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Whole Foods employees striking over requirements to work Thanksgiving

Don't wanna work holidays? Don't work retail or service.

F'n wage-scrubs.

I kind of detest that reasoning. Do you really think people always get to choose whether or not they work in retail or service, especially since those are the only growing sectors in our economy?
 
Comparing emergency workers to retail doesn't work.

My whole point about values is, if people are fine with other people working on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving for the sake of convenience, then put your values where your mouth is and be willing to work too. I've a feeling people would change their tune if their own place of business sacrifices holiday for profits. I would ask them why anyone should get the day off at all?
I worked every holiday for at least four years straight, and I did so because I was needed. Your move.
 
I kind of detest that reasoning. Do you really think people always get to choose whether or not they work in retail or service, especially since those are the only growing sectors in our economy?

Thanksgiving is just another day of the year.
 
Nothing wrong with being poor. In fact, being poor is a much higher level, spiritually speaking, than being rich.

The problem is government interference with the God-given rights of business owners to fire their employees for whatever reason they want.

may you never get fired for some idiotic reason cooked up by an empathy-free ideologue. your posts illustrate perfectly why i showed the libertarian party my taillights.

happy holidays.
 
may you never get fired for some idiotic reason cooked up by an empathy-free ideologue. your posts illustrate perfectly why i showed the libertarian party my taillights.

happy holidays.

Only an authoritarian bully would want to force an employer to pay an employee against their will.
 
will the world grind to a halt if you have to wait until tomorrow to buy a TV?
I'll go on record as saying it's absolutely ****ty that the stores are opening today for retailing. I can see grocery and food stores because people have supply emergencies and may be able to use that type of store, the TV can wait, and not just 'till Black Friday.

Here is where I differ. When I was employed in places that needed me for holidays I hated it, but I did it because they were cutting my paychecks and they weren't bouncing, I did not think it was my place to tell the people who owned the business how it was going to run, it was their business.

So, I think the stores are wrong for opening, but the employees more so for demanding what they aren't owed(a say in policy).
 
Talk to your state's labor board about that. Every state out West here requires so many holidays, and Thanksgiving is on all the lists and must be paid time and a half. What state?

I live in NJ.

EDIT: NJ doesn't require employers to pay time and a half on holidays. (http://www.ehow.com/info_7860415_new-labor-laws-time-half.html)

"Q. Does my employer have to pay me overtime or double time for working on a holiday, Saturday or Sunday?

A. No. Overtime must be paid at a rate of time and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for each hour actually worked in excess of 40 hours in the workweek." (http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wagehour/content/wage_and_hour_compliance_faqs.html#q5)
 
Nothing wrong with being poor. In fact, being poor is a much higher level, spiritually speaking, than being rich..

So you have been both?

The problem is government interference with the God-given rights of business owners to fire their employees for whatever reason they want

Business owners were have "God-given rights" to "fire their employees for whatever reason they want"? Is that in the Bible somewhere?
 
Three points:

1. In many retail businesses, the owner of the store also works on the holiday and is often part of the sales crew to cut down on overhead costs - so, in your example, the gander is working so all the little worker goslings must work too, if asked.

2. When I was working, it was a pain sometimes to work on a Friday - those long weekends were great - according to you, I should just be able to book off every Friday to satisfy my needs, not the needs of my employer.

3. Those businesses, government, etc. who give their employees the Friday off after Thanksgiving Day should be forced to haul their employees in and make them work because lots of other people work on that day - or do you consider the days after a holiday to be sacred, non-work allowed days?
I loved working Black Fridays, I made money instead of blowing it in a store surrounded by people willing to knife each other for a 5$ off item.
 
Only an authoritarian bully would want to force an employer to pay an employee against their will.

Do you have any concept of discrimination? And this coming from the guy that says that any form of immigration is racism? What a hypocritical double standard. Can't discriminate against those poor illegal aliens violating the law but those US citizens working at a job? **** those guys! :roll:
 
Only an authoritarian bully would want to force an employer to pay an employee against their will.

who said anything about paying them? i just want them to be able to stay home with their families on two holidays a year if they want to. my need to buy a discount ****ing TV can wait twelve ****ing hours, and so can yours.
 
who said anything about paying them? i just want them to be able to stay home with their families on two holidays a year if they want to. my need to buy a discount ****ing TV can wait twelve ****ing hours, and so can yours.

If an employer wants to fire an employee for not working on holidays, the government has no right to interfere. If the government steps in and forces that employer to keep paying their absentee employees, that is nothing less than unjustifiable coercion.
 
That's fine...for those that choose that. But many get no choice.

I'm against stores being open on Thanksgiving and Christmas but that's just my personal belief. I dont feel the need to make laws about it but if enough people felt similarly, then they wouldnt shop on those days and it wouldnt be worth opening.

I personally do not shop on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Christmas Eve. And dammit! I'm out of coffee creamer! ;)
It's business, it only takes one competitor deciding to open on a holiday to force your hand. If there are so many customers in an area I have to fight to sell them my TV, so closing when my competitor opens cuts my slice of the buyers down. It sucks but that is business.
 
I'll go on record as saying it's absolutely ****ty that the stores are opening today for retailing. I can see grocery and food stores because people have supply emergencies and may be able to use that type of store, the TV can wait, and not just 'till Black Friday.

Here is where I differ. When I was employed in places that needed me for holidays I hated it, but I did it because they were cutting my paychecks and they weren't bouncing, I did not think it was my place to tell the people who owned the business how it was going to run, it was their business.

