Swine Flu: Stay Home

[FayeforCure]

Who said it was the right of every American to have a job? Is everyone complaining about not getting a raise this year or is it now sick leave? Fine walk out, there are 5.7 million americans who have lost a job since the fall of 2007, who will be looking for the job you walked out of.

It is a privelidge to have a job, people should be happy to have one, if not happy, go find another one.

Hmmmm, you're right..........I guess all employers should take advantage of our nationwide crisis and cut people's pay while they can, because remember: it's a privilege to have a job.

[BridgeTroll]

Yes he is right Faye.  It is most certainly the employers right to cut pay and benefits... especially in a time of crisis.  I AM NOT ENDORSING THIS... it is simply his right.  As for the article about the Chief executive who was fired... Faye... you have every right to go get that exact same package for yourself... or even better.  In fact Faye... with proper motivation, education, and yes a bit of luck ANYBODY can get those things.

Additionally... the 42k in accrued vacation and sick time shows that he did not use it.  He did not take sick days nor did he take vacations...  hence a large accrual.

[FayeforCure]

In fact Faye... with proper motivation, education, and yes a bit of luck ANYBODY can get those things.

bridgetroll, most of us know: Very few can get those things, certainly at the level of Bud Nocera.

Economic Snapshots
EPI Economic Snapshots featuring data from the forthcoming SWA 2008/2009 are now available:

Dismal employment trends characterize 2000s business cycle
Read the Economic Snapshot for August 6, 2008 to see how the 2000s business cycle failed to perform on the employment front.

Growing disparities in life expectancy
While life expectancy has grown in the United States, the degree to which people live longer has become increasingly connected to their socio-economic status. In two decades, the life expectancy gap between those at the top of the socio-economic scale and those at the bottom has grown wider. Read about it in the Snapshot for July 16, 2008.

http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/previews.html

Additionally... the 42k in accrued vacation and sick time shows that he did not use it.  He did not take sick days nor did he take vacations...  hence a large accrual.

No, he was able to accrue it because it was there for him to accrue.

43% of people working in private industry have none of that to accrue. So used or unused, it's simply not available to them.

[BridgeTroll]

bridgetroll, most of us know: HARDLY anyone can get those things.

As I thought... I cannot so... you should not either.  You are correct that the percentage of folks that have his benefits are small....

THE POINT WAS... Anybody can aspire to and attain those things.  You seem envious that he got there and you and everybdy else did not.

43% of people working in private industry have none of that to accrue.

I assume there are facts out there to back this assertion up?

[FayeforCure]

bridgetroll, most of us know: HARDLY anyone can get those things.

As I thought... I cannot so... you should not either.  You are correct that the percentage of folks that have his benefits are small....

THE POINT WAS... Anybody can aspire to and attain those things.  You seem envious that he got there and you and everybdy else did not.

43% of people working in private industry have none of that to accrue.

I assume there are facts out there to back this assertion up?

It's not a  "I cannot,.....so you should not either" issue, nor is it an envy issue. The "American Dream" has become less and less attainable,.....we as workers are falling further and further behind:

You ought to read this 2005 report, knowing things are even worse today:
Supersize This: How CEO Pay Took Off While America’s Middle Class Struggled

The American dream is one of upward mobility. We believe that if you work hard andplay by the rules, you should be able to provide for your family and ensure that your children have greater opportunity than you were afforded. But today, the dream of true upward mobility has been limited to a select class of corporate executives while the dreams of middle-class families have been deferred. Corporate CEOs have enjoyed record levels of compensation and corporations have seen record profits, as more and more middle-class Americans are experiencing stagnant wages and vanishing benefits. This expanding inequality is not the American dream.

In 2004, the average CEO received 240 times more than the compensation earned by the average worker. In 2002, the ratio was 145 to 1.

http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/ceo_pay_web_final.pdf

The 43% of workers in private industry without sick leave to accrue is in the original article that started this thread.

[BridgeTroll]

limited to a select class of corporate executives

Where do these executives come from Faye?  They werent born executives.  They went to school, entered the workforce and did better than most people.  Why I even bet they worked in jobs that did not give them paid time off.  They were entry level service type jobs that are not meant to be a carreer.

These people do not my defense and that is not my intent.  Some people will always have more than others... That the CEO pay gap has increased is more a function of corporate boards and stock holders.  I assume if I offered you 245 times the pay of you co workers you would not turn it down...

