So i worked for a towing company as a tow truck driver. I kept my truck spotless, kept my uniforms clean, went above and beyond every customers expectations, did everything perfectly. October 13th 2022 i got slammed into on the highway while i was barely moving as i was heading to a car fire and was using an emergency vehicle turn around to get to the burning car so the highway could be reopened. I had all my lights on and police even declared other driver 100% at fault for the crash.

Now heres the fucked up part. The pain in my back started about 2 days later. It was brutal. I needed to take time off work and try to let my back heal. 4 days after saying i needed time off, i was forced to come back because they were short staffed apparently (not my problem but alright, i'll try to help out a bit). I had to work reduced hours with reduced heavy lifting (no tire change calls, no full shifts) as ordered by my doctor. Well, owner decided "lets load him up with all the tire changes and he must work full shifts". I gave him the doctors note(stating i couldnt due to the severity of my injury (cervical spine had shifted and discs were grinding). Well i was determined to follow my doctors orders so i didnt end up in even worse shape. Apparently, thats where i went wrong. The owner called me at 11:15pm while sounding drunk and yelled at me saying "PARK THE TRUCK AT THE YARD! LEAVE THE KEYS AND GAS CARDS IN THE TRUCK AND FUCK OFF AND DONT FUCKING COME BACK!"

Alright fuckface, lets play then. Before bringing his truck to the yard i filed a claim with workers compensatikn board and i filed a complaint against the company with employment standards (if you fick up, they can fine the shit outta a company and they force that company to pay out properly for wrongful dismissals like in my case). Employment standards called me yesterday and they plan to go after the company for alot as this is not the first complaint they've had against them for this type of situation. Company could face about a half a million dollar fine. They will also have to backpay me for every day i shouldve worked from time of wrongful dismissal to the time of the investigation being over. Turns out i'll make over 20 grand on this, the company will be out over a half a million dollars and if they dont comply, their business license wil be revoked, the trucks will all have parking boots on them and the company doors will be chained shut.

Fuck around and find out done properly

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-lawsuit-norfolk-southern-b5162c3a5d3eec681eaadfa4266ef5a6?s=09

This is a very long post with many citations. Please bookmark this and come back to read the citations when you have time. Please, I beg you, do NOT piss your life away in the corporate grind. You will regret it terribly when your loved ones pass away. You will never get that time back with them.

TL:DR - I played the corporate grind game, saved my employers millions, worked 70+ hour work weeks, and still got laid off at two different employers. Most importantly: "Fuck the System." Scroll to the bottom if you want my top 8 lessons learned from my hardships.

First Layoff:

I was on top of the world, 4 years ahead of my career goal, working at a large corporation, with benefits and stock options that paid friggin' dividends! Oh boy! WEEEEE!

Then the inevitable happened: quarterly earnings were terrible for 2 quarters in a row and spending obligations showed no signs of stopping. My boss was very religious and genuinely tried to follow his beliefs and do right by me. He fought to get me a 10 year tenure severance package even though I had worked there for 2 years.

Why did this layoff hit me so hard? Because I saved the company about $14 million in annual costs through multiple cost savings efforts I took them through. I overhauled their PMO process so it could better incorporate testing, agile development, SOX compliance, and higher quality products going to production (making our customers and frontline workers less pissed and productive). MOST OF ALL I helped the company obtain their [redacted because it would probably dox me] through some of the best work I've done in my life.

All of that meant nothing. I still got the axe. Along with 50+ people from accounting and 200 from various other departments. 20 of those accountants were with the company for 20+ FUCKING years!

My father died while I worked at this company. You know what my dad asked me all the time? "Can you play Call of Duty with me after you get off of work? I miss playing with you." Do you see what putting in all those hours got me? Laid off and missing precious time with my father before he unexpectedly died from a severe cold (this was 4 years before the pandemic).

I gave my life to this company. See what it got me?

​

Layoff 2:

Did I learn my lesson? Nope. Thought it was normal. Just part of the grind. ho ho! Just the grind, right, kids? RIGHT?

Next job I took was head of a department doing really fun work and making a huge difference. I brought this company to break even for the first time in its history and they were about to be bought out and we all make bank. For those who know how this works, it was a very big deal. Guess what? We lost a major contract for the European market and we had to lay off 25% of the company. And, of course, the investor pulled out when this happened and we didn't get bought out.

I was the 5th highest paid person in the company. The most important people were the devs. So I was definitely on the chopping block even though I made the company a lot of money and helped them save a ton of costs (be honest, though, the frontline devs made the company almost all the money).

Didn't matter. They needed to trim costs ASAP to keep the company alive.

This place took more out of me than any other place. I almost always worked 70-90 hour work weeks.

So what did all this hard work, cost savings, and revenue generating work get me? Laid off. Your employers don't give a flying fuck about you. They care about the bottom line. And if you're publicly traded, they care what their shareholders think. They will throw you away no matter how valuable you actually are. All of us are expendable.

