The Shrine

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spo ... spouse/</a>

Interesting article on how much it sucks to be a developer for EA</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Hence the lawsuit (listed on GT). That's some damned abusive laboring, though. Then again, I've seen similar abuses in management positions, especially in the restraurant industry.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Oh god, a friend of mine worked for Chili's. They expect their employees to be "team players", i.e., put in extra unpaid hours.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Can somebody say "Wal-Mart"? They're the worst with respect to labor rights.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Which is interesting because when I worked there (Vision Center which was actually an awesome job), they wouldn't let us even touch 39 hours in case we had to stay late so we'd stay under 40 each week.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Same, I worked at Wal Mart for a little over 2 years...one of the best places Ive worked.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>For example, the 39 hour limit? They do that so they don't have to pay overtime. With your job, this wasn't a problem. The average number of people coming in was probably pretty steady and they were able to schedule you without much of a problem. However, the stock people's work is not always steady. They could have a large shipment of products come in and be forced to stay until everything is out on the floor. The supervisors are then in a bind, they know that everything can't be put out in one normal shift yet they also know that no overtime is allowed *and* that they must get all of the products out before the shift is over. What do they do? They must stay at their budget with the workers that they have, so they typically make the workers clock out and then finish their work or the supervisors themselves are forced to do the same. Thus you have people working overtime but with no pay. I find this unacceptable.

Also, do you know of the benefits that workers get from labor unions? More and better healthcare, better wages, more vacation time, more job security. People in unions are better able to support their families and thus society as a whole benefits. Wal-Mart's view of unions? Evil. They stomp them out every chance they get. If the workers at any store attempt to unionize, they are either punished in some way or are "let go" for unrelated reasons. If, by chance, they do succede in their attempts to unionize a store, then the history has been that Wal-Mart closes that location citing unrelated causes. As of right now, no Wal-Marts are unionized (to my knowledge).

I have other specific examples, such as people being asked to return to work one week after heart surgery, etc. but just believe me that Wal-Mart is in general a poor example of business supporting workers' rights.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>And yeah, I know not every Walmart is the same. And I definitely know my job wasn't like that of most of the jobs in Walmart. I had to know how to do pre-exams, cut glasses, repair, sell, do Visual Field tests, all that crap. I'm sure that in my store there were people pulling that crap based simply on their personalities as managers.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Hence the lawsuit on unfair treatment of women and salaries.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>That's just as abusive; they're preventing people from being full time and thus qualifying for benefits.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Doesn't Walmart have a union in many of their locations?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Actually 32+ hrs a week qualifies somebody as full time.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20 ... erstone</a>

I think that they finally do in more liberal Canada, but I'm pretty sure that they don't in the U.S. at any of the stores (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Lowes, etc.) owned by by the company. Here's an interesting article on the company's anti-union strategy...</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Well, with that amount of pay, certainly not in my book.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Where'd you hear that? I know Virginia Tech did it with their dining services and cleaning staff. Over 40 hours a week is also when you qualify for overtime.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/ ... ime.htm</a>

It's set by the employer, not law: "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time employment or part-time employment. This is a matter generally to be determined by the employer."</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Oh, hell no.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, I remember that being the magic number at Wal-Mart.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Yep. I knew that.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Maybe it was up here then. I distincly remember a Wal-Mart being unionized somewhere, maybe out in the Atlantic provinces, where they have nothing better to do than bitch and hump (right Seek? ;-)</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Actually, I have no idea what you are talking about.</div>