too tired at the moment to express anything more on the subject,
aga siin on üks katke, eelmisel nädalal välja valitud
Eesti enesehinnangu tõstmiseks :)
Muust kirjutan ehk mõni teine päev,
Guardiani artikleid ootab terve ports järjehoidjates.
Üldiselt tundub väga põnev, aga ootab kuhjades nagu tuhat ja üks raamatutki
Not that I complain
...
If any of us were wondering where the United States ranks, relative to the rest of the world, in the general category of "worker protection," there is now a precise answer available -- one supplied by Dr. Kenneth Thomas, political science professor at the University of Missouri (St. Louis), who based his findings on statistics supplied by OECD members.
The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is a group of 34 comparatively "rich" industrialized nations that was founded in 1961 and whose stated purpose, more or less, is to meet semi-regularly to discuss ways of increasing economic progress through world trade. It might help to think of the OECD as an international version of the Chamber of Commerce. Its headquarters are in Paris, France.
The following countries are members of the OECD: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
So what did Professor Thomas learn from his survey? Where does the proud and accomplished United States rank? Shockingly, the U.S. not only finishes dead last overall, but in many of the specific categories (maternity leaves, medical leaves, education, etc.) we're not even within shouting distance of the rest of the pack.
Now a sharp-eyed realist might attempt to mitigate these findings by arguing that getting beaten by Denmark, Sweden and Norway is no disgrace and certainly no surprise. After all, Scandinavia is/was known as a veritable "workers paradise." But Estonia and Mexico? Chile and Slovenia? Surely, someone is joking.
But it's no joke. Professor Thomas shows that the U.S. not only lags well behind its fellow OECD members in worker protection, it even trails the so-called BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries in many areas. Among the categories considered in the OECD study: being fired unfairly, not receiving severance pay, not getting enough notice on mass layoffs, and the use of non-vested, non-permanent employees.
Arguably, the U.S. is undergoing a shift in self-identity. Instead of seeing ourselves, collectively, as a "country" -- a society, a culture, a national community -- we now see ourselves as an economic arena -- a gladiatorial arena where it's every man for himself, where there are only winners and losers. And while no one knows for certain how all of this will play out, it's safe to say it will end badly for the majority (formerly known as "citizens"; now referred to as "losers").
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