I need to rant and this seems like it'd be the best place for it.
(I'm doing this on my phone so sorry if it looks weird)
My dad is almost 50 and works as a metal finisher, he's been doing this for most of his adult life. From this he had slipped and herniated disks in his back, leaving him with chronic back pain. A few years ago he dislocated his shoulder but couldn't take time off from work so he popped it back, didn't see a doctor and ignored it.
At his current job he's worked there for 7, going on 8 years, and they take advantage of him so much. He's the company's hardest worker, he does the extra work they throw at him without complaining. He wakes up at 3am to drive to another state to be there at 4:30 am. Sometimes he stays late because of the amount of work that needs to be done. He barely gets benefits there, he has health insurance but they barely cover shit. This absolutely blows my mind considering the deadly chemicals he works with. He has thousands of dollars owed in hospital bills from injuries and general wear and tear on his body from this job. He has a decent pay but when adding in his bills and car maintenance it barely covers it, definitely not if he has to go to the doctor. He hasn't seen one in years because he can't pay for it without breaking the bank.
Today my dad comes home and starts talking about how they can fire him if they want, they kept piling up work on his bench despite there being a bunch of other people. It got to the point he said “fuck this shit I'm out” which is very unlike my dad when he's working. The man is a workaholic and if he got to that mentality and walked out hours before his shift was over I know it was bad.
It breaks my heart seeing my dad kill himself for a job that doesn't appreciate him and borderline abuses him. I want him to be treated with the respect he deserves but that seems to not be possible in the current job market. If he gets fired he'll have to start from the bottom and work his way up again, which our family would most likely take extremely hard. The worst thing about it is that I can't do anything about it.
As time goes on I get more and more pessimistic about the future. More and more people are losing everything while not being paid enough and everything is costing more but the rich just gain more. Hard working people are treated like nothing more than a tool rather than a human being. It's almost surreal and I can't stop thinking about the industrial revolution and the chaos that came with it, as if it's happening again but with technology.