Why can't Americans have a vacation?

[nitroz]

Others don't get the same privileges, and are neglected and exploited. Usually they will be lucky to get barely above minimum wage and a week of vacation. (unpaid)

Get another job.

people aren't hiring

 

[boedicca]

Gosh, you act as if that vouches for the rest of the private workforce.


Turns out conservationism and right winged motives tries to milk it as much as they can in terms of vacation days, jobs, and wages.


Now what?

The same guys who are giving you all of these privileges are tapping the American workforce dry.

Sorry bub, I don't consider the benefits I earn to be "milking as much as I can". They were negotiated as part of my compensation package in a voluntary arrangement.

Others don't get the same privileges, and are neglected and exploited. Usually they will be lucky to get barely above minimum wage and a week of vacation. (unpaid)

So now do you see why people are pushing for regulations? If the private sector refuses to voluntarily do it, then we are going to do something about it.

Perhaps others should improve their skills and marketability so they have more negotiating leverage for a compensation package.

 

[Cammmpbell]

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

I was a member of local 9-288 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers(OCAW) and worked for Union Carbide 41 years. I watched the union methodically gain both wages and benefits during all that time and when I retired I was getting six weeks of paid vacation each year. I never took but a month because we could opt to sell two weeks back to the company and I never failed to do that.

Beginning when Ronald Reagan fired the PATCO workers in 1981 the union has gone into a downward spiral ever since. The middle class has disappeared and the rich have gotten richer from borrowed money during the same time frame. It ain't rocket science:

 

[anotherlife]

There are many jobs out there that provide more vacation.
I've had jobs at 2 banks years ago...what sucked was we only had 2 weeks vacation and we had to take the whole 2 weeks at one time, we couldn't split it up!

The job i've now had for 20 yrs i do have 4 weeks vacation now (after 15 yrs). I can take more, but they're unpaid then. There's other companies that give you more time sooner....i guess i could have tried to find one of them. But i don't see what's wrong with "earning" more time off by working hard and just being a good employee. I know people at work that don't work, don't earn shit because they're lazy....they don't deserve time off, they take it at work!

Isn't the very idea of having to accrue and earn your vacation at work an odd concept? Other countries incorporate in in the job offer instead of playing this hidden catch-and-lose with it. The accrual/earn concept of vacations seems dishonest from the employer.

It's only dishonest if one doesn't believe that one should earn one's income.

I agree that income should be earned. But is it an earnings question to divide that income between cash and free time? You can't usually negotiate your salary down for more vacation time, do you?

 

[nitroz]

Sorry bub, I don't consider the benefits I earn to be "milking as much as I can". They were negotiated as part of my compensation package in a voluntary arrangement.

Others don't get the same privileges, and are neglected and exploited. Usually they will be lucky to get barely above minimum wage and a week of vacation. (unpaid)

So now do you see why people are pushing for regulations? If the private sector refuses to voluntarily do it, then we are going to do something about it.

Perhaps others should improve their skills and marketability so they have more negotiating leverage for a compensation package.

Perhaps there aren't enough jobs that offer that, even if people exceed with their skills and marketability.

Like here. There have been people who lost their engineering jobs that made $100,000+ and wound up as a grocery bagger at publix for minimum wage. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have had to downgrade when they were out of work.

 

[Dragonlady]

Really? Hard to believe. Which industry sector, and which state/region of the US?

Funny, my private sector employer provides 4 weeks of vacation per year, plus 12 holidays - all without the government mandating it.

I had so much at my last job, I literally couldn't use it all. When I left, I cashed out like 2 months.

I life in SF Bay Area and work in high tech.

So what you are in effect saying is "I got mine, screw the rest of you". Nice attitude.

In white, middle class jobs that not everyone is capable of doing, vacations are one of the "perks" you get. For workers in low tech fields where unemployment is high, there are no such "perks". There are long hours for little pay and if you take time off, you're easily replaced.

In order to cut costs and reduce overhead, even some hich-tech companies have simply let workers go and expected those whose jobs remain to work longer hours. One of my friends was in this situation. He went from working a 40 hour 5-day week to a 60-hour 6-day week simply so his company could make more money. His pay did not increase. Had my friend not been within 5 years of retirement, he would have left and gone elsewhere.

 

[aaronleland]

Others don't get the same privileges, and are neglected and exploited. Usually they will be lucky to get barely above minimum wage and a week of vacation. (unpaid)

Get another job.

people aren't hiring

This is BS. You may not find the perfect job that offers benefits and vacation, but if you need money to provide for your family somebody is always hiring. I have worked jobs where I was the only non-felon there. If they can get jobs anybody can.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Others don't get the same privileges, and are neglected and exploited. Usually they will be lucky to get barely above minimum wage and a week of vacation. (unpaid)

Get another job.

people aren't hiring

Sure they are. I see people hiring everywhere.

 

[boedicca]

Isn't the very idea of having to accrue and earn your vacation at work an odd concept? Other countries incorporate in in the job offer instead of playing this hidden catch-and-lose with it. The accrual/earn concept of vacations seems dishonest from the employer.

It's only dishonest if one doesn't believe that one should earn one's income.

I agree that income should be earned. But is it an earnings question to divide that income between cash and free time? You can't usually negotiate your salary down for more vacation time, do you?

That's called having a part time job.

 

[WillowTree]

Really? Hard to believe. Which industry sector, and which state/region of the US?

I life in SF Bay Area and work in high tech.

So what you are in effect saying is "I got mine, screw the rest of you". Nice attitude.

