from the quantity-over-quality;-money-before-people dept.
Jessica Goodheart authored a story in Capital & Main (co-published by Slate) which reports:
While SolarCity has been an incredible job engine, for some workers the pace of growth has come at a cost. In lawsuits and interviews, workers allege being denied overtime, meal and bathroom breaks, minimum wages, and complain about managers' inattention to quality and safety.
"At first it was good", [former SolarCity employee George] Estrada remembers. But four years later, after SolarCity had exploded in size, from 2,500 employees to more than 15,000, Estrada quit, disillusioned by what he says was the company's focus on meeting sales goals over workmanship and the well-being of its employees.
[...] The industry also includes smaller regional firms such as Sullivan Solar Power in San Diego, where Estrada went to work after leaving SolarCity. Started in 2004, Sullivan Solar Power built its customer base slowly and aimed at creating a highly trained and well-compensated workforce. Estrada would find a different pace of work there, one that he says has allowed him to focus more care on each customer and to build a future as a skilled electrician, able to find work in any industry.
At SolarCity, crews are provided with "panel pay", a bonus system that incentivizes speed by paying installers for every panel they install if that rate is higher than their hourly wage. According to Estrada, the rapid pace led to leaky roofs when holes drilled to secure the panels weren't properly sealed, requiring return visits after customers complained.
[...] Estrada claims he was asked by supervisors to accept bonuses in exchange for not reporting overtime. Because of the pace of work, he was unable to get time off to be with his family, he says. In 2016, he quit, before the company began laying off workers.
[...] Some workers I interviewed spoke highly of the company, crediting SolarCity with providing ample training and promotion opportunities, generous benefits, as well as a chance to be part of an innovative company on the forefront of the move toward clean energy. One former installer, a graduate of Homeboy Industries' training program, described SolarCity as "the best job I ever had" and is now earning $55,000 a year as an inspector for the company. Kevin Midei, who worked as an installer in Maryland in 2015, and who now runs his own business, says SolarCity is "cool" and "forward-looking," and, he says, in reference to the 2016 layoffs, "like any other young industry," it faces ups and downs.
George Estrada, however, is hardly alone in criticizing SolarCity's employment practices. Ravi Whitworth, another installer, and four other plaintiffs, are seeking class action status in an amended complaint filed in March in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claiming that the company denied them overtime, minimum wages, meal and rest breaks.
The company did not provide its workers access to bathrooms during worktime, requiring them to urinate in bottles or buckets while on the job, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs--installers from various parts of California--claim to represent 2,000 workers at the company.
One of the lawsuit's allegations--that SolarCity failed to compensate installers for travel between jobs--was repeated in another lawsuit by former SolarCity crew leader John Zazueta, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2016.
Zazueta also alleges he was fired by SolarCity after he refused to perform electrical work under conditions he deemed unsafe. His charge echoes Estrada's claim that, when he worked out of the San Diego warehouse, certified electricians "would get fired if they asked too many questions".
Some of the lawsuit allegations are also echoed by "Jake", a Southern California field inspection coordinator for SolarCity who requested that his real name not be used in this article. He confirmed that installers clock out between jobs and also said the company was not always forthcoming with promised wages.
"There's the thing where they promise if you get it done in a certain amount of time, you get this bonus pay, but it never happens", he said.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by kaszz on Monday April 24 2017, @02:46PM
SolarCity founded in 2006 designs, manufactures, permits, finances, sells, installs, maintains, and monitors solar energy systems and panels for residential, commercial and government applications. It's run by CEO, Lyndon Rive a cousin of Chairman, Elon Musk. Quick guess, rocket science needs attention and solar panel installations does not. So the ball is with Lyndon which perhaps expanded faster than he can handle and won't pay enough attention to keep the company stable for the long term.
Once a corporation mismanages or has a bad reputation. The ones to leave are the good ones and the company is stuck with the rest. It can end in a self reinforcing bad circle of events.
The question also becomes how much Elon thinks this affects his primary projects, space and electric cars. Cars and solar panels has an obvious use by letting the solar panels charge (car) batteries to provide power for a Mars settlement. There's no oil there nor any easy oxygen to burn it with. And no He-3 reactor designs with proven over unity factor yet.
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Monday April 24 2017, @02:50PM (4 children)
First, what would they want, a toilet installed on the roof?
