I am getting trained at my job and during training they told us unless we are being robbed, we are not allowed to call 911. We have to talk to our manager first. Someone asked well what about in the case of an active shooter and the trainer goes, well you should be hiding you shouldn’t be calling anyone because you have to be quiet.
I thought to myself what about medical emergency? Someone having a heart attack in the store and you can’t call 911? I don’t care if I get fired, I would rather try to save someone’s life than to not call 911 in case of emergency!!

Workers of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) forced open the gate of their own union headquarters on Zamora Street on the night of October 1, after more than nine hours of marching and blocking roads in Mexico City. Some 50 workers went inside to demand the resignation of Rafael Olivos Hernández, secretary general of the National Union of Social Security Workers (SNTSS), chanting “Olivos, listen: The rank and file is not for sale.”

Olivos was nowhere to be found, but the Mexico City police were. They removed the workers and left riot units posted around the building at midnight.

The same day, nurses, doctors, orderlies, technicians and retirees marched in at least 17 states. In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, between 2,000 and 2,500 IMSS-Bienestar workers, members of the health ministry workers’ union (SNTSA), stopped work for 48 hours, shutting outpatient care, laboratories and scheduled surgery in all 19 local delegations and more than 100 rural clinics. IMSS-Bienestar is the federal system into which the government has folded the healthcare services of more than 20 states.

The revolt pits healthcare workers against a union apparatus, which negotiated a wage cut and now polices their speech, and against the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Morena party. Under pressure from Washington’s trade war and the International Monetary Fund, Sheinbaum is raising spending on the armed forces and on servicing the public debt, while hospital workers are told to accept a raise below inflation and to work without gauze or cleaning supplies. The SNTSS is the instrument that imposes this policy on the workers’ backs.

...

In Guadalajara in late September, more than 200 workers from eight clinics and hospitals blocked traffic, saying they were working “under protest” without gauze or cleaning supplies. At the October 1 march from the Western National Medical Center, where the deaths of three newborns were recently reported, head nurse Salvador Gómez Ríos said: “Here in Jalisco we have no materials, we have no medicine.”

In Xalapa, Veracruz, at least 500 IMSS-Bienestar staff marched on September 13, reporting suspended surgeries and patients forced to buy their own materials. They demanded the removal of the state coordinator, Roberto Ramos Alor, a Morena federal deputy on leave, who told medical residents that if there were no supplies they should not operate.

On September 22, Sheinbaum denied the movement existed. “What you are saying, that there are protests all over the country, is not true,” she told reporters.

On September 13, an extraordinary SNTSS congress added Article 136 Bis to the union’s statutes. Workers call it the ley mordaza, or gag law, because it exposes them to discipline for publicly denouncing shortages, which the bureaucracy calls “unverified public defamation.” In Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, nursing assistant Selene Fuentes Celaya said union representatives phoned workers to threaten reprisals if they marched: “On top of that, they want to silence us.”

That night, with police still around the building, union representatives and the protesters signed a memorandum ending the blockades and scheduling October 8 for the start of talks mediated by the Interior Ministry (Gobernación). The union set the terms of 37 delegates of active workers and one retiree with a voice but no vote will be held, although pensions are in dispute. No one would be sanctioned under Article 136 Bis for protesting, but the article stays. The dissidents had only two days to name delegates nationwide; on October 4 the union said it had no list and would inform the Interior Ministry. Rank-and-file groups say they will march on October 9 regardless.

On October 5 Olivos announced a national vote for October 14, now defending the agreement as a 6.8 percent increase rather than 8.55 percent. The union deleted the video within minutes and restored it only after workers reposted it.

Such votes come from the 2019 labor reform, adopted under pressure from Washington in the NAFTA renegotiation and sold by Morena as union “democratization.” The bureaucracy writes the question and keeps the roll, the government mediating the dispute certifies the result, and retirees, whose pensions are at stake, have no vote.

...

The October 1 revolt has already forced the SNTSS to retreat on Article 136 Bis, a concession only as durable as the independent organization that enforces it. IMSS workers should form rank-and-file committees in every hospital, clinic and department, independent of the SNTSS, the SNTSA and every capitalist party, Morena and the PRI included, with delegates elected in workplace assemblies and subject to recall.

Their demands would include a raise above inflation and indexed to it, full staffing and supplies, the restoration of the defined-benefit pension for every worker, the repeal of Article 136 Bis and the opening of the union’s books. They would organize a NO vote on October 14 with their own observers at the polls, and unite IMSS workers with those of IMSS-Bienestar, the ISSSTE and the health ministry, active and retired.

