  Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1777 Registered: 01-2006 |
I would appreciate some assistance. My son, who is 20, has just taken a job in a restaurant. The pay is O.K., but they seem to be willing to work their kitchen staff like Hebrew Slaves, for 8-12 hours at a stretch, with no regard to giving them breaks of any kind. Websites I have perused indicate that there is no Michigan law forcing employers to provide breaktimes for employees age 18 and up. Unsurprisingly, the restaurant, which is only recently opened, is not a "union shop." I have urged the lad to not do a lot of squawking, or "pushing his weight around," for the obvious reasons. Still, I feel that something fundamentally wrong is going on, even while it may be within the law. Any input, gang? Is my info incorrect? Do any of you know of any recourse for my boy? Naturally, smart-ass comments are expected, and welcomed, but I am hoping that someone here has something helpful to say. In advance, thanks!! | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1355 Registered: 11-2003 |
http://www.dol.gov/esa/program s/whd/state/rest.htm | ||
Terryh Member Username: Terryh Post Number: 628 Registered: 11-2006 |
Two fifteen minute breaks during an eight hour shift. Thought it was state law. Outta be. | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 148 Registered: 11-2007 |
I have worked as temp at various manufacturing shops around town this year,(the ONLY work to be found), and they seem to look the other way when it comes to making their production quotas and you missing your lunch and breaks on a ten hour shift at a machine. If you don't like it - walk,(they say), there's always somebody hungry for a temp job around here. Three companies, all the same. All at wages 30% lower than ten years ago. Life is grand. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1778 Registered: 01-2006 |
Terryh: But, it's not, at least not for adults. (Message edited by ravine on December 27, 2007) | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 1210 Registered: 08-2007 |
If everyone is treated the same, that is all right and tight legally. As Bigb23 says, they can pretty much call the shots. Right to work, here we come. Here is the info from the Mi.gov site on breaks: Are employees required by law to have a meal or break period? Agency: Labor & Economic Growth Employees under 18 years of age may not work more than 5 continuous hours without a 30 minute uninterrupted rest period. There are no requirements for breaks, meal or rest periods for employees over 18 years of age. Where an employer has a break, meal or rest period policy, the employee must be completely relieved of work duties and free to pursue his or her own interest to not be considered work time (Cherney v. West Michigan Cleaners 84-3823). http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0 ,1607,7-154-27673_32352-117201 --,00.html (Message edited by gazhekwe on December 27, 2007) | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1780 Registered: 01-2006 |
Yup. That's what I found, too. Not cool, but apparently legit. | ||
Tponetom Member Username: Tponetom Post Number: 188 Registered: 06-2007 |
Ravine: This started out as a commentary on ‘Buyamerican.’ Then I saw some parallels regarding your post and your son’s plight. Will my comments be helpful. No. There is a mind-set in our country about unions. They are bad, evil, no good. Yet, we applaud Congress when thay pass a minimum wage law. Wow, isn't that wonderful? Buyamerican In the waning hours, days, months of my life, I try to rise above the fray. I have been in the middle of it for so long, my scars have scars. BUT, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. So here goes. 1. First and foremost, I love your signature sign off. “WHAT YOU DRIVE, DRIVES AMERICA!” I cannot read anything sinister or cryptic in the meaning of that simple sentence. I cannot fathom why some of your critics seem to berate you for it. (Do they know something that I don’t know?) I am driving an ‘02 Oldsmobile Silhouette. A MINI VAN! I can just picture the rolling of eyes, the heavy sighs and a stifled giggle. I have had 6 Olds and about 20 other GM cars and trucks over the past 63 years, starting with a 1940 Chevrolet, 2-door sedan. That was a great ‘short’! I have easily driven over a million miles during that period, with not a single mechanical disaster. Flat tires? Sure. A leak here and there? Sure. So much for the quality of American made cars. Presently, I am negotiating with a Buick Dealer for a new Terrazzo. Buick is discontinuing the model, and if I can steal one, I would buy it in a heart beat. But I have to see the dealer bleed a little. And now, a little satire................. 2. Unions? What does anyone know about them if they never belonged to one? Of course we do not need Unions. Especially when we have benevolent CEO’s running those big corporations who will take care of us in our old age. Just like Congress. Yes, I am a Union member. 48 years. I just happen to belong to Local 98, the Detroit Plumbers Local. I retired in 1987. I have received my monthly Pension Fund Check on time every month. I have full Medical coverage. A Christmas Bonus Check and a Flexible Spending Account complements my pension each year. (If I don’t use it all, it accrues to the next year. Did I have a ‘rabbi’ to get me into the Union back in 1958? No, I did not. It took me a full year of badgering and cajoling the Business Agent to let me join. 3. Then there is the Social Security farce. And that dirty rotten scoundrel , FDR. When he helped start Social Security he took 1% of my pay check every week. I remember that first $ 6.00 salary that dwindled down to $ 5.94. Retirees were inconvenienced for many years by getting their S. S. checks through the U. S. Mail. Now we have direct deposit. That is a little more like it. I also remember when the earnings cap was raised to $ 3200.00. What gall! Taking out $32.00 annually! And what does the average retiree and his wife get for all that? Sure, on average, a lousy $ 1700.00 a month. What a rape. 4. Then Medicare is another bag of worms. When my wife had 5 MRI’s at $ 1500 a pop, I had to make a co-pay of $ 100.00 on each of them. Why don’t they just take away S.S. and Medicare and make all Unions Illegal, and let Big Brother, in the form of corporate America take care of all of us. End of Satire. 5. The Molly Maguires, Walter and Victor Reuther, John L. Lewis and others of a similar ilk are some of the reasons why millions of Non-union Americans are very fortunate getting the wages and benefits that they are getting. If all the Unions are ultimately destroyed, there will be an equitable wage established for all Americans. It is called, ‘minimum wage.’ | ||
Carolcb Member Username: Carolcb Post Number: 3367 Registered: 11-2006 |
Thank you Tponetom! | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 153 Registered: 11-2007 |
Thank you also! I have not sat back and gone the easy route on the job. I have always upgraded my skills to accommodate my employers to the point where I had a CAD Designer job at a International firm seven years ago. Now I work at a production shop where people are really on edge about what little they have left in life. We have no upward mobility, when the Chinese have nowhere but UP to go. They are boom - we are bust. Where there is no place to go but down - you worry. | ||
Frankg Member Username: Frankg Post Number: 117 Registered: 08-2007 |
"Don't Mourn, Organize!" | ||
My2cents Member Username: My2cents Post Number: 173 Registered: 10-2003 |
THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE, Tponetom! Thank you especially this: "5. The Molly Maguires, Walter and Victor Reuther, John L. Lewis and others of a similar ilk are some of the reasons why millions of Non-union Americans are very fortunate getting the wages and benefits that they are getting. If all the Unions are ultimately destroyed, there will be an equitable wage established for all Americans. It is called, ‘minimum wage.’" A few in my family were members of Local #98......... | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3541 Registered: 02-2004 |
Great stuff, Tponetom. Thank you. |
