"At-Will" Employment & sick days

[angryfirelord]

We all know the horrors of "at-will" employment, that you can be fired for absolutely no reason. My father was subject to this and even I was at my first minimum wage job. According to a blog on barackobama.com, the bill that would nullify at-will conditions would be called The American National Standard Labor Act. I think we should contact the Obama offices and ask him to support such a provision. We can't have our working force being subject to random firings and layoffs without question. If an employer wants to fire someone, they should discuss the conditions to which they are not performing up to.

Also, it's a disgrace that we're the only country that doesn't mandate any sick days. My father's last job only allowed him to take 3 sick days, which is ridiculous. If someone is ill, this could affect their job security greatly. Here's a list of all the countries with sick days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country

I think we should have a mandate of at least 7 working days. I mean, look at Germany, they get 4 weeks of time off and they have the largest economy compared to the European nations. (3rd largest GDP as well) It goes to show that exploiting your labor for the cheapest cost doesn't give you the best results. Happy employees are productive employees.

So, what are your thoughts?

[Wapsie B]

1. You're absolutely right.

But this country right now is in the midst of a pro-business / anti-worker movement. And other than a wholesale collapse of the economic system I don't know what will change that mentality. I'd like to see a national healthcare system, where everyone's covered. The sick days should be mandatory as well.
I'd go further and freeze the golden parachutes of execs who drive companies to the ground and then escape with a fortune. Any corporation that takes a dime of taxpayer $$$ automatically has to give up a proportionate amount of ownership in that company based on the amount of economic incentives given. Hell at that rate, we'd all be major stockholders in Walmart long ago, along with many professional sports franchises!

edit: Enough of this privatizing the profits and socializing the risks.

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