Exploitation at work..

CyberDave

Does anybody know where I would find more info on Exploitation at work?

RATM

What info are you after? Academic? The main trade unions should have something on their websites about it. If not then the ILO (International Labour Organisation) has plenty of research in that field on a global scale. If you're looking for something more local then go sniffing around au pairs and Filipino nannies working on work permits in posh gaffs in South County Dublin.

CyberDave

No, for personal reasons. In my current job the amount of work you are expected to get through is absolutely colossal. When I started there were 4 designers in my section and now we are down to 2 and still expected to produce the same amount of work as 4. We get no breaks, which is shocking considering that 95% of my day is spent staring at a computer screen and any text messaging or personal calls are frowned upon.

gollem_1975

CyberDave wrote: »

No, for personal reasons. In my current job the amount of work you are expected to get through is absolutely colossal. When I started there were 4 designers in my section and now we are down to 2 and still expected to produce the same amount of work as 4. We get no breaks, which is shocking considering that 95% of my day is spent staring at a computer screen and any text messaging or personal calls are frowned upon.

so they're down to 2 people from 4 people.

were you able to take breaks , text message, personal calls when there were 4 of you ?

afaik there are some EU regulations/guidelines for people who work in front of a computer with regards to breaks every 45 minutes or something.

I would guess that if they are down to 2 staff from 4 they are not going to be in a hurry to lose you or have you needing to take time off work for sick leave/stress leave.

You are entitled to breaks my law
Texting and personal calls at work is frowned upon in many companies.

CyberDave

gollem_1975 wrote: »

so they're down to 2 people from 4 people.

were you able to take breaks , text message, personal calls when there were 4 of you ?

afaik there are some EU regulations/guidelines for people who work in front of a computer with regards to breaks every 45 minutes or something.

I would guess that if they are down to 2 staff from 4 they are not going to be in a hurry to lose you or have you needing to take time off work for sick leave/stress leave.

Personal calls & messages were always frowned upon. I could go off sick, but they don't pay for sick days or overtime it seems. I have worked in 5 companies at this stage and never have I been abused/mistreated like this. The owner/boss has absolutely no respect for us employees. We also get paid our salaries by cheque, which are not given to us until the 28th of every month and then doesn't clear for 4/5 days. Obviously I'm not going to say who I work for, but I am so pissed off with this, I feel like I should report them to some authority...

pete_mcs

Similar experience at my new job. Expected to work 70 hour work weeks, for a flat rate. Every second of your day is tracked and monitored. A month to month contract is all you get, and this is dangled in front of you to ensure you do all the overtime they want. A 4 min toilet break is what you are allowed. An hour a day is what you get for a 12 hour shift, a job that you spend on your feet.

gollem_1975

pete_mcs wrote: »

Similar experience at my new job. Expected to work 70 hour work weeks, for a flat rate. Every second of your day is tracked and monitored. A month to month contract is all you get, and this is dangled in front of you to ensure you do all the overtime they want. A 4 min toilet break is what you are allowed. An hour a day is what you get for a 12 hour shift, a job that you spend on your feet.

I don't envy you man, I hope the money is good.

Whatever happened to the a 48 hour week ??

btw Were these conditions in your contract ( that presumably you signed ) ?

pete_mcs

The money is crap, but I expected that, and am not annoyed about that. I can even get over the overtime, the extra money comes in handy, if you play it right you can still have 4 days off in a row every second week. At the interview I was asked if I would be willing to work Sundays on overtime, which I agreed to, signed the contract for a 36 hour working week, (3 x 12hour shifts), contracted for 1 month. Was told at the interview that after 6 months your situation will be evaluated and you may be offered a full time contract at a higher rate of pay. When I started talking to the employees, nobody there is on full time contracts, even after 2-3 years of employement.

gollem_1975

pete_mcs wrote: »

The money is crap, but I expected that, and am not annoyed about that. I can even get over the overtime, the extra money comes in handy, if you play it right you can still have 4 days off in a row every second week. At the interview I was asked if I would be willing to work Sundays on overtime, which I agreed to, signed the contract for a 36 hour working week, (3 x 12hour shifts), contracted for 1 month. Was told at the interview that after 6 months your situation will be evaluated and you may be offered a full time contract at a higher rate of pay. When I started talking to the employees, nobody there is on full time contracts, even after 2-3 years of employement.

so even after 2-3 years employment they are still on 1 month contracts ?

how did a 36 hour week turn into a 70 hour week as you mentioned in your OP ?

are the 2-3 year people doing 70 hour weeks too or is it just the newbies?

the fact that the same employees have been there for 2-3 years themselves I would not have thought that the workplace was not high on the exploitation chart... but then again I don't work there.

pete_mcs

Last week I worked 6 twelve hour shifts, thurs, fri and sat were my scheduled days. Mon, Tues and Wed was overtime. I took Sunday off, although many came in for 6 hours. Anyone that is there for a long period of time are Eastern European. The longest Irish worker I meet so far has been there for a year and a half, there may be longer serving workers there on other shifts, that I have not meet yet.
I think these long working hours only occur every 3-4 months, and last for a few weeks, when orders are due for completion. Its the fact that you are expected to drop your life outside work for this period of time that annoys me and most the workers there, and if you dont then you may not get offered another months contract,

gollem_1975

the conditions don't sound great but if you go around your new workplace talking about exploitation etc. you may find you don't get your 1 month contract renewed.

look at this job as a temporary, needs must, thing rather than a long-term career.

cause from what you've described i'm guessing the company you are with could do a Dell and upsticks to somewhere they can pay their staff even less.

RATM

CyberDave wrote: »

No, for personal reasons. In my current job the amount of work you are expected to get through is absolutely colossal. When I started there were 4 designers in my section and now we are down to 2 and still expected to produce the same amount of work as 4. We get no breaks, which is shocking considering that 95% of my day is spent staring at a computer screen and any text messaging or personal calls are frowned upon.

Getting no breaks is against all employment laws- you dont have to be in a union to be covered by these- everybody who is employed is covered by employment law. OP as its only two of you running the design section I'd approach your boss and inform him (diplomatically) you are taking the breaks that you are legally entitled to. 15 minutes every 4.5 hours worked (or might be 20?). This is nothing other than outright exploitation and it needs to stop. You can either take a stand or put up and shut up but I know what I'd be doing.

x in the city

look for a new job and give them a middle finger, its clear they are fuc|king you up the hole.

recession or not, not all companies do this.