The Underdog
23rd July 2011, 01:04
Hey all.
I'm a twenty year old guy from England. I finished college not too long ago and, confident that the hard work would pay off, and I took my first strides into the big, wide world, looking for a job. There's the rub. There ain't many around.
I've always had a part-time holdover job from college, at a supermarket, but the wages and the conditions are pretty damn poor. The management are ruthlessly exploitative, they routinely make us work overtime without pay, they deny us breaks at appropriate times, they make it really difficult to book any holidays, they don't give us the training we need, they pressurize us constantly, and they keep everyone on pissant part-time contracts, in order to weasel out of the liabilities associated with a full-time contract. And that is just for starters. I've even been attacked a couple of times and i've had to intervene when a female colleague was experiencing racial abuse at the hands of some EDL-esque hooligans. I've told management, but they do not care. Everything is about profits, and mercilessly squeezing every last drop of potential productivity from the tired and stressed workers.
I've been a member of the Usdaw union for a while now, and i'm looking to become the union representative for our store, in order to address some of these issues.
I'm new to the more 'radical' Left, and i'm not sure exactly what i'd be described as. I'm here to learn more and I look forward to becoming an active member of the forum.
Cheers!
I'm a twenty year old guy from England. I finished college not too long ago and, confident that the hard work would pay off, and I took my first strides into the big, wide world, looking for a job. There's the rub. There ain't many around.
I've always had a part-time holdover job from college, at a supermarket, but the wages and the conditions are pretty damn poor. The management are ruthlessly exploitative, they routinely make us work overtime without pay, they deny us breaks at appropriate times, they make it really difficult to book any holidays, they don't give us the training we need, they pressurize us constantly, and they keep everyone on pissant part-time contracts, in order to weasel out of the liabilities associated with a full-time contract. And that is just for starters. I've even been attacked a couple of times and i've had to intervene when a female colleague was experiencing racial abuse at the hands of some EDL-esque hooligans. I've told management, but they do not care. Everything is about profits, and mercilessly squeezing every last drop of potential productivity from the tired and stressed workers.
I've been a member of the Usdaw union for a while now, and i'm looking to become the union representative for our store, in order to address some of these issues.
I'm new to the more 'radical' Left, and i'm not sure exactly what i'd be described as. I'm here to learn more and I look forward to becoming an active member of the forum.
Cheers!