[FayeforCure]

From the National Partnership of Women and Children:


Did you see the news? The swine flu is spreading so far and fast that state health officials may stop counting individual cases.

The government recommends you stay home if you’re sick, but nearly 100 million workers don’t have a single paid sick day to care for a sick child, ailing parent or spouse, or other family member.

Please take a minute to urge your elected leaders to support paid sick days today.

All workers in the United States need paid sick days. And this Monday, the Healthy Families Act will be introduced on Capitol Hill.

The Healthy Families Act is federal legislation that would let workers earn up to seven paid sick days per year.

In a nation that prides itself on family values, we need to do a better job of valuing our nation's families.

You have a voice. Make it heard.


http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=psd_alert_cosponsorHFA

[Doctor_K]

I get 5 paid sick days per year.  I also get 3 weeks of paid vacation per year, because I've been with my company for 7 years.  I also get a floating holiday.  And major holidays.

Those 100 million workers need to take that issue up with the company they work for.  It's on the individual company to determine and allocate sick time like that.  Have those people urge their Human Resources Departments to take action.  That's one of the reason an H.R. Department exists.  It's none of the Federal Government's business. 

Please stop advocating the further intrusion of Big Brother/Big Government in my life.  They're screwing everything else up as it is.

And 100 million workers?  Dubious.  The total population of the country is just over 300 million.  There are a crapload of retired persons and children not yet in the workforce - probably something like another third of the population. 

That means half the workforce in this country allegedly doesn't have sick time?  Come on...

[CrysG]

Another point that I want to point out. The people that are least likely to have sick days are people who have lower wage jobs. The jobs that most of the people on this board do not have nor would they want.

And isn't not those who work. I have a family friend who's husband makes 30/hour (which is way above the minimum wage) and who live within their means but they can't afford to add the wife to the 600 a month medical coverage his company offers to cover 2 adults. She was recently sick and because his company doesn't allow for sick leave to be used for anyone but him she was home alone and really sick.

How does that effect the greater population? He came home and took care of his wife and the next morning he took himself to work, germs and all. So think about that the next time your coworker tells you they have a love one home sick. THEY BRING THE ILLNESS WITH THEM.

[Doctor_K]

There's also the option of getting your own individual health care plan, independent of any health care coverage the company you work for offers.  It's not expensive, if you shop around. 

There's also COBRA.

[BridgeTroll]

There is plenty opposition the the Act also... Opposition does not mean you are anti worker nor anti family as we will invariably be painted.

http://www.allbusiness.com/labor-employment/compensation-benefits-employee-leave-sick/8902589-1.html

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is strongly opposed to this legislation," said Marc Freedman, director of Labor Law Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

An initial analysis conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests employers will endure an additional $71.8 billion per year in payroll costs. According to Freedman, this amounts to an average of $886 per full-time employee annually, and that taffy doesn't include the additional costs that the Healthy Families Act imposes in record keeping and paperwork burdens, lost productivity and compliance.

He also cautions that since the bill works against the popular grain, it may force companies to eliminate other paid time off, such as vacation time.

"Consider the example where a poorly funded company can barely afford to allow employees to use non-paid absences due to lost production. What would stop another employer from simply eliminating their one-week vacation benefit in exchange for a mandated sick day policy?"

Business advocates are hopeful that the bill will fall to the wayside. As Phillips concluded, "The Healthy Families Act is a fine example of the government responding to interest groups to perhaps pick up some votes on the way. The act gets employees and groups excited, especially if they don't understand a lot of the basic employment benefit design methods. There is more bark than bite in, this dog of an act."

[Doctor_K]

*Fist-bump to my fellow worker-hating, family-hating, big-oil-kowtowing Conservative*

[Doctor_K]

How about this, as an alternative to watching Medicare go broke?

You pay MediCare taxes on income up to something like $102K or $110K or some such.  After which, the percentage you're supposed to pay into it goes away.  The Obama Administration recently proposed re-introducing Medicare taxes above the $250K income level.  How about making *everyone* pay into it at the same percentage rate, regardless of income?

[BridgeTroll]

*Fist-bump to my fellow worker-hating, family-hating, big-oil-kowtowing Conservative*

[FayeforCure]

There's also the option of getting your own individual health care plan, independent of any health care coverage the company you work for offers.  It's not expensive, if you shop around. 

There's also COBRA.

HMMM. have you tried to get one with a pre-existing condition?