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I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

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Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#171

Post by acover »

knuthsat wrote: post #2

Anyone knows why people decide to do this kind of time consuming work? Is the world getting hard enough that there is no alternative? Whenever I see people working really hard in other parts of the world, especially when the country is filled with other opportunities, I always wonder is it just everyone else that is raising the bar and now the standard is very time consuming work. For example, there's year long touri…

The man in the article is working there due to golden handcuffs:

> I stay here because in two years, I'll be 62 and I have a union pension acquired over 37 years. I've spent so much time here that I might as well take that pension and social security and call it quits.

New hires keep quitting once they experience the work and schedule, which is why those who are trapped are forced to do overtime.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#172

Post by GuB-42 »

How is it legal?

I live in France, I know we have more worker protection laws than most countries, but I expected at least some from all first world countries.

Factory work is typically among the most regulated kind of work, and often unionized too. Things tend to be very clear: there is a boss, there is punch clock, it is not like software development where it is not clear when you are working and when you are not. It is easy to see exactly what is happening.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#173

Post by Mxs2000 »

mcculley wrote: post #146
alisonkisk wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You skipped rent which dwarfs all that. Fast food and sugar are cheap for what you get. Pot isn't addictive.

For many, addictions are not dwarfed by rent or other housing costs. I recommend you meet some addicts and learn of what they are going through. The myth that pot is not addictive is contradicted by the physical withdrawal symptoms experienced and described by many. These are tools to keep siphoning labor from the working class. The system is working as designed.

Can you cite your sources on "pot" being addictive?

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#174

Post by axiosgunnar »

diordiderot wrote: post #97
mcculley wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am aware of Pollan's recently well-publicized assertion that caffeine made the modern world. I am unconvinced. I quit caffeine a few years ago. I'm not an unusual mutant. I have the genes on markers rs4410790 and rs2470893 that indicate a typical reaction to caffeine. ( https://enki.org/2017/08/13/quitting-caffeine/ ) Most people experience a temporary increase in productivity until they build up a tolerance for ca…

What was your experience quitting like. I want to but am afraid

Literally just a few days of headache/foggy brain.

Then it‘s magically gone.

Not even close to a full week.

Just do it.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#175

Post by caseysoftware »

JackFr wrote: post #57

Where is the union? That has got to be the single most ineffective union I’ve ever seen. If that’s what a union shop looks like I can understand why people might not want to pay union dues.

100% agreed.

We've been told for years that THIS is what a union is supposed to fight back against and prevent or fix. If they can't accomplish their sole purpose in existing, what is the point? What are the employees paying for?

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#176

Post by gen220 »

thomasmeeks wrote: post #129
sigstoat wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All this will do is drive up the cost of housing as remote workers compete for it when you stop competing for the same strip of land, 10 miles from the pacific ocean, it turns out there's a sort of stupendous amount of land. while, yes, there will technically be some competition, in the areas under discussion i don't think it will meaningfully effect housing prices. (i could divide the amount of land in rural ameri…

https://www.businessinsider.com/missoula-montana-residents-f...

Missoula is not really the rural part of America that the parent comment is talking about. While Missoula’s population “feels” small at 75k, it’s the second largest metropolitan area (110k-ish) in the state, which has a population of a million.

I’ve been following news of this sort closely during COVID as a personal curiosity. Most of the affected towns are either (1) within 1-2 hour drive of a major metro center (e.g. northwestern CT) (2) already a major vacation destination prior to COVID (Jackson Hole, WY and friends) (3) a top-3 metro area in the state. If you check more than one box, the situation is more dramatic.

Many of these places were already changing prior to COVID, but, as in other domains, COVID has accelerated an already latent process.

Basically, Missoula’s example does not contradict their claim.

But yes, remote workers are more likely to move to a place like Missoula than a place like Philipsburg, MT.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#177

Post by nemothekid »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #133
nemothekid wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see no contradiction or flaw. What I desire is a world where it is possible for any person to survive working 20 hours a week with a couple months off. What GP is arguing is that is achieved by fixing the pay distribution, not by limiting hours. If you only limit hours but don't fix the pay problem you create perverse incentives where people have to work undocumented "overtime" or face the threat that they will b…

I am also not describing a scenario where we limit hours. While I do have ideas on solutions, I am not even proscribing a particular solution. As I said, we must first agree that we are capable of changing things. Some want to imagine everything is as it is due to unchanging natural laws, when in fact individuals and collectives made a lot of decisions along the way. I suggest we question those decisions and imagine…

Personally, I don't think that "solution" is as obscure as it is made out to be. This problem isn't new and has been studied for years. When a worker feels forced to work such arduous hours (as opposed to someone in finance or tech who puts the extra hours to get ahead), in a fair system, I assume one would ask "why didn't he just find a new job". The answer I come to is he can't - the threat of poverty is far to great in the US to even think about the uncertainty of leaving your current job, especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck. If you fix this problem then I believe most labor abuse would go away. I don't think it involves some sort of "reimagining" of novel solutions. Furthermore I think solutions involving overtime laws are just band-aids.

Unfortunately any kind of solution that tries to address the market side effects of labor will die in the US by the socialism boogeyman

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#178

Post by Daishiman »

boring_twenties wrote: post #118
distributedsean wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe people are even having this conversation. As a civilization we solved this problem about a century ago. We know the solution. In the US labour law has been subverted and undermined. Thats the problem. It's not that nothing can be done about it. Lots can be done and has been done around the globe (but predominately in advanced economies, of which the US is one).

Which civilization solved this, exactly? Of the advanced economies, Western Europe seems to have the exact issue identified by GP: the hardest working/most ambitious workers move to the US. On the other hand, in Japan "death by overwork" seems to be close to or at the level of a genuine public health crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi

This isn't obvious at all. A few very specific, niche employment areas in which the US dominates (software engineering in certain niches, medical practice, and maybe show business) have a modest influx of Western European workers, but that says nothing.

Among the reasons for emigration to the US, there's not a single living soul that says "oh, I'm not legally allowed to work enough in my area of employment to achieve my dreams". It's a laughable and ridiculous statement.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#179

Post by baron816 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #151
schwartzworld wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, definitely that and not making sure their members have security when it's time to retire.

You can get the same security from investing the money taken from your paycheck in a diverse way. That is all the company is doing.

Correct. I have a 401(k) that I put my own money into and choose the funds I invest in. If I leave my job, I can take that money with me.

Companies should auto enroll and fund employees 401(k)s, which most don't do now. But they should not require 40 years of employment to be eligible to receive ANY retirement funds.

We've been talking about non-competes on HN lately. What could be more anti-competitive than having a 40 year cliff on a major chunk of your compensation? Tech companies have a 1 year cliff on equity, and even that is outrageous.

Re: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

#180

Post by rantwasp »

codyswann wrote: post #142
rantwasp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if people want to work more that’s fine but the others should not be punished for it. you see: some people push very hard because their life is their work. They don’t have time for something else because they work a lot, and they work a lot effectively consuming what should be their free time because they don’t have the mental energy to so something else. Once you create a bit of space and disentangle yourself from y…

What industry do you work in?

software development. anybody that tells you they are working 40hours/week at full steam is bs-ing you
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