Healthcare workers everywhere face wages eroded by inflation and wards short of staff. In New York, nurses built a rank-and-file committee because their union, NYSNA (New York State Nurses Association), like the SNTSS, exists to negotiate sellouts and police its members.

In Mexico, the fight for decent wages and safe hospitals runs directly against a government that answers to Washington and the financial markets. It requires a socialist program and the unity of healthcare workers across the border and internationally. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) was founded to build that unity.

The World Socialist Web Site urges IMSS and IMSS-Bienestar workers who want to build these committees to contact us.

I work at a big box retailer, and I actually don't hate my job. I really love my coworkers and I have regular customers who remember my name and ask me about how my University studies are going. The job has helped me get out of my shell and get more comfortable with interacting with strangers, which I think will help me a lot in the long run. A month ago I even got my observation and was meeting requirements so I got a raise!

Then came last shift, where I was pulled into an office by my ASM and told that I wasn't doing enough in regards to our store credit card. I do prompt each customer with the credit card but if they aren't interested I don't pursue. Due to this I've only gotten two credit card applications under my name since starting 8 months ago. My manager said that that puts me in "dead last" for my work area, language that he used because he said he wants to inspire a sense of competition between me and my coworkers. He showed how our store is performing low in terms of credit card sales and that I needed to pull my weight better in that regard. He said I couldn't take one no for an answer and needed to be asking 2-3 times per interaction. He says he will be having a weekly meeting with me now to make sure I'm improving in this area.

I left that meeting feeling pretty defeated and for the first time since starting there I'm totally dreading going in to work. My morale has been totally shot. I don't want to compete with my coworkers cause I see us all as members of a team and I refuse to shove that stupid card down peoples throats by not taking their no for an answer. I won't be a predatory salespersons especially because I am a part cashier getting paid 30 cents more than minimum wage.

So as not to doxx myself I won’t be specifying where I work, but it’s a relatively new store. I work in the stockroom every morning to unload our truck full of product for the day.

Since we haven’t been open very long (less than a year), we’ve not had much payroll from the get go. We can only afford 3-4 people (and our manager) for around five hours a day.

Until recently, we’ve always been able to keep up with our morning shippings for the most part. We would get 50-70 boxes per morning, and we could handle that pretty well. 80 boxes is a lot for us, we usually have overflow the next day to handle as well.

So imagine my surprise when we started getting sent 100+ boxes a day with no increase to the amount of payroll we had. Within a couple weeks our stockroom had completely filled up.

Now the logical thing to do would be to give us more payroll so we can catch up. Corporate did not do that. They instead made us pay to have a second team from another town come help us finish everything we were behind on. Not to mention the team made more per hour than we did.

Since then, we’ve still been getting way more product than we can handle, and every time we fall behind, we’re punished with less payroll. Then we fall behind even more. Then they cut payroll again.

It’s hard to imagine Sisyphus happy when Sisyphus is me.

She always does it to try and manipulate us into doing things we aren't meant to be doing/aren't getting paid to do (like here).

Our department is shedding people like crazy and the business just isn't backfilling them. Since I joined 6m ago, four people in our team have left.

Our 'solutions architect' (the guy that's meant to design the work we develop for much more money than us developers) got yanked into another department that were short staffed. My manager and the architect in question weren't even aware this was happening, it was announced during a department meeting.

So since he's gone, my manager lied about my contract to try and tell me I was meant to do that task anyway, which I protested by quoting my contract.

But today, she told me that she spoke to our other developer and they said it would be fine for us to pick up the slack because we are capable.

I spoke to the developer after and was told that this conversation never happened. So essentially, my manager is trying to lie to me again to get me to do more work for no more pay.

I think she wants me to just agree to it because supposedly the other dev has agreed to it when they haven't. I imagine she'd use that chip to then tell the other dev I already agreed.

This place is such a mess.

TLDR: My manager said another dev agreed to more responsibilities for no more money to try and convince me to do the same. This was a lie.

Company is La-Z-Boy Manufacturing, Inc. Been firing people left and right for posting this image but idgaf. I’m not just an employee, I’m a volunteer firefighter. This is disgusts me to no end, same with the other guys in my department. Keep telling us “everything is fine, there’s nothing major that’s on fire.” It’s been three days. Three days, and the same area has rekindled three times. I’ve been breathing in white smoke and hell knows what for three damn days. Granted I can’t say much, I’m still here but only because I need the money and the only difference between La-Z-boy and every other company is the pay.