Second, I'm sure nobody would fire them if they used other means. Like... I don't know. incontinence pads, or cat litter down the trousers; or, even better, using available liquids to check the roof for leaks at the end of a job.
Well, innovation under... umm... "pressure" (for the lack of a better word) is what made America great. If you want it great again, you know what to do - to your employees.
(large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 24 2017, @03:45PM (2 children)
Grab them by their balls? ;-)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 24 2017, @04:30PM
That might make some workers happier. But it would make other workers less happy.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 24 2017, @05:24PM
You think it's funny?
Well, you aren't the first [youtu.be] (just watch for another 2 minutes - or as much as you like).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday April 24 2017, @04:34PM
Bathroom access is apparently a common problem for contractors.
#Peegate: Repairmen caught on hidden camera (CBC Marketplace) [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @03:26PM (1 child)
We never hear that statistic.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @06:30PM
How many have-never-known-a-better-paradigm serfs just accept being abused in this race to the bottom?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @03:44PM (20 children)
Then you need to fix this problem.
Mr. Estrada could go out and start his own solar install company and see what he has to deal with.
If not, then he should either take the job he has or go find a better one.
Sueing the current employer in an attempt to make a good situation better is just wrong.
None of his issues seem that out of the ordinary for a short term construction job.
Except the great sounding option of extra cash instead of over time pay.
To have jobs in America, those jobs have to be competitive with workers all over the world.
If not, economics will make the work flow to non-US workers.
This fuels trade imbalances, movement of supply chains off shore, and illegal immigration.
I'm not saying we need to go back to sweat shops, but this story is on the wrong side of right.
We can't expect to be great without working as hard as those we are competing with.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kaszz on Monday April 24 2017, @03:47PM (7 children)
The point is to enforce some minimum standards for work environments so that a race to the bottom is avoided.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @04:05PM (6 children)
Exactly, but his grievances are way past any reasonable set of minimum standards.
If all US short term construction workers required them, you would have a hard time getting you house worked on legally, but knowledgable workers, at a price you could afford.
In many parts of the country, this is already the case.
His complaints may make some folks feel good, but the make little economic sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @06:43PM (4 children)
You are being Classist.
Go back several decades and there was a form of that which also attempted to keep a portion of the population down in order to artificially make the lot of the white working class seem better than it was.
That condition was called Jim Crow.
Here's a crazy idea:
Instead of The Race to the Bottom, ALL workers are treated with dignity, ALL are paid a living wage, and EVERYONE'S working conditions are healthy and not hazardous due to of corners being cut in order to squeeze out another penny of profit for the ownership class.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 24 2017, @08:35PM (3 children)
Sounds good. So we kick out all the Mexicans and other illegals, as well as the visa-abuse workers. The workers who remain are the ones who will stand up for their rights and a decent working environment, preventing a race to the bottom.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @10:35PM (2 children)
No, you racist piece of crap.
We DON'T waste time and effort going after the people with the LEAST power.
We eliminate the actual source of the problem (and the source of the propaganda which you ignorantly slurp up) i.e. the people with the power--the Capitalist Oligarchy.
First, we vote out the elitist-friendly politicians.
Next, we empower The Working Class the way the Italians have done since 1985.
The Marcora Law [google.com]
After that, we disempower the FIRE sector and undue all the Reaganomics of the last several decades that have tanked the actual economy (lack of living wages and less and less consumer spending and a GDP that has been stalled for a decade while the speculators' market keeps increasing in "value").
...and to put the cherry on top, we dissolve the military the way Costa Rica did in 1948 (getting them universal healthcare, universal education, and proper pensions for all).
The Costa Rica Lesson [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [dissidentvoice.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @09:34AM (1 child)
These illegals and visa abusers are there to do the bidding as an instrument of the capitalist oligarchy. Therefore they can't run around uncontrolled. And to build a future the people of the country needs to have some constructive behavioral patterns and education to contribute with high productivity which many of these categories will not. So either they will drain welfare or pick pocket because they got to eat.
And there's a reason the elite is elite and not others. Voting them out isn't that simple.
Another mistake worker enabling politics tend to orchestrate is that one to snuff innovation and people willing to risk their resources on new enterprise. So both needs to be enabled. As soon as someone tries to tell others what to think and do, there's a problem. Be it government, capitalist or ideological brainwash. The result is usually the same given time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:30PM
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III just announced that he would be going after those who harbor undocumented people.