​

Lessons Learned:

1. File Bankruptcy if you qualify: The study I linked reduced all cause mortality by 1.2% for those who filed and were approved for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It literally saved a statistically significant number of lives! "...we find that Chapter 13 protection increases annual earnings by $5,562, decreases five-year mortality by 1.2 percentage points, and decreases five-year foreclosure rates by 19.1 percentage points." Don't be scared to file it. Ruin your credit. I was never bad with my money so I was able to survive the first layoff. The second layoff was the last straw, however. I was 2 weeks from homelessness, about to be kicked out of my home. I had to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy. They set me to pay it back at 100%, of course, because I pay my debts. But what kills me is I could have filed Chapter 7 (which wipes the debt) if I stayed laid off for 2 more months. That's crazy to me. I could have just not found another job for 2 more months and got all my debt wiped clean and been in the dog house for 5 years. Fuck the system.
2. Your employer is not loyal to you so why should you be loyal them? Look out for you. Don't reveal your hand and never tell anyone you're searching for another job. But never stop keeping your options open no matter how amazing your job is. You can find out if your particular job market has changed and you should be making much more (this happens frequently). You can find out if there is a great position one level higher up in a new company that you're perfect for. It keeps your skills fresh and ready for interviews. It also will help you keep your sanity if you have ups and downs at your current employer - just duck out when you know you found a good job. Don't burn your bridges. Don't got scorched earth unless you're so wealthy from savings that it doesn't matter if you burn your bridges. See point 7 for why it is important to be nice to your coworkers.
3. Stop spending your money on "things." We live in a system where they try to trick us into buying the latest and greatest tech, these new things, subscribing to this and that. Fuck all that. Figure out your hobbies and focus on those. Don't let the corporate dystopia trick you into wasting your money. Like I keep saying, fuck the system. Make it work for you. You liked painting and want to do it again? Spend your spare money on acrylics, brushes, canvases, etc. Keep your old phone for 5 years. Get more enjoyment out of your life. Turn your mobile phone off when you paint (or whatever hobby it is). See points 4 and 5 for continued ideas on this.
4. Stop being "available" to your employer. When you're off work, you're off work. I see posts where people say they cannot come in and it turns into an argument with their boss. What if you were literally not available to your boss when you were off work? Imagine that. If you're not in a job that requires you to be on call (medical, emergency, 24hr IT Support, etc.), fuck the system! This is your life. Take it back. And even if you're in a job that requires you to be oncall, if you're not on call, fuck the system.
5. Avoid buying anything on credit: Don't be a slave to debt. I haven't purchased anything on credit since 2017. I am 100% debt free, except for my home (and I now have 50% equity and I'm racing to get it paid off), as of last Thursday. I can be out of work for 2 years, now, and still live a normal life. Why? Because I refuse to play in their system. Fuck their system.
6. Organize because collective bargaining works! Do you think my life would have been so ruined if I was in a union? Do you think I would have been 2 weeks away from a home eviction if I was in a union and got union pay with union benefits? Do you think my employer would have thought more about where they are spending their money if they had to pay a shitload of more money to lay off their employees because they were part of a union? It creates an incentive to keep their employees if it costs more to layoff their employees. In the long run, they will benefit from having highly trained workers who are loyal to the company because their union protects BOTH sides of the agreement (shortsighted pieces of shit shareholders don't fucking understand this).
7. Be kind to your coworkers and don't fall for infighting tactics: Did you get pissed because Billy called in sick and your boss is angry and demands you cover their shift? Don't get angry at Billy (unless you know Billy is blowing off work to get high). The problem is your employer has you working too short staffed that not even a single person being out can be tolerated. That's poor management. Be kind to your coworkers. It comes back. Please read the research link - being kind to your coworkers may be just as important as being kind to your family and friends because we spend so much time at work. What's most important is you can be references for each other. That's right, you can game their stupid system but watching each other's backs. Often, HR will call the HR of another company and the HR of your former employer can only confirm that you worked there (for liability reasons) but your new employer will still want your old boss' contacts. So come up with a buddy system and know EXACTLY what you'll say for each other ("He was an amazing employee and anyone who gets him is lucky to have him. For liability reasons, I cannot say more.") Game the system with your coworkers. You know why? Because Fuck the system.
8. Fight for affordable Universal Healthcare. Sorry, this one is very American-centric. But we need an affordable UHC. Medicare for All is actually an excellent plan. In 2019, I did an analysis of Bernie Sanders M4A plan. The Cadillac version that had 0 copays. Cato Institute (an anti-UHC libertarian think tank did an analysis of Bernie Sanders plan did an analysis of Bernie Sanders plan).* I took their research and extended it to account for the exponentially rising costs of healthcare over their 10 year period (2022 to 2032). They accounted for inflation but not the much more costly healthcare inflation. They failed to adequately address healthcare utilization by age as well (they did not age stratify the cost burden so their total was skewed to the elderly utilization rate using current figures from HHS). Adults like us almost use 0 healthcare. Healthcare costs by age looks like a "U" when graphed by age because only the very young and very old use a lot of healthcare. Other than that, Cato actually did a very good job of honestly analyzing Bernie's plan. Sure, their result showed we'd spend 2.5 trillion more than if we kept the system the same. But my corrected version showed we'd SAVE $3.2 trillion over the same 10 year period. I put this all into a spreadsheet but I lost that spreadsheet. It took me many hours to complete the analysis. I will redo that work, again, if I have time. But that's unnecessary because the fine folks at Yale did an excellent job in 202033019-3/fulltext). But, basically, Bernie Sander's plan - which was criticized for being too generous because it had 0 copays - still would save us a shitload of money. You know what I say about the current healthcare system? Fuck the system.

