[Winona Online Democracy] Hello Mark and Winona Online Democracy Readers, Mark's lack of sick days is sad. Unfortunately, I think his company is more of the rule rather than the exception. My first reaction was, "wow, the heartless and cruel humans that run the company must not care about people or morals, don't they have children of their own or go to church?" Then I realized that even if the leaders of that company wanted to grant the best benefits to their employees, they might not be able to because it would place them at a market disadvantage. Their operating expenses would rise which in turn would cause their prices to rise which in turn would put them at a disadvantage with their competitor's lower prices. For me, this is a good example of two things: 1. An appropriate role for government would be to require that the benefits be applied to all businesses on a national (and global?) level so that no business could use the excuse that it would make them less competitive. That way no one business would be forced to lower their standards to compete with the low wages or non existant benefit plans of other companies. (Unfortunately, we are being pitted in a race to the bottom against each other with the NAFTA-WTO and FTAA plans that the Republicans and Democrats are shoving down our throats behind close doors. The quality of life for a Winona family is now directly related to the quality of life for a family in Mexico, China, and Pakistan.) 2. Americans are great consumers and lousy citizens. We know how to shop until we drop but we let these terrible abuses happen to ourselves and don't do anything about it. We are more like sheep than informed and active citizens. Look at most countries in Europe and a few other places in the world. Our occasional 2 week vacations look pretty embaressing compared to their 6 week vacations. Our new "global royalty" are the politicians and corporate leaders around the world who have more in common with one another than with their own citizens. They will never "give" us the benefits. We have to demand them just like common people throughout history have had to demand democracy, freedom of speech, mininum wage laws, equal rights for women, the end of slavery, etc. It's so frustrating to see so many "well educated" people waiting for someone to give them something. The right to take care of oneself and family members is not a gift that someone gives us, it's a basic human right that everyone is born with. Greed and power seem to trump morals and justice in almost every corner of our lives today. (Won't even mention health care or poverty.) Marks example is sad but it could inspire others to speak up and realize they are not alone in their suffering or their wishes for a better world. Thanks Mark. :-> Dwayne Voegeli ================== >X-Originating-IP: [199.17.159.103] >From: "Mark J. Westpfahl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Winona] WinCrafts "Sick Days" and vacation NOT TOO GOOD. >Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 17:01:14 -0500 >Mime-Version: 1.0 >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 May 2001 22:01:15.0156 (UTC) >FILETIME=[E5FE1540:01C0DA65] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk > >[Winona Online Democracy] > > >Well, I can see alot of different views, and I understand just about all >of them, from both sides. I just want to let you all know how WinCraft >percieves "sick days" > >*We get none. However, you are free to use a vacation day...if you can get >it approved by your boss. > >but > >*you only get a certain amount of vacation days. > >I have 8 vacation days and have been working there for two years. > >When I started at WinCraft, we didn't even get vacation until at least a >year and a half from when you started...depending on if you made the >Wincraft Start date cutoff of March. I started in May, so TECHNICALLY, I >was supposed to work until March of the next year, and then 1 FULL YEAR >before I was to get any vacation...remember this is without ANY "Sick >Days" so if you needed vacation, or happened to be sick, you could get >fired. Finally the company wised up a little in my opinion, and started >giving prorated vacation...for the most part. > >So, after a year and a half, I only had three vacation days. > >I understand the dilema of sick days from the companies stand point... > >but I wish they could see from an employess standpoint too. > > > >Sometimes a person of great health may fall sick. Sometimes there IS >NOTHING thatcould have been done to prevent the sickness. Not only are you >missing work, and feeling miserable, but you have to decide if you are >going to try to get a vacation day passed by your boss, and skip out on >future family plans, or you can not use the day, it goes on your employee >file, your boss may choose to yell at you for "deserting" your co-workers, >and (i used the term in no neagtive feelings) "forcing" more stress, and >work on your co-workers because you were being "selfish" and not thinking >about what they will have to do without you at work. > >Sometimes people don't go to work when they are sick because they don't >want to pass there illness on to others, because they know they just went >through hell! > >So, I thought I would say what happens at my work, and hope to compair >that to other businesses. > >Either way, you are in a lose situation. You kinda get screwed twice. >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <http://explorer.msn.com> >http://explorer.msn.com > ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy >Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or >unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual >name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. >Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