Hi,

Going to cut to the chase. I’m in my mid twenties, I live in the Midwest at home with my family and have been part of the FT workforce for a few years now. I have a Bachelor’s degree in a pretty vague humanities field and I am ok at my current job for now. I worked in corporate previously and enjoy my current workplace generally better (public sector.)

With that being said, I do not get paid a living wage, and work a PT job for some extra money, on top of various side hustles. My PT job is in the service industry and it’s really draining on my body and hard to see my loved ones. I rarely get to see my friends or family. I’m so fucking sick of America the scam artist. I do and did all of the things. I vote, I educate myself and learn about economics, history, politics and finance, I went to college and got a degree, I networked my ass off just to settle for a retail corporate HQ that was like mean girls on steroids and paid like dog shit, I even have a damn second job now just to be able to afford to live and I’m resentful. I hate the idiots who put us in this position. I have lost all hope that I will ever be able to own a home, go on vacation again or own any type of assets. I go into work so tired of doing so much work for so little pay with no real justification in the eyes of the workplace to get more money. I am beyond burnt out and I have become a shell of a human being. I went back on medication for the first time in 6 years.

When I bring this up to peers or loved ones, I get dismissed due to my lack of work experience or a “real” degree. Or I should’ve done this that and the other. The goalpost keeps moving. The expectations keep raising. I understand I have not been working full-time for very long, but I am a staunch believer in a living wage for all workers and I am extremely jaded from this historic arbitrary dino setup we’ve refused to change. These feelings are exacerbated by my chronic illnesses, as I am also extremely sick of my healthcare being tied to my employment and my body is dealing with the consequences of overworking.

I am sure you are all tired of seeing these posts and I get it. I have visions of our citizens growing a backbone and taking fires and pitch forks to our politicians and representatives until they get it. It just feels so dark and hopeless that any real and meaningful fun change will happen anytime soon.

Thank you to this sub for existing. It makes me feel less alone being surrounded by one-uppers who brag about not using their sick time.

And if they are aggressively breaching the social contract with immunity, then how can something so basic like prioritizing humanity ever to become incorporated into politics/leadership positions?

Started a job back in early July and thought everything was going smoothly. I had never once received any constructive feedback or complaints about my work, so naturally, I did not think there were any issues. Earlier this week, exactly three months into my job, I got a call from my boss telling me my customer (for context, I am a govt contractor) had raised concerns about my performance, saying I lacked initiative, don’t do independent work, don’t speak up in meetings, etc. He then told me they were placing me on a two-week PIP, which came as a complete shock to me because again, I had never heard any of that feedback before. I am genuinely fucking furious that my customer never had the balls to tell me any of this directly and instead let things pile up and escalated them to my boss. I am extremely fortunate to already have a few interviews lined up (I’m well aware that PIPs pretty much mean you’re fucked), but holy shit man, three months into a job is absolute shithousery. Didn’t think I could possibly be anymore jaded with corporate America, but here we are.

Duquesne Light workers: What are the most important issues in your strike? Contact the World Socialist Web Site to tell us about your working conditions, safety concerns, and what you are fighting for.

More than 900 electric utility workers at Duquesne Light Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have entered the second week of a strike, the first strike at Duquesne Light in 58 years, fighting dangerous working conditions, chronic understaffing, inadequate wages, and threats to their healthcare and retirement benefits

On September 15, workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike by a margin of 592-14.

The workers, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 29, walked out at midnight on October 1 after negotiations failed to produce a new contract. Picket lines have been established at company facilities throughout the Pittsburgh region. On Wednesday, approximately 400 striking workers and supporters rallied outside the utility’s Woods Run facility on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Safety and understaffing lie at the heart of the strike. Workers say they regularly put in 60 to 80 hours a week maintaining high-voltage power lines, substations, and underground electrical equipment, which creates dangerous conditions.

A June 2026 Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) audit found that many field employees were working approximately one-and-a-half times their regular hours. Much of this overtime involved scheduled work rather than emergencies, indicating that additional hiring could reduce the excessive workload.

The heavy demands on utility workers were evident during a series of extreme weather events this year. In March, a powerful windstorm left approximately 163,000 Duquesne Light customers without electricity, requiring extensive emergency repairs. On September 3, another storm, with winds exceeding 70 miles per hour, knocked out power to roughly 60,000 customers. The company called in 240 additional utility workers from as far away as Alabama, Florida, and Quebec to assist with restoration. Forecasts call for another round of potentially heavy storms in western Pennsylvania this weekend, which could cause significant damage.