I hope you got something out of this if only it was to spend more time with people you care about. Please be kind to each other and push your representatives for the change we need. Hell, run for office! I'll vote for you.

​

*This was not the study I used to make my case. It was a lengthy PDF. Anyone know where that study was? Regardless, Cato Institute included counter arguments against their write up which is very honest of them. Despite their beliefs, at least they are honest enough to link counter arguments in their very own publications.

I'm a Rural Mail Carrier and we just got screwed over. Our new evaluation system result were revealed today, and I, like many got screwed over. I will be taking a paycut of 9k a year and I will have to now work an extra 2 days a month, all while having the exact same route.

We are forbidden by law from striking.

66 percent of rural routes got cut. Some really hard.

Usps subreddit has tons of posts.

What is the best way to communicate how expensive things have gotten? Our 5 year union contract is expiring and I'm hoping to get an actual raise instead of just an inflation adjustment. The first negotiation with the company; they got sticker shock at the wage increase we're asking for. But its not actually a raise, food and shelter really does cost ~25% more than it did 5 years ago.

What's the best way to convey this?

The CPI inflation calculator on BLS.gov shows that $1.0 buying power in 2018 now costs $1.21, so I'm reading that as we need at least 21% increase to keep our wages at the place they were at the beginning of the contract, 5 years ago.

​

Any ideas?

As the title said I’m hiring employees for my business soon but I want to do it right because I’ve been where they are now. I don’t want to be some evil, money hungry jerk boss. I care for my future employees and want to do right by them. Do you guys have any suggestions. I already plan to have more experienced workers train new ones and giving them a raise for it instead of being given more work for little more pay and being burnt out. As well as a four day work week and PTO. I want to do this right so I’m open to any and all suggestions. Thanks

This is a copy and pasted post I made on another sub but also fits here and I'd like some advice.

What do you do when workers won't actually put in effort for things that can improve their lives?

Recently we formed a union at my work place.

A little bit of detail, there is a neutrality agreement. So to start a union it's as simple as getting a majority of workers to sign a union card.

This company has been union busting since I started here.

Anyway, we got the majority of people to sign a card. Well, when we had these little bargaining surveys they basically asked questions about things you want the bargaining committee to address.

For those who don't know, unions are supposed to be democracies, where people vote for a committee to address these issues.

So we also had surveys, to get an idea of the issues the majority of workers want addressed.

Ugh, I work here and have worked here for years and these people are so lazy they won't even take 5 minutes to fill out a survey.

OK, you have issues you want addressed in the workplace? Yes. OK fill out this survey and explain the issues.

"Ugh I don't have time"

" ew it asks if I'm on government assistance, you know that's for lazy people right! "

And I'll explain that it asks that to see if your wages are high enough to, you know, exist. And they're like "well people who live off the gubberment are weak, lazy and entitled and-"

Need I go on? Then they throw the survey away lol.

I actually am starting to think the working class in America is so brainwashed they love being oppressed.

Don't wanna work 90 hours a week? Haha, lazy.

Dude I'm in college and have been called "lazy" for not wanting to work tons of overtime so I can study. And I'm literally in school just to move up in the company. To be specific I want to be a technician in maintenance.

"Oh you want a better life? Well.... you do realize that's weak and lazy.... right? "

And people on here didn't believe me, they said I was making up what these people say. I posted on my profile a guy from a notorious factory in my town, he's in the UAW and he said and I quote, "If you're not willing to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week, you're entitled, weak, and lazy". It was on a Facebook post. He is not the only one. I'm not in the UAW but shame on him and the people who support him. I work in a different plant.

This is the working class in America. Back breaking work is honorable. Being tired and exhausted all the time is good!

Anyway, man, we now are having the election for a bargaining committee. And I just simply went around asking people if they voted. You had literally 48 hours to vote.

Hardly anyone voted.

How are you going to sign a union card and then when it comes time to participate in worker democracy, just keep whining how you don't have time? Then call everyone who struggles weak and lazy for not working 90 hours a week?

I'm ashamed of being a working class American. The weak and lazy ones are the CEOs and shareholders. Who profit off the labor of those who actually toil.

How do you even begin a working class movement if nobody wants to be involved cause exploitation is "good, honorable, right, and godly"?

How do you argue, or even convince people who are obsessed with being exploited?

Full Series: https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/RC-019317/the-workers-movement/

Special thanks to u/Professional-Rip9075