Sunday, December 24, 2006

Big Businesses Stink

I was on the phone before with a friend who is head of the obstetrics department of a major hospital in Houston. She told me her hospital is being taken over by a bigger one and she thinks that is a good thing. She won't lose her job and neither will any of the nurses that work for her, but some of the top administrators are getting walking papers. I guess these people mean nothing to her. She is happby because the hospital will have goals to meet and more ways to deal with people that don't meet them. For example, she is now able to write up anyone who is sick on or around a holiday. She says she knows who really needs the time off and who doesn't, but does she really know what is going on in any body's private life? The nurses in her unit are required to do more and more every day to meet these goals. There are no excuses for not meeting them. I tried to explain to her that the school system is doing the same thing to us and most of us have just about had it. Most of us work to the best of our abilities, but there is a limit. There is no incentive to work outside of our paid work hours (although every teacher I know does this). Her employees are entitled to a floating "spiritual day." Her opinion is that only the religious should take it. Often she is forced to give up time off and others in the same situation should do the same thing. I'm sure many of us will be called down if we take Jan 2 off, even though we are entitled to 10 sick days a year (with no doctor's note required).

Something must be done to stop these big corporations from taking over everything. They are whipping us so hard that there is no flesh left on our backs.

4 comments:

NYC Educator said...

And that's precisely what Klein seems poised to do with the schools in which we work.

Anonymous said...

Your friend has gone to the "dark side" to quote Luke Skywalker, the character from the "Star Wars" movies. Klein is our own Darth Vader.

Anonymous said...

My dad had a friend who once likened corporate America's treatment of its employees to humans running on a treadmill. She said,they'll run you until you fall of and when you do, they'll simply kick you out of the way and stick somebody else up there and then do the same to them. It's all so disheartnening and sad. I say it's time for a revolution!

Also, perhaps your friend needs to be reminded that it was she who signed up for a leadership position/supervisory role. There were many nights, when I supervised a staff of 12 that I had to take a late shift and essentially take one for the team simply because as the leader/supervisor that was what I signed up for. And, knowing this I rarely complained about it. And when the job took its toll, guess what? I looked for another job and gave my 2 weeks notice.

Hang in there!

Pissedoffteacher said...

you sound like a bright person. hope your new job appreciates you.