I Love My Job
Not everyone hates their job. So if you’ve got a great boss and a great workplace, tell us about it!
We want this to be a site everyone can enjoy, so please keep your comments on the up-and-up.
Blog
May 11th, 2010 | Workers’ rights sacrificed “At the Altar of the Bottom Line”
Cross-posted from Blog at Work:
Stressed. Exhausted. Exploited. Abandoned. In a new book, Tom Juravich exposes and examines the degradation of work in the United States today. At the Altar of the Bottom Line, based on in-depth interviews with workers, lifts up the experiences of working people from diverse sectors of our economy.
Juravich, a writer, researcher, and professor at the University of Massachusetts Labor Center, spent six years interviewing workers in four different occupations:
May 3rd, 2010 | Join us at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference
Cross-posted from Blog at Work:
Want to hear innovative companies discuss the importance of working with unions to support workers’ rights, sustain the environment, and benefit the company’s bottom line?
Join American Rights at Work at the 2010 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference taking place from May 4-6, in Washington, DC.
We’re proud to join our partners at the Blue Green Alliance as a sponsor and convener of this event, and excited to host a panel highlighting real-life examples of how working in partnership with employees and their unions helps companies weather turbulent times while increasing demand for green products and services.
Our Socially Responsible Business Director, Nikki Daruwala, is moderating the panel and will be joined by Michael Peck of Gamesa USA; Molly Bordanaro, Senior Vice President at Gerding Edlen Development, Inc.; Ron Kenedi, Vice President at Sharp Solar; and William “Butch” Johnson, CEO of Flambeau River Paper.
Please register and join us at the session “Partnerships That Work: Good, Green Employers” on Tuesday, May 4, 2:30-4:00 p.m. at the Hilton Washington Hotel.
We hope to see you there.
I really enjoy where I work and what I do, as well as the people I work for and with. What I don’t really enjoy is the fact that the pay is fairly lopsided since I am female. We need to make just as much as a man for doing the same job. Isn’t it about time?
I love my job because my employers ask for my input on how to make our organization better and more effective. I love my job because I have a fair contract that I was able to secure through the assistance of a very caring business agent. I love my job because everyday I feel empowered to help others workers have it as good as I do. I love my job because I get to work with amazing people who share their talents so freely with others.
I am a professor and I love my job. I have very little supervision, but I put in many more than 40 hours per week. I am almost never absent and I am highly productive. The control I have over my work is the major reason I love my job. the only thing I hate about my job is the relatively low salary given my high level of education.
I love my job because of the opportunities I have had to learn new things. The people I work with are very respectful toward me. I am made to feel like I am a valuble team member. I am usually very happy to go to work. I do have some hard days but when I do, I know I have the support I need if I should choose to ask for it. Working in this environment has given me more confidence in my abilities. We all work together as a team. This is the first job I’ve had that has actually “walked the walk” and not just “talk” about team work.
I’m 66 years old. I’ve worked many different jobs in my life. Some truly sucked, some were
OK, two were good. Currently, I work for a union (UFCW) and have never been treated with more respect even though I’m not a union member. I took a large pay cut when I accepted this job, but it was worth it.
I work for a natural foods cooperative. The store is great, my boss is respectful and i have co-workers who understand what it means to work as a team. I wake up every day happy that i get to go to work doing something i love and working for a store that is so great. Everyone should be so fortunate.
All the problems people are haveing with they re employer s now is the reason they re grand fathers an mothers started the unions. Most problems on these job would not exsist if they had a union.
I work at a university in a large state system. I know how privileged I am because I have lots of independence and am, for the most part, respected for my work. My immediate boss is a petty tyrant but since I became active in the union he totally leaves me alone. I am doubly blessed because I get to fight for the rights and respect of co-workers but also for public education. We are in a losing battle but I hold out hope that the citizenry will stop allowing politicians to blame all our problems on public employees and realize our present quality of life and our collective future depends on the work we do.
I am one of the few people today who likes my job (the duties, the people, the hours). What I do not like it the environment of today’s work culture. You constantly have to be worried about your own job and your co-workers/friends jobs and that has created a backstabbing workplace.
I love my job as a public middle school counselor. Each day is different, a challenge, and a day to look forward to. Our school’s staff is great, supportive and truly working to do the best for students. At times, it is can be tough but there is always a team working together to make things better.
We have had a reduction in positions in some areas and know that more is coming but we aim to do keep our school one of the best. We do have a union that works to protect the teachers and am thankful for their accomplishments.
I too am an IBEW journeyman wireman. I love my job as do many of my brothers and sisters in the IBEW who are fortunate enough to be working these days. My story and beliefs are similar to Bill’s below, although I can assure you we’ve never met. The working middle class (the backbone of this country) HAS been sold down the river by politicians, CEOs and their ilk in the last decade. It’s time for them take responsibility for what’s happened here and will continue to happen if they don’t change things.
