How Liberals Are Literally Working Against Progress

[Abe Linkman]

In major West Coast cities (SF, Seattle, SD, Portland etc.); there is a huge, growing number of people who actively seek work on a contract basis or for part-time. I'm talking about not just for traditionally low-wage jobs, but also high-level positions like Marketing Management, Engineering etc.

YES, I know that many people feel they are forced to have to do this, but I get a strong feeling ( from reading 100's of ads from such people...see Craigslist.org - cities - resumes ) that a good number of these folks simply don't want to work full-time.

That is their right, if they so choose. The main reason I'm bringing this up is that I think these folks are INADVERTENTLY making it more acceptable for employers to offer jobs ONLY on a part-time or contract basis...so they don't have to give any benefits.

[uhhuh]

1. And you know these are liberals

Exactly how??

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. what makes you think these people are liberals?

I think I agree with what you are saying, but why does your headline scream LIBERALS WORKING AGAINST PROGRESS.

What is the progress liberals are supposedly working against, the 40 hour workweek? High level professionals ARE working against progress and the 40 hour workweek I think, but liberal working class people aren't.

[rfranklin]

3. Your headline doesn't make sense...

There is a simple way to solve the benefits problem. There should be a national benefits bank. You work, you get credits for health insurance, unemployment, retirement. You carry the benefits with you from job to job. Our nation has the brains to figure out how to accomplish this.

Republicans do not want you to have any benefits because "it costs too much" (they feel it coming out of their pocket) and when you have benefits you may get choosey about who you work for and the conditions under which you do. They want you to live in fear of losing everything every moment. The same technique is being used on the populace with the "terrorism" threat. Elect us, support us or you'll die in a terror attack just like those poor bastards who were pounded into dust on 9/11. Same modus operandi.

[Skidmore]

4. How is it progressive to put yourself forward to be

a slave to power, often at the expense of your family and home. I gave my job 50+ for years and missed out on much. I'll never do that again. They get 40 hours per week of my undivided attention and no more.

We have such a disfunctional society.

[eileen_d]

5. Well...

Should employers offer benefits to PT/contract workers? I think they should have incentives to do so.

I would guess that some people are patching PT/contract work into more than 40 hour work weeks. By choice? Probably not. It's not exactly a job seeker's market.

Then again, other folks might be realizing that 40-80 hour workweeks is not the life they want to lead. If they have the resources, they can make the choice to work less than full time. And you could argue that this leaves full-time jobs open to people who need the hours.

Just playing devil's advocate here - I think you make an interesting and valid point. I left my job voluntarily (and have no regrets whatsoever) and was replaced by a part-timer. I'm sure my born-again-anger-management-candidate boss is happy not to be paying for my salary and benefits anymore. But the company (a small one) is also in trouble financially, so I don't blame him. He hired a new grad while I am, well, "more experienced"

I also want to add that the benefits I had at this job were pretty crappy. After quitting, I signed up for the cheapest state plan (for portability coverage) and am now getting coverage that was previously denied when I was employed. It has already paid for itself after only 3 months - and I would be paying out of pocket were I still at my old job.

[mazzarro]

6. How Liberals Are Literally Working Against Progress?

This is not clear to me - maybe I am daft - please explain. If you are implying that liberals - I prefer 'progressives' since we have allowed conserva"thieves" to corrupt the classic meaning - having to argue and push for jobs with living wages, i.e. fulltime jobs, is "working against progress" and not what people in general want. I will beg to take issue with you. That some people can afford and do want parttime jobs does not mean that the vast majority of people want the same. Infact it may a tactical approach that the many who have been out of job for a long, long time that they have chosen to lower their expectations in order to find something to do in the meantime.

[Don_G]

7. It's Very Probable

That people are working against progress in the long run, but people have to eat and the business/tax environment that it's much less expensive to hire two part-time workers with no benefits than to hire one full time with health insurance and a 401K.

Don't blame people trying to eat or grads trying to establish a work history and experience.

Blame the bastards in office, the people who put them there and the give-aways that allow throw away labor to be imported into the US like the customer service centers.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. i want to work full time

and I'm a liberal. Hell, I'll take any job. Was it the liberals who exported 700,000 tech jobs as soon as they were created?

[TahitiNut]

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