3 ms·

Another classic case of not imagining the second order effects of a new law. Workers think that requiring overtime pay will benefit them but the actual result i

Another classic case of not imagining the second order effects of a new law. Workers think that requiring overtime pay will benefit them but the actual result is that their overtime labor is now unprofitable and their hours get cut.

croes 3y ago
It shows that the worker's wage is to low if they depend on overtime.
- steveBK123 3y ago
  To be fair - how many STEM grads work strict 40 hour weeks with breaks included?
  - TheBigSalad 3y ago
    Breaks included? Breaks in thinking jobs are not really comparable to breaks in physical labor jobs.
poulsbohemian 3y ago
It's more complicated than that... Sen. Saldaña (quoted in the article) has been one of the main advocates for these laws because her parents were (are?) agricultural workers. The early part of her career was spent doing worker advocacy. So she sees this issue from their perspective. She's urban, female, very sharp, bilingual, and personally connected to this issue. On the other side you've got a whole lot of Eastern Washington old white men, who have done things a particular way for decades and don't want to change anything. From their perspective, things like worker housing should count in the overall pay package to offset overtime. I don't think they are lying when they say they can't be profitable on some of these crops, but the other side of it is that they also aren't thinking real hard about ways to improve efficiency, add economic value, or increase profitability. Many of them aren't bad guys. Even though my politics are very different from theirs, I think too often they get treated like country bumpkins, which leads to resentment. Their core identity is that they like predictability. The problem here is that they need someone to give them an out - show them a business path where they can make money and give workers a better deal at the same time. Unfortunately, you've got two sides that don't quite understand how to get to that place, because in part it is a business problem not a political problem.
Ferret7446 3y ago
Microsoft's contractors say hi. An astounding number of "protective" policies end up doing the opposite of what's intended; you'd think we figured this out by now.

croes 3y ago

It shows that the worker's wage is to low if they depend on overtime.

steveBK123 3y ago
To be fair - how many STEM grads work strict 40 hour weeks with breaks included?
- TheBigSalad 3y ago
  Breaks included? Breaks in thinking jobs are not really comparable to breaks in physical labor jobs.

poulsbohemian 3y ago

It's more complicated than that... Sen. Saldaña (quoted in the article) has been one of the main advocates for these laws because her parents were (are?) agricultural workers. The early part of her career was spent doing worker advocacy. So she sees this issue from their perspective. She's urban, female, very sharp, bilingual, and personally connected to this issue. On the other side you've got a whole lot of Eastern Washington old white men, who have done things a particular way for decades and don't want to change anything. From their perspective, things like worker housing should count in the overall pay package to offset overtime. I don't think they are lying when they say they can't be profitable on some of these crops, but the other side of it is that they also aren't thinking real hard about ways to improve efficiency, add economic value, or increase profitability. Many of them aren't bad guys. Even though my politics are very different from theirs, I think too often they get treated like country bumpkins, which leads to resentment. Their core identity is that they like predictability. The problem here is that they need someone to give them an out - show them a business path where they can make money and give workers a better deal at the same time. Unfortunately, you've got two sides that don't quite understand how to get to that place, because in part it is a business problem not a political problem.

Ferret7446 3y ago

Microsoft's contractors say hi. An astounding number of "protective" policies end up doing the opposite of what's intended; you'd think we figured this out by now.