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U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

bloomberg.com

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Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#21

Post by whb07 »

whiddershins wrote: post #17

I hate to say it but, at this point this kinda stuff comes across as anti-American propaganda to me. It’s always an assertion that the U.S. is terrible on some metric that upon further digging was measured in some arbitrary way to get the desired conclusion. Here’s the thing: living in the United States, for a significant percentage of the population, is pretty awesome. For people not within that group, maybe it is e…

The poorest states in US have higher wealth than the GDP/capita of say UK and other western EU countries.

What does that tell you?

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#22

Post by pessimizer »

reedwolf wrote: post #2

US needs to emulate more worker-friendly nations like South Korea and Japan.

It's horrific to read, but it's true. I hear terrifying stories about the work culture and expectations in South Korea and Japan that make me feel sorry for the people who work in those countries, but I have far worse ones about working in the US (personally, from the news, from lawsuits, and from government investigations) that I could tell people in South Korea and Japan that they could never imagine happening in their countries.

edit: they're just very different. Workers have very few rights at all in the US. I'm pretty sure all we have left is the right to annoy our employers if we feel they've treated us in a racist, sexist, or homophobic way. We'll never get a settlement out of it if we carry it through to the end, but maybe they'll give us a few bucks and admit to nothing in order to save the money they would have spent on lawyers and lobbyists to crush us. You don't have that recourse at all if the employer just decides to fire you one day because they just don't like your face.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#23

Post by jawns »

cryptica wrote: post #10
whb07 wrote: post #6

While at the same time this is the real headline “U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries”. Conversely: “Highly paid tech workers in the US believe Marxism will do wonders for the average person”

>> U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries” This is because US has very good marketing and most of the numbers are deceptive. I think if you ask typical US immigrants how the reality corresponds with their prior expectations, I think the theme will be disappointment. Huge US salaries sound very attractive to people from other countries, but I think that when they actually arrive o…

I read a profile a few years ago about a poor Mexican town whose male residents almost all spent the early part of their working years in one particular rural area of Delaware. They would work hard and send back a substantial amount to their families in their hometown, then they would return home a few years later with enough money to buy a home or open a business.

I found it interesting that most expressed a sense of gratitude toward Delaware and the U.S., even though they were doing unenviable jobs and earning unenviable wages.

But it certainly seems like there was still the potential for a type of arbitrage: earn as much as you can in a place where earnings are comparatively high, while keeping your cost of living as low as possible, and then take all your savings back home, where the money goes a lot farther.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#24

Post by socialdemocrat »

Does not surprise me. As a Norwegian I have experienced working for smaller companies getting bought up by US multinationals in many occasions.

The new American bosses tend to be surprised that employees have rights.

I remember they went through their employee handbook covering the rules we should follow.

Some of the rules they had on the books which was illegal in Norway:

1. Ban talking about politics and religion at work. Illegal in Norway as freedom of speech is a protected by government.

2. Drug tests of employees. Also illegal unless you operate heavy and dangerous equipment and have been given special permission by government to do such tests.

3. Criminal background checks. Also illegal unless you work with say children or in the military.

Of course we also kept hearing stories about how our colleagues in the US offices got treated. Not very nice. People got fired on the spot and kicked out.

In Norway you got to give a 2-3 month notice. You cannot suddenly spring on people “you are fired!”

And the reason for firing has to be legitimate. Insubordination e.g. isn’t a valid reason to be fired in Scandinavia. You have to be clearly neglectful of your job, or there has to be economic hard times.

Hence you don’t have to be worried about getting fired for say pissing off your boss as long as you are doing a decent job.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#25

Post by stormdennis »

whb07 wrote: post #21
whiddershins wrote: post #17

I hate to say it but, at this point this kinda stuff comes across as anti-American propaganda to me. It’s always an assertion that the U.S. is terrible on some metric that upon further digging was measured in some arbitrary way to get the desired conclusion. Here’s the thing: living in the United States, for a significant percentage of the population, is pretty awesome. For people not within that group, maybe it is e…

The poorest states in US have higher wealth than the GDP/capita of say UK and other western EU countries. What does that tell you?

People in the UK don't live in trailer parks

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#26

Post by everydaydriver »

cryptica wrote: post #10
whb07 wrote: post #6

While at the same time this is the real headline “U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries”. Conversely: “Highly paid tech workers in the US believe Marxism will do wonders for the average person”

>> U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries” This is because US has very good marketing and most of the numbers are deceptive. I think if you ask typical US immigrants how the reality corresponds with their prior expectations, I think the theme will be disappointment. Huge US salaries sound very attractive to people from other countries, but I think that when they actually arrive o…

U.S. advertises itself as a place to immigrate to? I think it does very well on that front without any "marketing".

It's not perfect, but it's still the greatest country in the world with an economic system that is second to none.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#27

Post by socialdemocrat »

chapium wrote: post #3

Strange not including China as a major economy. I thought they were huge!

The article said major developed economies. If you read t he article it is pretty clear what they are talking about.

Don’t just comment after reading the headline.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#29

Post by socialdemocrat »

unnouinceput wrote: post #19
chapium wrote: post #3

Strange not including China as a major economy. I thought they were huge!

They are no.2, this article is kinda bs. US is 1st, China 2nd, which means this article is off by at least 1 place for US.

No, read the article. It clarifies in the beginning what sort of countries they are ranking. I suspect you only read the headline.

Re: U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers’ Rights Among Major Economies

#30

Post by matz1 »

cryptica wrote: post #10
whb07 wrote: post #6

While at the same time this is the real headline “U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries”. Conversely: “Highly paid tech workers in the US believe Marxism will do wonders for the average person”

>> U.S ranked first as country most desired to immigrate to among all countries” This is because US has very good marketing and most of the numbers are deceptive. I think if you ask typical US immigrants how the reality corresponds with their prior expectations, I think the theme will be disappointment. Huge US salaries sound very attractive to people from other countries, but I think that when they actually arrive o…

>Huge US salaries sound very attractive to people from other countries, but I think that when they actually arrive on the ground and they realize how high the costs of living are (especially rents), and they realize that they have almost 0 negotiating power due to visa requirements, the salaries don't look so good anymore.

On the contrary, they realize they can make a lot of money here and then bring their friend and relatives to come here.

When you compare that salary with what they get in their home country, it really put it in perspective.

I don't know why you think its the marketing, in fact usa actively discourage and make it really difficult for people to emigrate here.

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