All things American
I was at Ernst & Young today with a Business English student and she had some very revealing things to say about her labor conditions and America. Ernst & Young, of course, is one of the big four accounting firms in the world, headquartered in the US. Also, it merged with the remnants of Arthur Anderson after their Enron debacle. This adds a little background.
She showed me what every German employee has received daily by email for two months now. It is called "Our Value Statement" and all of a sudden appeared without any explanation. It comes from upper management and is a one line sentence full with platitudinous exhortations, such as: "When we work together then we will win over our competition." She considers this daily statement to be propaganda and something that comes from America.
Furthermore, she told me that the situation for professional employees changed drastically two years ago when a new work contract was made for them. Earlier whenever overtime was worked people were paid for it. Now, people are expected to work 60 hours a week and they no longer receive overtime. Her boss' opinion is if people don't want to work 60 hours a week for 40 hours pay they should find another job. She also considered this to be something American.
What about good old American progress?
She showed me what every German employee has received daily by email for two months now. It is called "Our Value Statement" and all of a sudden appeared without any explanation. It comes from upper management and is a one line sentence full with platitudinous exhortations, such as: "When we work together then we will win over our competition." She considers this daily statement to be propaganda and something that comes from America.
Furthermore, she told me that the situation for professional employees changed drastically two years ago when a new work contract was made for them. Earlier whenever overtime was worked people were paid for it. Now, people are expected to work 60 hours a week and they no longer receive overtime. Her boss' opinion is if people don't want to work 60 hours a week for 40 hours pay they should find another job. She also considered this to be something American.
What about good old American progress?
posted by paulmediaeye at 12:32 PM
1 Comments:
That is the American way. They pay you for 40 hours, but unemployment is so low that they can manipulate workers into working 60 hours a week because if they don't, there's another person ready to snatch your job away from you. We are slaves and it's spreading around the world. Bastards!!
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