In white, middle class jobs that not everyone is capable of doing, vacations are one of the "perks" you get. For workers in low tech fields where unemployment is high, there are no such "perks". There are long hours for little pay and if you take time off, you're easily replaced.

In order to cut costs and reduce overhead, even some hich-tech companies have simply let workers go and expected those whose jobs remain to work longer hours. One of my friends was in this situation. He went from working a 40 hour 5-day week to a 60-hour 6-day week simply so his company could make more money. His pay did not increase. Had my friend not been within 5 years of retirement, he would have left and gone elsewhere.

That's why getting a good education is important. Did you tell him that?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Perhaps others should improve their skills and marketability so they have more negotiating leverage for a compensation package.

No, we can't do that. That would require self accountability and responsibility. That's not fair.

 

[boedicca]

Really? Hard to believe. Which industry sector, and which state/region of the US?

I life in SF Bay Area and work in high tech.

So what you are in effect saying is "I got mine, screw the rest of you". Nice attitude.

In white, middle class jobs that not everyone is capable of doing, vacations are one of the "perks" you get. For workers in low tech fields where unemployment is high, there are no such "perks". There are long hours for little pay and if you take time off, you're easily replaced.

In order to cut costs and reduce overhead, even some hich-tech companies have simply let workers go and expected those whose jobs remain to work longer hours. One of my friends was in this situation. He went from working a 40 hour 5-day week to a 60-hour 6-day week simply so his company could make more money. His pay did not increase. Had my friend not been within 5 years of retirement, he would have left and gone elsewhere.

You got all that out of my response that I work in high tech and life in the SF Bay Area?

Wow - you are a paranoid moron.

 

[anotherlife]

There are many jobs out there that provide more vacation.
I've had jobs at 2 banks years ago...what sucked was we only had 2 weeks vacation and we had to take the whole 2 weeks at one time, we couldn't split it up!

The job i've now had for 20 yrs i do have 4 weeks vacation now (after 15 yrs). I can take more, but they're unpaid then. There's other companies that give you more time sooner....i guess i could have tried to find one of them. But i don't see what's wrong with "earning" more time off by working hard and just being a good employee. I know people at work that don't work, don't earn shit because they're lazy....they don't deserve time off, they take it at work!

Isn't the very idea of having to accrue and earn your vacation at work an odd concept? Other countries incorporate in in the job offer instead of playing this hidden catch-and-lose with it. The accrual/earn concept of vacations seems dishonest from the employer.

You belong to the infamous C O W S donchyahon?

HAHAHAHAHA What on Earth is that?

 

[nitroz]

Get another job.

people aren't hiring

This is BS. You may not find the perfect job that offers benefits and vacation, but if you need money to provide for your family somebody is always hiring. I have worked jobs where I was the only non-felon there. If they can get jobs anybody can.

Past tense.

Not present. Most of the unemployed can't even get a bottom of the line job despite desperately trying.

 

[boedicca]

people aren't hiring

This is BS. You may not find the perfect job that offers benefits and vacation, but if you need money to provide for your family somebody is always hiring. I have worked jobs where I was the only non-felon there. If they can get jobs anybody can.

Past tense.

Not present. Most of the unemployed can't even get a bottom of the line job despite desperately trying.

Just curious: why do you think that employers aren't willing to create more jobs?

 

[nitroz]

This is BS. You may not find the perfect job that offers benefits and vacation, but if you need money to provide for your family somebody is always hiring. I have worked jobs where I was the only non-felon there. If they can get jobs anybody can.

Past tense.

Not present. Most of the unemployed can't even get a bottom of the line job despite desperately trying.

Just curious: why do you think that employers aren't willing to create more jobs?

Because they aren't. We've seen countless examples of that.
Jobs keep going overseas.

 

[boedicca]

Past tense.

Not present. Most of the unemployed can't even get a bottom of the line job despite desperately trying.

Just curious: why do you think that employers aren't willing to create more jobs?

Because they aren't. We've seen countless examples of that.
Jobs keep going overseas.

I suggest you think about it some more. It's not as simple as the "offshoring" meme the left spouts off.

 

[aaronleland]

people aren't hiring

This is BS. You may not find the perfect job that offers benefits and vacation, but if you need money to provide for your family somebody is always hiring. I have worked jobs where I was the only non-felon there. If they can get jobs anybody can.

Past tense.

Not present. Most of the unemployed can't even get a bottom of the line job despite desperately trying.

While I usually agree with your posts I have to disagree here. I never claimed they were all good jobs, but people are hiring. Even if you have to flip burgers to support your family that is always an option.

 

[Dragonlady]

That's why getting a good education is important. Did you tell him that?

My friend has a PHD in a highly technical field. I think he knows the value of a good education. He was also an early computer genius who wrote a number of the program applications for weather forecasting and hurricane tracking.

His story actually has quite a happy ending. A couple of years after the greedy assholes he worked for pulled this number on him, he forced him into early retirement. They fired him. On his last day there, they told him they wanted to consult with him from time to time and he quoted them a consulting fee of $1000 a day. They said they thought he would consult with them for free. Yeah right.

During the weeks between the date they announced he was "retiring" and his final day, a number of the firm's customers contacted my friend and asked if he could continue his work for them. Since he has all of his home computers, and copies of all of his programming and modelling software, the answer is "yes", so now my friend is working from home, at his own pace, for a number of select clients.

And his former employers got screwed in the bargain. I call that a win/win.

 

[boedicca]

And his former employers got screwed in the bargain. I call that a win/win.

Your definition of WINNING is about as moral and healthy as Charlie Sheen's.

Just sayin'.