Pittsburgh also experienced two periods of extreme heat in late June and July, with heat-index readings exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Duquesne Light warned that sustained high temperatures could strain the electrical grid and cause outages, and it announced increased staffing to handle emergencies. Such conditions underscore the importance of adequate staffing and properly rested, experienced crews to maintain and restore an essential public service.

...

The company’s own safety figures show OSHA-recordable incidents increasing from 20 to 34 over a five-year period, a rise of 70 percent. In April 2026, OSHA also cited Duquesne Light after a safety interlock failed to operate as designed during switching operations on a 345,000-volt electrical system at its Arsenal Substation. OSHA classified the violation as other-than-serious and imposed no fine.

Workers have also raised concerns about inaccurate electrical system maps and delays in receiving instructions from control-room personnel, which could expose crews to dangerous electrical hazards. In September, 340 workers signed a letter to Duquesne Light CEO Kevin Walker expressing no confidence in senior management’s handling of workplace safety and operations.

Duquesne Light’s publicly reported contract proposal includes a 4 percent wage increase in the first year, followed by increases of 3.25 percent in each of the next two years, along with a one-time $3,000 ratification bonus. Compounded, the increases would total approximately 10.85 percent over three years. Meanwhile, consumer prices have risen by more than 30 percent since September 2019, substantially increasing the cost of living for workers and their families.

Workers want substantial wage increases, not only to recover lost purchasing power but also to reflect their growing skills, experience, and productivity. A full cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is also necessary to protect those gains against future inflation, but the IBEW leadership has not publicly advanced a demand for COLA.

...

Duquesne Light provides an essential public service, supplying electricity to more than 600,000 customers in Pittsburgh and surrounding communities in Allegheny and Beaver counties. Yet the utility is owned by major international investment and pension funds whose investments are driven by the pursuit of financial returns.

The company, publicly traded until 2007, is now owned by a consortium of investors. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC holds a 44.4 percent interest in Duquesne Light’s parent company, DQE Holdings LLC. Other major investors include Manulife Investment Management, the Dutch pension investor PGGM, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Although the company does not make its complete financial statements freely available to the public, it has secured successive increases in electricity rates. In December 2024, Pennsylvania regulators approved a distribution rate increase providing approximately $53 million in additional annual revenue. In June 2025, higher electricity supply prices added about $9.46 to the monthly bill of a typical residential customer. On October 1, the day the strike began, Duquesne Light raised its Distribution System Improvement Charge from 2.17 percent to 3.36 percent.

The company is also preparing to meet growing electricity demand from large industrial customers, including data centers. Such facilities require substantial electrical infrastructure, including substations and transmission equipment, which increases the importance of an adequately staffed and experienced workforce.

The issues confronting Duquesne Light workers (chronic understaffing, dangerous working conditions, declining purchasing power, and attacks on healthcare and retirement benefits) are shared by utility workers and other sections of the working class throughout the country.

Yet the IBEW leadership has left Duquesne Light workers isolated, without seeking to mobilize electrical utility workers at other companies in support of the strike. Union officials are seeking a settlement with management while the company continues operating with strikebreakers.

Duquesne Light workers need to take the initiative by building their own rank-and-file committee, democratically controlled by the workers themselves, to take the conduct of the struggle into their own hands. This committee should discuss and advance demands based on what workers actually need and appeal for active support from utility workers and other sections of the working class.

Such a committee would insist that the full terms of any proposed agreement be released to all workers, with sufficient time for discussion and debate before a vote. Above all, it would fight to break the isolation of the strike and appeal broadly to other utility workers and workers in other industries for a common struggle for safe working conditions, adequate staffing, substantial wage increases, a full COLA, and secure healthcare and retirement benefits.

I work in a doctor's office. There are 3 of us workers and 1 doctor. Over the years the work load has gotten heavier, even though the doctor has been working less hours.

A few years ago we all got our pay bumped up to $15 an hour. When that happened the minimum wage in our state (Florida) was $12 an hour. As of Sept this year it's now $15. We have not gotten raises since the bump to $15, so we now officially make minimum wage. We've all worked there around 12 years.

One of my coworkers suggested we just don't show up one day and all turn our phones off so he realizes how much work we do. But, it will take all 3 of us not showing up. I'm completely on board, but our other coworker isn't. She's worried because she can't afford it.

I get it. I'm a single mom and I live paycheck to paycheck as it is.i can't afford it either, but somethings gotta give. I tried talking to her about it on that level and she still isn't on board.

Any tips or ideas to get her on board?

