Questioning the overarching acceptance of "Employment at Will"

[Budgies Revenge]

17. the whole thing is a mess

Not only do you have "employment at will", there is an increasing number of factories, distribution centers, and construction firms who are simply hiring temp workers en mass. It's a neat situation for the employers, especially in accident prone industries. They essentially get bodies that they don't have to train, equip, deal with workman's comp, and treat them any way they like. If a temp has a problem, concern, or anything--out the door they go, and a new crop of temps are brought in to fill the slots.

ProPublica did an interesting study on injury rates of temp versus non temp workers in 5 states and found that workplace injury rates were between 36% to 72% higher for temps than non temps in those states. That is a staggering number.

My personal opinion is this: We are in a very precarious time for labor rights and safety right now. The gen x'ers and millennials have never known a working world without the protections of the OSH Act and the right to organize. We will also be the group to see living memory of the time before those protections pass into history. If we don't step up and reaffirm the principles that earlier progressive pioneers and organizers fought for, we fall into a second gilded age of income inequality and employment practices.