- McJobs and Workers -

Vicious laws...

Posted by: Red Deathy ( SPGB, Uk ) on October 23, 1998 at 15:18:09:

In Reply to: OK, look... posted by Shaun on October 23, 1998 at 00:59:43:

: What I was saying, was that no McD employee,computer programmer, police officer or teacher etc... should be allowed to walk off thier shift to join a demonstration. They have a job to do and as long as thier employer is paying them they are expected to perform thier job.

Well, in France they do, they have a legal and consititional individual (which explains why despite low union membership the french can organise such huge strikes) right to strike. here the wild cat strike, or 'downing tools' has been made illegal by law (the most repressive anti-trades union laws in Europe). If conditions are unsafe, if management do not behave properly, if the workers have a legitimate demand, of course they can down tools and set up a picket, thats all they can do, its the only way to fight to improve conditions...

: However, we will not bend the rules to make someone happy. If an employee hates cleaning the dining room tables, thats too bad, he can quit. If an employee hates working on drive thru, does that mean we should shut down drive thru to make them happy? If they hate washing dishes, should we just keep re-using dirty dishes? Of course not.

Indeed, because perfomring those tasks is what they are paid for, but if employees found the washing water uncomfortably hot, couldn't they ask for the store to provide rubber gloves (if it doesn't already), if tehy get dirty doing teh cleaning, they have a right to expect or demand proper washing facilities for teh staff. most store do this already, so...
Likewsie, if they feel endangered at teh drive thru window, they can strike for security measures- striking is about getting the conditions so you can do your job, safely, humanely, and without being degraded.

: We don't force anyone to work there. When they come in for thier interview, we make it perfectly clear what we expect of them. If they hate thier job, they can talk to us and we will see what we can do to make them happy. If you don't want to work there, then quit.

They might like the job, but hate the manager.

:That goes for any job or career. There will always be plenty of people after you who want to work there.

Indeed, and that is why striking to improve conditions might mean you get to keep that job, and enjoy it...



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