Author: Olivia

As the title suggests, I got laid off Jan 27th from my first post grad job (21F). I started out at $13/hr and moved up to $17/hr. The two people hired shortly after me didn’t qualify for the raises in time so they’re still making less than what my ending hourly was. I saw a post today of the company celebrating their anniversary and had all my coworkers in the photo plus a new face. So, I’m willing to bet they laid me off to hire someone at my starting wage to save money since we had lost some clients once they realized quick just how much work I did within the company and had to replace me. They had me replaced within 3 weeks for that photo. And I’m still unemployed and no one wants to pay even $15/hr.

Companies that used to make huge profits used to give bonuses to their employees as thanks for their efforts. It seems most companies have just let that fall by the wayside. Record profits and since nobody is demanding them, why share with those profits with the people who helped you earn them?

Unions strike me as a rather passive body, which reacts against ill treatment of its members rather than proactively lashing out at errant employers. Strikes are slow to mobilize, and collective action is lethargic, given the reactive/passive nature of unions. This also makes unions susceptible to busting and attacks. I was thinking: what if we are able to get a large percentage of working class folks to sign up to a e.g. “Labour Collective”? This labour collective would act as a gatekeeper to labour that employers need. I.e. when a McDonalds is hiring, the labour collective will speak to that McDonalds branch, ask them how many people they need, and then fight for a higher wage outright, or deny labour disbursement outright to that McDonalds branch + blacklist that branch by attacking them on social media. Something like a middle-man recruitment agency, but acts on behalf of the labour class…

Background: Located in Texas. I work in a field that is incredibly corrupt and corporations generally just take advantage of kids with special needs for hefty insurance payouts. Like $100k+ is generated annually per kid regardless of whether progress is made or not. Despite the prevalence of really bad practices in the industry, my certification board requires that I provide 30 days' notice. I once got a slap on the wrist for refusing to participate in felony fraud despite submitting a literal binder of evidence. I was really transparent in my interview that I didn't want anything to do with fraud and cutting corners because of that, and assumed that I had found somewhere decent when they sent an employment offer anyway. I'm an idiot and I took a $10k signing bonus, but I was smart enough to never sign anything agreeing to payroll deductions, as written authorization is required…

If you aren’t an engineer, or if you don’t have an in-demand grad degree, you probably won’t be able to retire. Meanwhile, you have probably had to politely deal with a multigenerational tech shit@!& at work.

so my last day at my current job is this Monday, but before i put my notice in i asked my manager if i could work from home for an entire month for ramadan. for those who don’t know, ramadan is a religious month where we don’t eat from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. i wanted to work from home since i won’t have food or water in my system the entire work day and it would just be better if i worked from home. today i found out he called it stupid and said it infront of a bunch of people, not me, one of my friends told me. so i need some advice. if i go to HR on monday and tell them what he said and i have witnesses, will they do anything because it’s my last day? i’m also thinking about confronting my manager and…