Here’s some more data: In this tough economy where employers are needing to make cuts, they do make those cuts and I have seen seven cases just last week where the employers cut employees and those that remain are working extra and somehow “losing” that overtime pay. I wouldn’t call that fair, would you?

Let’s get off the Government-hating, socialism, big-brother kick and realize that whereas some employers (like Jim’s apparently) may have the sun shining out of their a$$es, most these days don’t. Don’t complain about not having enough time to do your job properly and see to the best interests of your employees and yet still find time to post these ridiculously longs posts on here. If your employer is SO wonderful and treats employees SO well, you won’t have to worry about new unionization laws, fair pay acts, paid sick days, etc. You will just roll with the punches with a big smile on your face and quit being so miserable every second of every day! All I know is if I had HR people in a company like some of these folks, I would go straight to a lawyer, the EEOC or the D.O.L. too!

I could drop jaws with the things I hear everyday and I don’t mean things I hear by disgruntled employees who just want to “get back” at their employers, because yes, I do hear that too! More and more though it is just honest truths from people who are sick of being treated like dung. As much as people complain about the government and socialism and rant on and on and on about all these conspiracy theories, they don’t see the BIG picture and the reasons for these changes.

I say embrace the extra work and the changes. If the company you work for happens to be one of the fabulous few, you will have nothing to worry about!

What we are witnessing is not a new vision but a resurrection of the past. Tea Party indeed Fred! Let me know where and when!

You have strong views, and it is clear that you are frustrated. For that, I am sympathetic. But we are HR people. We solve problems, so nothing coming from Washington DC or any of our State Capitols should intimidate or infuriate us. We’ll just roll up our sleeves and get things done.

However Fred, you are mistaken in your polemic regarding why this Country has been successful on the world scene. While it is true that rugged individualism is one of the philosophies that has helped the growth of our Country, it is not a core principle for what our Country is and what it has stood for, over the 220 years of our existence. For that we need to come back to the basics of our democracy, and we can do that by re-visiting our Constitution; more specifically the Preamble (We the People of the United States, in Order to form a More Perfect Union, Establish Justice, Insure Domestic Tranquility, Provide for the Common Defence, Promote the General Welfare, and Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…).
These are not just words. They are the essence of “We the People” (all of us who claim the heritage handed down to us by previous generations of brave and committed people). When you consider that America is not an indigenous race like most nations in the world, we we need to remember that our experiment in self governing is fundamentally tied to our ideals, ones that had never been tried in the realm of nations prior to 1789, and we need to passionately embrace them . These words and ideals are the reasons so many millions of us have “put our lives on the line” in the many wars and conflicts we have faught in order to defend and protect this great Country of ours. We ‘ve succeeded as a people over 2 centuries because we have advanced as one people committed to those ideals.
All of us need to remember that our individual successes are not exclusively the results of our own talents and initiative ALONE! We need to thank millions of ground breakers whose great sacrifices made it possible for us to flourish in a free and just society.