Hello ,
I've been following this sub for several months and I just wanted to give you another point of view from an other country.
I work for a big French company. I work 37 hours a week and not a minute more or i get payed for that. Economic dismissals are prohibited by law in my company, an employee can only be dismissed in the event of individual fault. If a factory or office close , all staff must be reclassified to another unit in the group.
I have totally free medical coverage and there are medical offices reserved exclusively for employees with general practitioners and specialists in every big cities. Consultations are completely free and appointments are made within a week, you can even make an appointment during your working time.
I have 5 weeks of paid vacation per year with an obligation to take 15 consecutive days of vacation during the summer, i.e. three weeks off (5 days off and weekends each week).
The salary grid is public, if you know the grade of your colleague, you can easily find out his salary. Also, everything is transparent, we talk about salary, benefits, union even in the workplace.
I was a manager for 15 years, I never fired anyone. I asked my collaborators to come to an agreement among themselves before asking for the summer holidays and I did not, I believe, refuse any request. We are entitled to 5 days of vacation per year for sick children. In the event of illness, our salary is maintained at 100% except for the first sick day and this for a maximum of one year (or 3 years in the event of serious illness). Our retirement wage at age 62 is calculated on the average of the salaries received the last 6 months before leaving the company (70% of this salary).
And of course, we have a unionization rate of 20%, we have obtained all these advantages in 50 years of struggle, Don't think we got all this as a gift from the compagny, there were fights, strikes, and many demonstrations.
Don't give up the fight my friends, you are more numerous than them, you can win!
Our lives are worth more than their profit .