Mental Cruelty Does it Exist in the Workplace?
Posted: Thursday, January 05, 2006
by straight talk
In this article I express some opinions most likely shared by many. However, certainly not by employers who are always telling you how lucky you are to have a job. Did you ever stop to consider why a person can ask for a divorce from marraige on the grounds of mental cruelty and that is acceptable, but an employer can abuse you in any number of ways verbally, via innuendo, ignoring you, bypassing you, lying about your performance, placing excessive demands on your time, limiting compensation, threats and a host of other mental and physical abuse and they never have to answer for it? Why, because you have zero to no rights as a worker!
Now I am not talking about reasonable demands that any employer should expect you to respond to! Reasonable to me as being something that is within the norm for your occupation and position and can be accomplished when provided with the correct time, resources and understanding and that you have the necessary skills to accomplish the task. But most importantly that they will support your effort! I am not talking about unreasonable expectations that even they recognize can't be accomplished. That includes unrealistic deadlines, timelines, a lack of resources and unrealistic output expectations! I say this because during my working life I have seen and experienced this first hand and in multiple positions. Not in all, but unfortunately many! Most of those "not alls" were years ago, in a more compassionate caring age when doing it right the first time was a quality employers looked for and they gave you what was needed to be successful.
So sadly, and in my opinion and through my experience that is the state of affairs in many organizations today. They get away with it under the title of “productivity" and being competitive and they are supported by laws which are not worker friendly. In the State of Florida and perhaps in other states your rights are very limited to none. You can suffer emotional and even physical duress and problems on the job but that is not grounds for any damages or compensation. You can be under a doctors care and then be let go by the very people who assisted in your aquiring your condition. You basically, as in the slave days, belong to the company. They tell you Florida is a right to work state. They will even beam with pride about it! However, ask the workers who have jobs there and not the owners or managers what that means. It is basically a license to steal labor at minimum cost and work people for as long as they want. If you don’t like it you have a right to leave. But try walking out on an employer and find out where that gets you in your future. Yet, employers can let you go without so much as a word, at wim and you have no recourse anywhere. If you think not then try asking a lawyer just what your rights are. In my opinion the government agencies are no more than a shell with little to no power and that’s either state or federal. The have little to no power except in a few limited situations. They will tell you this themselves. If the government really wants to save money they should do away with all these so called Labor Agencies and similar types.
Now keep in mind we are not talking about hard work, long hours and the fruits of your labor. We are talking about being forced to work where the goal is unrealistic. Another sad example is the recent miners tragedy. These people work for low wages, in terrible conditions and they risk their lives everyday for the rich and wealthy and all of us. Do you think if these people had a strong union or a caring employer something would have been done about the alleged violations that people supposedly knew about in this facility? I can only go by what has been said but other miners themselves have stated on T.V. tand alleged hat there were prior safety concerns. It would be unfair to not say that other minors said they had no concerns for the mines safety. Perhaps it would be unfair when these safety conditions are common to what they do for a living. However, one wonders when a person is need of an income if they would say anything that would place their job on the line? One must also wonder how many more mines possibly have multiple violations that are ignored? Perhaps Union representation would not have stopped the tragedy, but I suspect something might have been done to reduce the risk and eliminate this as a factor in an already dangerous situation if there was representation and no fear of losing ones job? Unfortunately we will never know. I understand mines are regulated via a partnership between the ownership and government. Do you think that really works? I don't think that people have a voice when they are not united. Therefore no one person will ever speak out and no one backs the whistleblower. Only when owners get on T.V. after death has taken place and say how sorry they are and how regretful it is that the focus shifts to safety and work ethic. Certainly, while no one can see the future if they did intentionally ignore safety for dollars then they should be penalaized in some way if not get jail time.
I suspect we who are part of the working class should start to take a hard look at why Unions were formed to start with. Do you think workers were being exploited and that is why they formed together? You can bet your backside that was the case. However,the problem with the word Union is we allowed them to become greedy and unrealistic and we allowed the government to sell us that we don’t need them. I can look all around me and see retired Union workers who are not even 55 years of age making more then a lot of working people and holding down a second job, taking that from someone who really needs it. Now there is nothing wrong with this, they got it and all the power to them and I realize Unions are certainly not perfect. But these are the poeple that cost all of us and placed Unions where in my opinion they are today- ineffective. But, we must not forget that without them workers are at the wim of owners. My opinion is that if you believe that Unions are a burden then you are most likely an owner, an investor, a manager or you have the bucks and you would most likely like to get rid of them if you could. If you belong to any Union you should band with your brothers in strength but use values and fairness in your work and negotiation and not bleed a company out of business or force them to go elsewhere! It is a two sided coin. That will keep your Union strong and will help the company you work for.
Finally, I find that in my writings I seem to always come back to our nations values and religious beliefs. Values which our leadership always seems ready and proud to point to. That is that we are a nation formed on Christian values and a nation of law the adheres to the rule of law. Well Hello, in my humble opinion if this is an example of Christian values and rule of law then no wonder people despise us. I ask rrhetorically, where are the ministers, pastors, and church leaders who know in their hearts this is part of our modern culture but draw no line in the sand and stand for everyone not just the selective few they wish to represent? They are content to appease these owners and wealthy because they have the power and churches are afraid to step forward in fear of repercussions or lost money! Oh sure there are always a few who always stand for justice, but unfortunately you do not hear much about this in most of the mainstream denominations or the most well known leaders. Then my opinion is that this is as blatant a sin as one could perform! It is even worse than those who perpetrate it on others. Do they not think that God is aware? If your heart is not sincere in following Gods commands for compassion, love and mercy, all the prayers in the world will not help and you can call yourself what you want to it means nothing, nada, zero! You can be at the highest level of your religion but in my opinion God expects that much more from you. Your heart must long for a true change and you must make every effort to make that change!
Sadly, the bottom line is we get what we want and allow. We elected these people who profess one thing but do the opposite. We work for these people who profess one thing but do another. I suspect people should be pressuring their “representatives" to start to look out for the family and average man. Something many of them were at one time but have forgotten about. They talk of roots but it is meaningless when they cast that vote. My opinion is if you send them some money, a free meal or vacation package many will respond! We must speak to our pastor and find out why they and their leadership don’t address this problem. You will find out they don’t think it exists. Yet, you can ask a majority of working people about their jobs, not put them in jeopardy, and you will get the answer! Perhaps as you read this you are one of them?
So to all of you who say this is not true and I’m being kind in my verbiage, then in my opinion you are most likely one of the very people who are exploiting others! To you who explot people every day, in many ways, don’t bother to go to church, repent, or profess anything if you continue in your ways. You have not looked at yourself in the mirror, like we all have to do. You who don't acknowledge your sin and that you must change and then make that change and that to do otherwise is just blowing wind! If you want to be that Christian example that you profess you are, then treat your workers and all you interact with fairly, be compassionate and start to listen, show mercy. People respond to leadership, not tyrants! They will obey tyrants out of fear but they will not be productive! I will bet your productivity will go up and your costs will go down and profits will start to rise when you implement these simple steps!
Robert T. Melaccio Sr. Copyright ©2005 Robert Melaccio
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