this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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"Yeah, PTO is gay!" - Guy who works part-time at Dollar General.
FOR REAL THOUGH. Like every person I have ever heard that has complained about PTO, are people who are in positions that either don't accrue it, or accrue it so slowly that it's never usable, or make enough that they don't need to ever worry about being paid vs unpaid when they take holiday.
Disclaimer: USA perspective here, I know its less bullshit in many other parts of the world.
People who don't like PTO don't like it because:
It is implemented in a bullshit way that is often literally illegal...
And it is implemented by idiot/cheap managers who don't have enough actual staff hours to cover anyone being sick or taking PTO.
The bog standard norm for every kind of min wage tier job is that the manager will just unapprove your vacation that you accrued and scheduled weeks or months ago, and then oops, that also makes it so you haven't been accumulating more PTO because you hit your max and didn't use it in time.
Or just any manager that says you can only have a sick day, vacation, or any kind of emergency if you find a replacement for your shift.
That one is particularly amazing because... that is literally the manager's job, to do that, not yours.
But they just gaslight you into doing their job for them, for no extrs pay, of course.
But this kind of (again, often literally illegal) bullshit is so totally common and normalized amongst these shit ass jobs, that most workers don't even know how bullshit it is, and will rabidly attack and malign their coworkers instead of blaming their petty tyrant boss.
These people are basically, generally correct in identifying PTO as basically bullshit in these situations, but they're too overworked and uninformed to put together that... it could be organized/executed in a not bullshit way, and it's their boss's (or corporate's) fault that it isn't.
Shitass retail managers routinely pull this bullshit and enforce a culture of blame being on all your fellow workers, and will go out of their way to intentionally stoke interpersonal drama amongst coworkers... it is very, very rare to find a low level franchise manager or small business owner who does not do this.
Yeah, and unfortunately, like you said, that entire practice is fully illegal in the states. However, most employees are unwilling to report it and then file the evidence of why it was done. Because while there is no mandatory vacation time in the US, if you are provided It as a benefit, it must be something that you can use. And if they are regularly denying your PTO because they don't have the people to be able to cover it, then they are denying you a benefit which they are legally obligated to provide since they offered it as part of your benefits.
The amount of times that people just decide, oh well it's only PTO. It's no biggie. I don't want to rock the boat. It's insane. Like my mom lost over 600 hours of PTO because the business closed up and she didn't fight that they needed to pay it. She doesn't put two and two together that she's overall getting paid less because she has the benefit of having that PTO. So if they were to not offer the PTO, they are just paying less.
Your PTO, if offered, is part of your benefits package, meaning that it's part of your hourly wage calculation. So if you are given PTO and then not being allowed to use it, you are voluntarily being given a demotion.
... and this is why non corrupt unions need to exist.
A single person likely can't afford the legal costs or even just simply the time and headache of pursuing justice, and there is just a massive ass backward culture in the US of it being rude to discuss money and finances with basically anyone...
Get the masses fighting with each other, distrustful of each other, so they don't rally against the real, common enemy.
Oldest tactic in the book, divide and conquer, but you'd have to undo over a century of brainwashing that has now just become a cultural norm amongst morons who think one day they'll be able to be the asshole boss.
Or, even just that if they acquiesce to every absurd demand and insult, they'll be seen as a reliable employee. The reality is that none of that matters, we are all just homogenous human capital to them, especially so at such unspecialized, entry level retail jobs.
I work nights from home, so I hardly ever need to take PTO. Kinda nice at the end of the year though when I typically take November and December off to burn the PTO I canβt carry over into the new year (limited to 40 hours).
We used to do this at work. But it would turn out the company basically shut down after thanksgiving because so few people actually took vacation thru out the year.
Now we are on "permissive time off" which means there is no set amount you can take or really... have to take. So in general, people just work more and are pissed off about it
Shhh, donβt tell my company!