Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–246 of 246 posts

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

#241

Post by buckwheatone »

baron816 wrote: post #84

> 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. Had they not been locked in by the pension, I'd imagine most of them would've quit, and Frito-Lay would've been force to improve conditions. I wonder if unions prefer pensions pretty much for the same reason--it all…

"Locked in" needs some clarification. For the overwhelming majority of defined benefit pensions, employees vest in (become qualified to receive) their benefits within the first 5 years of their service. They only need to wait until they've met the payout provisions of the plan...something like 55 years old and 10+ years of service for early retirement, for example.

What's more likely is that employees are sticking around because their years of service factors into their ultimate benefit payout once they retire. More years of service (up to a limit, typically) gets a higher benefit. And this probably only matters for the employees who've been around longest because the plan is probably frozen to new entrants.

The employee being quoted is weighing the value he'll get from adding 2 more years to his benefit formula vs going somewhere else for higher pay.

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

#242

Post by codyswann »

rantwasp wrote: post #180
codyswann wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What industry do you work in?

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

I run a software development company. I don't care if employees work 40 hours / week or 4 hours per week as long as they hit their deadlines.

That said, 100%, straight coding for 40 hours / week is probably unrealistic, but that's not really the full job description of a software developer.

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

#243

Post by pedalpete »

phnofive wrote: post #157
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.

Well, they're on strike.

But look how long it took and how much harm was done. The union should have headed this off long ago.

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

#244

Post by rantwasp »

codyswann wrote: post #242
rantwasp wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I run a software development company. I don't care if employees work 40 hours / week or 4 hours per week as long as they hit their deadlines. That said, 100%, straight coding for 40 hours / week is probably unrealistic, but that's not really the full job description of a software developer.

this is the right attitude. Things should be results oriented not hours-worked oriented. The problem with the industry is that the factory worker metaphor still persists when knowledge work is nothing like producing something in a repetitive manner.

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

#245

Post by raffraffraff »

Tarucho wrote: post #71
Kwpolska wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working 7 days a week all the time is not legal in the EU, see [0]. Also, many EU countries have even stricter local regulations in that regard. https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/workin...

But are the regulations enforced?

I would say yes and no. If you (the employee) are heavily invested in the success of the company because you have a lot of stock options, or its success would look great on your work history, or you lied about having certain skills and now you have to work double to get the job done while learning, then you might decide to put in crazy hours. But that is a don't ask / don't tell situation. If there is any record that management knew you were working 7 days straight, then they would be in the soup. But ultimately this gives the power to the employee. At a previous company where I was that overworking employee, management tried to force a new oncall rota onto the whole team which clearly took the piss, I was able to pull on the ripcord and say "fuck, no". Unfortunately this put more pressure on the US team. And if management try to fire you in Europe they better have a better reason than "wouldn't work longer hours" or "knows their rights", so you're protected when you do raise the concern.

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

#246

Post by Bayart »

Tarucho wrote: post #71
Kwpolska wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working 7 days a week all the time is not legal in the EU, see [0]. Also, many EU countries have even stricter local regulations in that regard. https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/workin...

But are the regulations enforced?

As an employer, you don't want to be on the bad side of labour court.
Post reply on HN