I find it interesting that 3 of the 5 others commenting are in educational settings supported by our tax dollars. If we keep going as we have, those jobs too will be gone.
I love my job – retired. At 90 years of age, I look back at my working days ad remember when as workers we wer respected and had opportunity to reach middle class and even a little better. That no longer exists today. We have become a two class society, wealth and poverty, wth the wealthier becoming smaller in number but wealthier in income, and the rest of us are becoming poorer and watching good jobs leave the country for cheap labor – the advantage being “free trade” – make an increased profit per item. The more American manufacturers that move abroad results (in fair trade agreements) that we have less to trade and so we amass hiuhge annual negative trade balances. There are now very few offers of good jobs in the United States and the Congress doesn;t seem to care.
The USPS is the greatest job in the world because WE HAVE A UNION TO REPRESENT US. THE APWU WORKS HARD TO SEE WE ARE PAID A DECENT WAGE AND HAVE DECENT BNIFITS AND FIGHTS FOR REAL OLD FASHION SERVICE AND TRIES TO HOLD MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR TREATING EMPLOYEES WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT. SUPORT THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT SO ALL EMPLOYEES WHO DESIRE A BETTER WORK PLACE CAN OVERCOME THE OBSTRUCTIONS CURRENTLY IN PLACE TO FORM A UNION.
I love my job. I work for the most efficient and cheapest (44 cents per stamp) in the world. USPS management does everything they can through a systimatic system to make it one of the worst placrs to work. They give lip service and use image to try and make employees and the public perceive that they are treating employees with dignity and respect and giving service to the public. Image does not relace character. Image is no substitute for real old fashion service. Voodoo image and voodoo service gimicks will only serve to destroy the greatest postal service this world has ever seen. Benjamin Franklin our first and greatest Postmaster General knew what true service was. It was getting a letter from Philidelphia to New York in two days. A service standard that current USPS management either know nothing about or are willing to destroy to get a few more $ in their pockets for instant gratification.
Systimatic is misspelled it should be “systematic”. i applogize for the misspelling. I hope you all have a great day!
Thank you and your fellow employees for delivering great service in spite of management’s cuts. Instead of cuts in service,how about cutting out most of management and get a Ben Franklin to lead the greatest postal service to more,not less. I would love to hear more about what you suggest changing.
I was a school secretary and always enjoyed working with people.
I started outfor an Insurance Co., then worked for the Glendale Police Court.
I always found work a pleasure. I also worked for a Co. selling Airplane parts. Then I worked at Bendix. They were all fair to me.
I love my job. I am an IBEW electrican with good pay and good benefits. I work for a good company with a great local owner. Some one who still cares about his company performing quality work. A man who cares about the reputaton of his company. Our problem is our customer base. While our government has allowed our jobs to flow to Mexico, China and every other third world country, our manufacturing plants have closed their doors. Our shop has gone from 100 men to 25, with no end in sight for this down turn. This did not happen overnight, but only now are our politicians noticing. We, the workers, have been sold down the road by both parties in Washington. Manufacturing created the middle class in this country of ours. We cannot allow it to vanish! Why can’t our politicans see this.
Because both parties are owned by corporations nowadays. Or by their banker friends. It’s the only logical answer.
I am fortunate enough to be employed in the IT department of a major state university. The yearly paid time off allowance is generous, and my supervisors allow those on our team flexibility in setting our regular schedules, as long as someone is working from 8-5 M-F. Even better, our work (documentation) is very easy to do remotely, so a couple of us telecommute once a week, and most of us work from home when the roads are icy or when we have a minor illness that we don’t want to spread around. We stay in touch with email and instant messaging, so we’re able to collaborate and get the work done, even if we’re not in the same building.
I work with an amazing faculty at a community college. Many of them are adjuncts who are not treated with a lot of respect by their department chairpersons. When they come to our department for help, they are a pleasure to work with and most of them are willing to learn whatever it takes to teach excellently. My departmental co-workers – many of them worked their way up from part time status- are sympathetic to the way part time staff is treated by the administration and they are a supportive group to work with. We joke often and keep each others’ spirits up during the difficult days.
i work in a school with grades 6-8. the kids energize me and our staff is great. we support each other. i even have a good rapport with my boss. the pay is not so great, but i guess money isn’t everything. i have been doing this for 17 years and i feel like i help to better the world. if i can help other workers, not as fortunate as myself- i will! blessings! k
My coworkers are all incredibly dedicated and willing to lend a hand at a moment’s notice. They recognize my hard work on a regular basis. There are always small perks, like coffee and snacks in the kitchen, and the team makes an effort to organize fun activities outside of work. Everyone tries to make it, because they genuinely want to get to know each other.