So, I think the stores are wrong for opening, but the employees more so for demanding what they aren't owed(a say in policy).

i worked retail in college. had to work some fourth of Julys, but not a Thanksgiving. i can see essential stuff being open, and maybe even grocery stores, though i'm not stoked about it. however, i just see no need whatsoever to start the black Friday madness on Thursday. i mean, come on. we can wait until six AM.

as for a say in corporate policy, i guess we disagree. i think the employee should have some stake in the company, and should have at least minimal control over his or her schedule. i'm not talking about fifteen bucks an hour minimum to run a register or a job bank. i'm just arguing for the ability to stay the **** home on Thanksgiving if you want to, and to maybe know what your schedule is going to be far enough in advance to have a life. face it, none of us on our deathbeds is going to say "golly gee, i wish i had worked that ****ty job more." i'm going to be thinking about the Thanksgivings i got to have with my folks while they were still healthy enough to swill turkey and wine with me while we talk about stuff. if some ****ty ass retail chain tried to steal that from me, i would consider egging the CEOs house.
 
If an employer wants to fire an employee for not working on holidays, the government has no right to interfere. If the government steps in and forces that employer to keep paying their absentee employees, that is nothing less than unjustifiable coercion.

oh, i wasn't talking about any government action. i was talking about a union forming and putting that **** to a stop. and boy, would it ever be deserved.

easiest way in the world to stop your store from getting unionized? throw your ****ing employees a bone every now and again, like not forcing them to work on Thanksgiving if they don't want to.
 
i worked retail in college. had to work some fourth of Julys, but not a Thanksgiving. i can see essential stuff being open, and maybe even grocery stores, though i'm not stoked about it. however, i just see no need whatsoever to start the black Friday madness on Thursday. i mean, come on. we can wait until six AM.
I don't agree with them being open on a holiday either, but that's their right as a business.

as for a say in corporate policy, i guess we disagree. i think the employee should have some stake in the company, and should have at least minimal control over his or her schedule. i'm not talking about fifteen bucks an hour minimum to run a register or a job bank. i'm just arguing for the ability to stay the **** home on Thanksgiving if you want to, and to maybe know what your schedule is going to be far enough in advance to have a life. face it, none of us on our deathbeds is going to say "golly gee, i wish i had worked that ****ty job more." i'm going to be thinking about the Thanksgivings i got to have with my folks while they were still healthy enough to swill turkey and wine with me while we talk about stuff. if some ****ty ass retail chain tried to steal that from me, i would consider egging the CEOs house.
I just can't relate, I hated working holidays because I love my family and wanted more time with them, but I was essential and needed for said holiday. I have since left that position and haven't looked back, but I accepted that when I was needed I had to be there, no questions.
 
oh, i wasn't talking about any government action. i was talking about a union forming and putting that **** to a stop. and boy, would it ever be deserved.

easiest way in the world to stop your store from getting unionized? throw your ****ing employees a bone every now and again, like not forcing them to work on Thanksgiving if they don't want to.

The easiest way to stop a store from unionizing is to fire any employee that unionizes. Unions aren't capable of much without unjust government coercion to back them up.
 
If an employee does not show up when scheduled, he/she quit.

Wrong. An employee must explicitly resign, or else it's not quitting.

How many more jobs do you think are out there for these people

Plenty of unskilled low-wage jobs available. However, employees that choose not to work on specific days should always provide an excuse for not showing up that wouldn't result in inhibiting future employment prospects. In other words, if an employee chooses not to work on Thanksgiving, he/she could just call in sick or claim that his/her baby sister is sick and needs to stay at home.

That way, the employer could not legally fire the employee for that reason*, esp. if a valid doctor's excuse is provided (shouldn't be hard to get one on Thanksgiving, considering how many people have relatives who are doctors). Of course, the employer could still fire the employee for another reason, but still proper documentation is needed under current laws.**

* ** - In a Libertarian society, there are no restrictions on when an employer can terminate an employee--this is what I would prefer. However, the US is not a Libertarian country.
 
I don't agree with them being open on a holiday either, but that's their right as a business.

I just can't relate, I hated working holidays because I love my family and wanted more time with them, but I was essential and needed for said holiday. I have since left that position and haven't looked back, but I accepted that when I was needed I had to be there, no questions.

i did the same, but i also pissed and moaned about it. i was just a kid back then, though, and at least my rantings and ravings were funny. that's the most important part.

these days, if my boss needed me to come in for a minute on Thanksgiving to split the cells, i wouldn't have a problem. i've only had to do that once in the past five years or so. as for missing dinner so some idiot can buy a TV that he could have bought tomorrow morning, no thanks. and why in the **** isn't he eating turkey like every other American? pick up the damned fork, and put down the TV, commie.
 
The easiest way to stop a store from unionizing is to fire any employee that unionizes. Unions aren't capable of much without unjust government coercion to back them up.


.....
 
My best friend's family celebrates holidays a week after they fall for the rest of us, including Christmas. They've always done this. Allows any one of them to bring in the holiday cash and they largely avoid all the stress and craziness of the holidays and yet they get to have all the good parts.
 
i did the same, but i also pissed and moaned about it. i was just a kid back then, though, and at least my rantings and ravings were funny. that's the most important part.

these days, if my boss needed me to come in for a minute on Thanksgiving to split the cells, i wouldn't have a problem. i've only had to do that once in the past five years or so. as for missing dinner so some idiot can buy a TV that he could have bought tomorrow morning, no thanks. and why in the **** isn't he eating turkey like every other American? pick up the damned fork, and put down the TV, commie.
I think the present related stuff is absolute garbage, food retailers I think have an excuse.
 
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