Working more unpaid or underpaid hours does not make you cool. It does not make you tough. It does not make you virtuous. It just means your employer has extracted even more surplus value from you.
“You think I want to be here? You think I want to work all these hours? I have a wife and new kid at home, you think I don’t want to be spending time with them?!”
That is a direct quote from a former coworker at a well-known manufacturing company notorious for overworking their people on the floor. He was ranting about how offended he was by other people not volunteering to take overtime.
I was… confused by his statements. The overtime he was referring to was entirely voluntary, no one had to volunteer. The company was facing a nasty downturn and there was barely enough work to go around as it was. But he was furious at the idea of people refusing to work literally pointlessly, taking time away from their loved ones. The absolute contempt in his voice was striking, and I remember it clearly years later.
I wanted to turn around and tell him, “No, it doesn’t sound like you do?” but I felt he was already hurting enough.
Couldn’t it just be that he “had” to be there because he needed the money? I mean I don’t know why whether other people also did over time mattered to him at all.
Every one I know who’s been in a similar situation of needing all the extra hours they can get for bill paying, especially during a downturn in business, has always been grateful for people who went home early/on time.
They’ll be there shuffling people off, “Oh yeah, go home and rest, no problem! I’ve got this! Go ahead!” Hell I’ve done that myself a time or two when money has been tight. Being mad at people who don’t take those precious hours is … Odd.
It was a common mentality there, which was amazing to me, considering it was a union job. But it turned out that was part of the problem, since unions guarantee overtime allowances.
I eventually realized it was because quite a few people were determined to take as much overtime as possible out of pure greed. They seemed to often believe they were somehow getting one over on management by working overtime. They didn’t really need the money, and they truly didn’t care about how little time they spent living their lives versus working. Getting two hours of time and a half meant more to them than any evening spent at home.
There were those that needed to pay their bills, but they were rare and completely overshadowed by the greedy. The majority of overtimers just wanted more money and less time at home.
The truth was most of the greedy were committing massive time clock fraud during their overtime and were relying on one another to keep the lie going that the overtime was needed. Then, anyone who didn’t want the overtime was considered a threat to their profit margins, and so was treated with contempt.
Management knew, but didn’t care, because employees selling their bodies was barely the cost of business. I mean, a single fastener, of which we would scrap hundreds without a care, would cost the company more than an hour of a full-time floor worker on double time and a half. It was worth more to them to keep butts in seats feet on the floor (just remembered that before I left, they took all the chairs away to keep people from sitting so much…) and eyes on the machines than it was to try and stop people from abusing the overtime system.
Overtime in manufacturing isn’t going to make anyone a millionaire, but you might be convinced otherwise from how they behave. The money was amazing for manufacturing, the best you can get really, but it will never be enough to make me willing to miss time with my family.
If you look at property rights, the contrast is even starker. Your employer legally owns 100% of what you produce positive and negative while you legally own 0%
My grandfather tells me stories about how the factory he worked for, they would just straight-up take a half-day off on Fridays to drink with the manager on a picnic bench. Don't imagine that was common, per se, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a corporation that wouldn't sniff that out today and crush it for the sake of 'productivity'. The increased influence and omniscience of the investor class, even over the capitalism-happy 60s and 70s, is... stark.
We got some snarky emails from management for having a contribute what you want lunch hour barbecues on a little crappy propane grill. Can’t imagine drinking a beer with them on a half day.
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