Work Weary

Get Up, Stand Up, stand up for your right
Get Up, Stand Up, don't give up the fight
-- Bob Marley

This just in: U.S. workers are getting completely screwed by their employers! OK, that's not really much of a news flash. It's been happening for a long time. Perhaps the news is that it's getting worse instead of getting better. And it's far past time for us to stand up and do something about it.

What prompted me to post this blog entry was reading an article I found on Alternet.org called For U.S. Workers, Vacation is Vanishing. The article quotes a poll taken in May that revealed that 40% of Americans had no plans to take a summer vacation. And the article is filled with other frightening facts such as in 1998 5% of American companies offered no paid vacation time whatsoever and by 2003 that number had risen to 13%. Today that number stands at around 25%. When will the madness end?

And it seems that so often when we do get a bit of vacation time, we don't REALLY get away. With cell phones, laptops, and BlackBerries, many of us spend valuable time away from the office actually working. Then when you factor in the overtime and stress you undertake before you leave on that meager vacation and all the catching up you have to do once you return, some of us wonder if it's even worth the hassle to take a vacation.

This New York Times article shows that even those of us who get paid vacation time often don't use it all. The article quotes how surprising that is considering the following:
"In the United States full-time employees have 3.9 holiday and vacation weeks off a year. But this is paltry when compared with European countries, including the United Kingdom (6.6 weeks), France (7) and Italy (7.9), according to the 2004 figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development."

And where does this get us? The Times' articles states that "The Families and Work Institute study found that overworked employees are more likely to make mistakes, to be angry at their employers and at colleagues who do not work as hard. These employees are also more likely to have higher stress levels, experience symptoms of clinical depression, report poorer health and neglect themselves."

Nice.

And who are we doing it for? While we're all struggling to make a living wage and receiving little to no paid time off, American CEO's continue to live the good life. Besides their great vacations, their compensation packages continue to climb higher and higher. Forbes magazine's Special Report: CEO Compensation will prove sickening to the average worker. While you're struggling to pay rent and utilities, Richard D. Fairbank of Capital One Financial is making nearly $250 million. In one year! The top 25 CEOs according to the Forbes report all make more than $32 million annually.

Next time you're in Target, ask the cashier who checks you out how much he or she makes, then compare that to Target CEO Robert Ulrich's salary of nearly $40 million per year. Why can't Ulrich (like all these other guys) take a paycut and spread some money around to his employees who are overworked and underpaid?

And keep in mind that some of the numbers Forbes printed could be low. Executives usually try pretty hard to hide their pay. You can see the six ways CEOs hide their pay here.

And don't forget that American workers continue to have benefits reduced: Pension plans are going the way of the dinosaur. Health benefits are decreasing. In fact, the number of Americans with no health insurance increased last year by 1.3 million to a record 46.6 million individuals, or 15.9% of the U.S. population.

So who are the good employers, and what are employees today looking for? A few answers are found in Taryn's blog here.