Arkansas Blog

That's fucking stupid. I have no witty remark--that's just plain, fucking stupid. And who the hell spends and hour a day getting dressed?? Public servants my ass! More like gold-diggers...

That's fucking stupid. I have no witty remark--that's just plain, fucking stupid. And who the hell spends and hour a day getting dressed?? Public servants my ass! More like gold-diggers...

Taint worth havin' a stroke over, Basil.

And who the hell spends and hour a day getting dressed?<<

policeman
Hookers
actors
divers
chicken processors
hog processors
beef processors
medical personnel (includes scrubbing)
astronauts (about 5 hours per event)

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If the chicken processors in Springdale get paid suiting up and suiting out so should cops.
.

*Who spends an hour a day getting dressed?*
ME

According to the news release, the time actually includes three things: "time officers spend putting on and taking off their protective work gear, time spent traveling to and from their assigned patrol stations while wearing their gear and uniforms required by the City, and often going without meal breaks".

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him." Martin Luther King Jr.

Miss Jazzy - you have to look good when you get ready to get in that little sports car!

The next thing they'll want to be paid for is their daily 2 hour communte from their residence, safely out of earshot from the crime infested neighborhoods of LR that they're sworn to protect & serve but choose not to live near.

Basil,
Coal miners fought for that right over a hundred years ago and won. At that time coal miners weren't on the clock until they actually starting to dig for coal in the shafts - after they arrived at the mine, geared up, stood in line, rode elevators or walked to the dig. On leaving, the reverse happened - as soon as they stopped digging their pay stopped, not matter how long it took to clean up and leave the mine. I can't really expect many people who grew up in the anti-worker mentality of Arkansas to understand basic fairness.

Damn right Goof!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hubby has named my bathroom, *THE TRANSFORMATION ROOM.*
I go in looking like,,,well, ah, um, ......ME............and, come out looking like a Liberal gal
ready for fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I think they should get paid for the time. But then I'm a union gal all the way; if a job requires something, the job should pay for it. (Dang it's strange to be defending police...especially after watching the Philadelphia cops beat the crap out of those men. Disgusting.)

Me too, Zelda.....IBEW 728.....thats where we get the big bucks every month,,,,snort.....
My maiden (sounds nice,,,,maiden) name was Lewis and G'ma always told me we were kin to
John L.
Some people bitch against unions but Frenchie went to school 4 yrs. to qualify for union
membership, I think its 5 yrs. today.
VIVA UNION WORKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's IBEW Jazzy?

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

My hometown cop/sherriff/constable/fire chief just wore a pair of overalls and a ten gallon hat. He got his extra pay the old fashioned way...under the table.

Does the lawsuit include a refund for the time spent cooping in the protective gear and patrol car in isolated parking lots on the mid-watches???

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS..............
728 was his home base in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
He worked mostly on the east coast but came to south La. to work on the Waterford 111
nuclear plant, that is how I came to meet the little darling..................
SECRET,,,,,,we were both still married to others but seperated.

Jazzy - my oldest wants to be a pipeline welder and I keep telling him to go nuclear.

If that is his ambition by all means encourage him to get into a union program.
Frenchie was forced to retire in '88 because of Reagan's war on the unions, all work dried
up, broke his heart as he loved his job and had many years left to work.
He was making $45 an hour on last job but, by golly they earn it,,,,,always study and test
to pass to be on top of the game.

P.S.-------------won't make that kind of money in Ark.............
you come to Ark. with money to retire.

Has his sites set on the new Fayetteville Shale pipeline. I'm hearing 47.50 to 50.00 an hour.

But, in my reading, 7 applications filed in '07 for nuclear plants and anticipated 35 in '08 and '42 in '09.

I forgot about the Fayetteville Shale job,,,,,should be a good one, as for pay.

Maybe they ought to get paid for cleaning their guns, polishing their shoes and dropping off and picking up their uniforms at the cleaners? How about when they shave and get a haircut? Or put their hair up if they're girl type cops?
I don't have a problem with them getting paid extra if they have to direct traffic or stop a robbery on the way to or from work, or if they miss a meal break, but to get ready and get to their duty stations?Ridiculous.

