that the pay costs are going to expand dramatically, so massive job cuts are proposed. They can't sack just the part-timers, because that would be an obviously discriminatory and illegal thing to do. So several entire sections are likely to be axed instead.

Will not sacking those sections have overall detrimental effects over the quality of operations in the university? Do they have plans to rebuild the whole systems of operations? Will that not mean they would rehire to different conditions? Sorry, my mind was reeling there.

It still sucks!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I'm not too sure of the uniforms he'll have us wear...

Yes, those bacon suits can get a little itchy.

BOb

[RWood]

It is often the case with politicians passing "great laws" that are intended to help people but they never take into consideration the impacts these laws have on the companies (and universities in this case) that have to abide by the new laws.

This new regulation Patricia spoke of raises the cost to the university of part-time employees -- designed to give them a higher standard of living. Some may get it. Others will lose employment completely. From the University's point-of-view, the cost of operation just increased. They can either cut staff or raise fees. If they raise fees (and they may not be able to raise fees), then enrollment will decline and they will also need to cut staff. Either way, some people are going to lose their jobs.

In the US there is a movement for a "living wage." This is often far above the minimum wage that politicians love to shout about. Again, when the minimum wage is increased or a "living wage" law is passed, many people lose their jobs. From a business management perspective, there are limits to how much a job is worth. Sometimes the labor rate gets so high it is more economical to replace the people with automation. Sometimes the job just goes away.

When the last minimum wage increase went into effect here I remember the changes a friend did at his Subway (sandwich shop) to cope:

• Bathrooms are now cleaned twice a day rather than every hour
• Floors are swept at shift change rather than every hour
• One less prep person, more meats and cheeses purchased pre-sliced
• No breaks for line staff from 11:30 to 1:30 lunch rush
• Shift manager is now cashier at lunch rush and not available to assist in bottleneck situations
• No overtime

In the past if there was a rush just before closing he would allow the employees to stay on the clock to clean up, even if they ran into overtime charges. Now they are expected to finish their work within the time allowed. If they cannot, they are replaced. He is not happy about it but even with the changes his labor costs went up. Food costs have increased. He does not want to raise prices or he will lose business. The margins in his restaurant are very thin.

I have other examples from other companies in other industries. I won't bore you with them. They all tell a tale of Government mandated rate for services that often prices the unskilled young worker out of a job.