Now, let's see if he actually does that and starts arresting the employers.
My bet is that it's all bluff and bluster.
they [mustn't] run around uncontrolled
"Vher are your papers?"
Time to Godwin this thread already?
Communism (the end state of successful Socialism) has no national borders.
Labor is free to move about as easily as capital is currently free to move about.
When there is Egalitarianism in the world and there is no longer a Capitalist class (only Workers), all of this "my country, not your county" nonsense becomes moot.
Step 1: Stop consuming the Oligarchs' drivel.
Locate some Socialist thinkers and find out what they have to say.
At first, you will probably be shocked at how logical they are compared to the garbage you've been getting from Lamestream Media.
constructive behavioral patterns
Clearly, you have never had any contact with first-generation USAians.
They're the hardest-working people in the country, family-oriented, and fun-loving.
(I have heard comedian Ron "Tater Salad" White describe them the same way. That guy is VERY cool.)
If you tried to do the work those folks do, you wouldn't last a week.
...and when they're all gone, just watch what happens to the price of your food.
These are the people who make that stuff happen--and they get paid peanuts to do it.
Construction, yard work, housework, food service, hospitality services, child care, elder care, yada, yada, yada; these are the people who get it done--again, for peanuts.
A USAian whose family has been here multiple generations would never take those jobs--especially not at that wage.
there's a reason the elite [are] elite
A poorly educated, easily distracted proletariat consuming Lamestream Media ("Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"); people with malformed amygdalas who are under the delusion that overlords are necessary; and, of course, just plain corruption.
WRT that last point, we only need 2 things to fix the system for good:
1) a constitutional amendment for publicly-funded election campaigns
2) ranked voting.
Y'know, REAL DEMOCRACY.
Voting them out isn't that simple
On his weekly syndicated (Pacifica Radio) program The Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Ralph regularly notes how few people it takes in each congressional district to get things going (3 percent).
He points to the success of the Tea Party taking over the GOP.
education
Amen.
...and not just rote memorization and lessons on how to accept flag-waving serfdom, but actual analytical thinking.
Another mistake worker-enabling politics tend to orchestrate is that one to snuff innovation
Utter nonsense.
I often point to Mondragon in the Basque county of Spain.
It's a cooperative that started in 1956 with 6 worker-owners.
They have expanded to over 100,000 worker-owners and now have dozens of divisions producing various products.
They compete with Capitalist operations and regularly eat those guys' lunch, based on superior offerings and superior production methods.
That you never hear about that is, yet again, a major shortcoming of Lamestream Media.
and people willing to risk their resources on new enterprise
Co-ops, spreading the risk over multiple individuals, and having a democratic organization to curb risky ideas and nurture good ideas works very well for Mondragon and the thousands of co-ops in northern Italy.
You are simply wrong.
You clearly haven't followed the Marcora Law link and you remain ignorant.
As soon as someone tries to tell others what to think and do
Now you're talking about top-down Capitalist Oligarchy which is the opposite of the REAL DEMOCRACY I'm talking about.
Again, follow the link and become less ignorant.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 24 2017, @11:29PM
> you would have a hard time getting you house worked on legally, but knowledgable workers, at a price you could afford.
Shouldn't that be self-correcting, because of the subsequent lack of demand depressing prices?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @04:30PM (7 children)
Your attitude is about making america a shit hole. You're just a knee jerk reactionary that thinks people are lazy and entitled, so unless a workplace violation is near war crime status you think they are being babies.
Want to MAGA the fuck out of the country? Prohibit any business from growing beyond 1,000 people. Every corporation must fracture into dozens or hundreds of businesses, and cap the highest salary (including bonuses etc) at 10x the lowest paid employee.
Solved it for you, but you'll come back with complaints because your a temporarily embarrassed millionaire who wants the privilege of one day screwing over some workers so you can live it up on their dime. Welfare of a different sort.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday April 24 2017, @05:19PM (1 child)
A prohibition on large size is too strict. I think. Just multiply the tax rate by the number of times the company exceeds 1000 in size, so a company with 2000 people would pay twice as much in taxes as a company with 1000 people. Of course, now everyone is robotizing everything possible...but that's coming anyway, and there may be first-mover advantages.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 24 2017, @06:17PM
This may not be the right formula, but it is an interesting idea.