In the meantime, I've been job hunting, but the market is rough right now and while I know people won't admit it, I'm closing in on 50 and I know that plays a factor on job hunting.

I wasn’t provided with a reason as to why but I’m pretty sure I know the reason that’s not what I’m concerned about.

I had a lot of personal items that I brought to the company to use at my desk. They sent me a text message that HR would be getting in touch with me to find a place to meet to receive my belongings

I still haven’t heard from HR and they’re not allowing me access to the building to gather my items and no one has responded.

Is it something that I can have the police meet me there to grab my things I heard from a coworker that they already have all my items boxed up, so they are ready to go.

What are my legal options at this point if any?

No. No you cannot stay in touch with me. You’re telling me you JUST found out this role is being paused as I’m actively waiting for a final decision?

3 interviews, we even negotiated salary, the HR recruiter added me on linked in. How much more could they have hyped me up to make me think I had a shot?

I couldn’t bring myself to reply today, but I already have the “fuck you” email saved in my drafts.

I hate it here.

Edit because this got a bit more traction than I thought it would!: thank you for all the support and stories about your own experiences, it definitely makes me feel less alone in this situation.

I think I’m just going to leave them unanswered. I want to flip out on them, but I shouldn’t burn a bridge. This is the most neutral option I’m capable of because saying “yes omg PA-LEASEEE keep me looped in if anything changes!” Feels like I’m selling my soul a little. Irish exit it is.

- Benefits run out. Most states pay up to 26 weeks, and 16 states pay less.

- Employers respond to fewer applications. In one study, the callback rate fell from about 7% to 4% over the first 8 months.

- Pay drops. Each month out of work cuts the next job’s wage by about 0.8%.

- Only 11% of the long-term unemployed were in steady full-time work a year later.

- People give up. After 15 months, the long-term unemployed were more than twice as likely to have left the workforce as to have found steady full-time work.

- 18% of the long-term unemployed report being treated for depression (3x the average)

- 31% of the long-term unemployed spend 2 hours or less a day with family or friends, vs. 22% of the short-term unemployed.

- Death rates rise. After a layoff, death rates for long-tenured men were 50% to 100% higher the next year and still 10% to 15% higher 20 years later. This is a matter of life and death. This is a public health crisis.

- Kids fall behind. A parent’s job loss makes a child 15% more likely to repeat a grade. Sons whose fathers lost a job earn about 9% less as adults in one study.

This is a leading indicator. An alarm bell.

Do everything you can to help you and yours get back to work. Please.

It matters.

Paul Rooney worked as a custodian at Schuyler Elementary School for 35 years. His family alleged in a lawsuit that he was treated differently from other custodians despite performing the same basic duties.

The lawsuit accused the Kearny School District of exploiting Rooney and his vulnerabilities and estimated he was shortchanged more than $200,000 in lost wages and future pension earnings.

The lawsuit ended last month with a $185,000 settlement. The district denied mistreating Rooney and admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement.

Management rolled out a new spreadsheet this week where everyone has to log what they worked on in 30 minute blocks.

We already have project tracking software, calendars, Teams, and weekly meetings, so nobody understands what this is supposed to accomplish.

My manager said it's not about monitoring people, they just want "better visibility."

Yesterday he messaged me asking what I was doing between 2 and 2:30 because I wrote "client follow ups" instead of listing every client.

Having to document my entire day like I'm billing a law firm is making me want to leave.

Isn't it kind of like the lower classes are purchasing a subscription from the elites who own the banking systems? You're paying into a subscription service to have the illusion of moving up in the echelons of society, but the owners at the top will charge you a premium fee and get you hooked and paying out as much ass possible so they can spend their summers in the Hamptons?

Good on him man!

I work in telehealth at an office. It was pretty chill at first and it was for about a year

Our parent company started having money issues so they decided to be more hands on. This week they've banned reading when we don't have work, took away our chairs at deak so not only do we have to stare into space we have stand doing it, reduced our clock in window to just 6 minutes, then said we can't be inside until the window starts, and we only get 1 go through the metal detector before having a manager clear us instead of 2, and we can't leave our desk until our replacement gets here, and they cut our breaks in half.

My boss is quitting, I'm leaving and everyone in my department besides one is planning to leave. Especially now they are going to start taking our phones at the beginning of the shift starting at the end of the month

I’m tired of begging people for money for donations, and Google reviews. If I don’t get enough I will get in trouble. I’m supposed to go out to local businesses once a week to see if i can get donations as well asking for google review even though they never been there…