Doigotta,
I was once an accountant for firm that went to computerized bookkeeping. They couldn't get the vendor to set stuff up after the boxes sat there for 2 weeks. I spent an evening and half of Saturday doing it.
The chiefs said thanks. When I included the time on my work schedule the thanks changed to disapproval. I saved them half of what it would have cost them and they had the system up and going.
So, I give no quarter to anyone for wanting his employer mandated time paid. Jim Lendall made the case with the mine workers.

Many employees get ripped off regularly for mandatory, non-paid meetings, etc.

Doigotta,
At what point should the clock start? Only when they reach their duty stations and do "actual police work?" Let's look at your interpretation in terms of a nurse's job.

I arrive at the hospital for my shift. I sit through report, hearing about what has happened with my patients that day. I read through the patients' charts, verifying orders, and plan my schedule. I gather my equipment for assessments, wound care, IV starts, medications, feeds. I then put on my protective gear for isolation patients, still off the clock. According to you, I can only start getting paid after I enter the patient's room and only while I am in the patients' rooms.

Is this how your world works - how you are compensated for your job? Based on your view about police, firefighters should ONLY be paid for the time they are actively putting out a blaze. We need to have a punch-card clock attached to all fire hydrants. For those who thought that the plantation bosses were extinct, they were replaced by corporate bosses and their sycophants who have even less regard for workers.

I must second Jim's post. My partner is an RN. She must be ready to read reports, prepare meds 15 min before the clock starts. When the clock stops she's there for a min of 15 doing chart summaries and other chores. That comes to 2.5 hours per week, a 50 week year means they steal 125 hours a year from her. That amounts to slightly over 3, 40-hour shifts.
Additionally nurses may NEVER leave their station until a replacement is at hand. That means many nights
of mandatory overtime in the range of 3-6 hours.
Corporate medical care is not good for the employees and rarely good for the patients.

L.,
Your partner has a rotten deal, perhaps not about her being your partner, but in her job situation. Reading the reports, preparing meds, and waiting for a replacement are all part of essential patient care. Insuring that there is a timely replacement is the company's responsibility, the employee should not have to pay for that time. If the time for those chores is off-the-clock, it sounds like there is a major violation of the wage and hour laws at her medical facility and it should be reported to the Labor Department.

It's disgusting what tricks companies will use to get free labor out of their employees.

I believe I said cops should be paid from the time they report to their duty stations. If they are required to be in place by 7 a.m., they should get paid from 7 a.m. I said nothing about not getting paid until they answer a call. If they work in downtown LR, that's their duty station. If their duty station is elsewhere but they are required to report downtown first, they should get paid from the time they report in downtown. If they must respond to a situation on their way to work -- a fairly unusual circumstance, given what I've seen required of a family member in another city -- they should and usually do get paid for that time.
On the other hand, if an officer is not required to report to a specific geographic duty station -- for example when he takes his vehicle home -- then his shift starts when he is required to be on duty, either on schedule or as necessity demands.
Very few of us get paid from the time we start putting on a uniform. Off hand, I can't think of any.
And yes, nurses do often get a raw deal, starting with at least 12 or 13 hours on the clock. I always worry about how well they are functioning at the end of a long shift. And I've seen them sitting at the computer for another hour or more finishing reports.
I also regret that they sometimes have to put in mandatory overtime if, for example, someone doesn't show up for a shift. At the same time, a company can't always be faulted if another employee doesn't turn up on time or at all.
Apples and oranges.
Same thing with miners. Of course they should have gotten paid from the time they reported to work, not from the time they grabbed that pick or started a piece of equipment deep in the bowels of the earth.
Will employers continue to squeeze more out of their employees? You bet they will. Should employees roll over and put up with it? Of course not. But unreasonable demands come from both sides.

Jim, what you folks in Ark nursing need is what was done in Calif. Calif Nurses Association. CNA is taking it national.

Maybe I should start turning in my receipts for dry cleaning. Also, if I were paid by the hour, maybe I should ask to me compensated for the time I spend ironing and doing my laundry. Give me a break!

Maybe I should start turning in my receipts for dry cleaning. Also, if I were paid by the hour, maybe I should ask to be compensated for the time I spend ironing and doing my laundry. Give me a break!

Just make the wearing of protective gear and the packing of heat optional for the cop....that should make the pay issue go away.