There can be some benefit in having some big companies. But they should not become such mega concentrations of wealth that they can take over governments and buy and sell officials like trading cards.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 24 2017, @06:22PM
There are some benefits to companies bigger than 1,000 people.
I like the fact that anywhere I happen to be, if I see a McDonalds, I instantly know exactly what I could get there, even if it is not the best food. Or if I see a Target store, I probably know what items they carry.
It's nice if some company comes up with a particularly good product and lots of people would like to be able to buy it no matter what part of the country they happen to live in. Why should I have to buy a brand of ${highly processed food product} that I don't like, but from a local company of no more than 1,000 employees.
Or what about: Crest White 3D toothpaste? (yes, a real thing, sad to say.)
What if I want that, but it's not made by a local company because Crest isn't bigger than 1,000 people and only sells to a certain region of the country? I need my 3D toothpaste because I don't like the toothpaste that only works in two dimensions.
I remember a few decades ago, a company in my state (different city) came up with a kind of hot potato chip. It was really good. Only sold in stores around the immediate region of the state. Eventually it grew. Eventually bought by a national brand of chips. Why limit the size a company can get to?
How about just limit how much wealth and power they can accumulate. Especially influence on politicians.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday April 24 2017, @06:29PM (1 child)
Here is an idea. Somehow disconnect the requirement that publicly traded companies must grow and grow and grow. If you don't like a particular company's stock, then don't buy it.
What if you've got a great business going. Some regular growth. But not some artificial continuously hugely rising growth. Just good business. New products. Growing customer base. But something that might not excite the most greedy stock traders.
What seems to happen is, a company goes public. Then it suddenly has to find every way it can to screw over everyone it can screw in order to make every extra cent it can possibly earn, because . . . shareholder value.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 24 2017, @11:37PM
> the requirement that publicly traded companies must grow and grow and grow
It's not a "requirement" as much as what the people in control always want... Thos people either funded it, bought it, or are banks or investment fund in search of as big a payout as they can extract.
And they want that because you don't have safe pensions or guaranteed living handouts or retirements in the US, so you gotta grab as much return as you can, your whole life, or age starving and toothless under a bridge.
The ultimate expression of US capitalism: the people's investments are fucking them over in their own job and future...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @06:48PM
Guilty as charged.
To me, it seems obvious that compared to say China or Mexico, this US worker seems lazy and entitled.
But your point is well taken. Compared to the folks running the company, he seems mistreated.
Unfortunately, economics makes him compete with the first group, so what to do?
We clearly don't want a race to the bottom, but the attitude of entitlement without hard work is not sustainable.
Perhaps entitlement should cut both ways.
If the worker doesn't get a bathroom for a 4 hour shift, then neither should the boss?
That should fix the bathroom issue.
Looking at the min and max wages seems useful
We need lots of liveable middle class jobs.
This is neither min nor max.
Perhaps the for the guy on the top to get his entitled 10000x, there should be a good range of wages paid in between.
Otherwise the guy on top gets 10x max.
The only problem with the wage limit line of thinking is it give companies yet another reason to do business elsewhere.
To MAGA, we need to square the expectation for wages at all levels with world rates.
While you are at it, you need to square ROI as well.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:52AM
SpaceX got 6000 employees so no private space program will go forward then. Your idea might be useful but you have to rethink it.
Another approach is free education and basic income to people that have the skills for a startup such that there always is a lot of competition.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 24 2017, @06:37PM
To have jobs in America, those jobs have to be competitive with workers all over the world
What you are describing is called The Race to the Bottom.
There was a time in the USA where we demanded that the world come up to our standards in order to trade with us.
To do less invoked a tariff which made their lesser standards considerably less profitable.
Now that "trade deals" are not about higher standards but are simply about enriching the already-rich even further, USA's tariffs have been allowed to go by the wayside.
This is what comes from Capitalism and the resulting Oligarchy.
(The disempowerment of labor unions by the ownership class has played a significant part in the changes.)
Apparently, this downward spiral for The Working Class hasn't yet totally screwed up your life.
Brace yourself. It'll catch up with you before too long.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Tuesday April 25 2017, @02:09AM (1 child)
Yes you are. You're solution apparently, when a company violates 1st World labor laws, is to tell people to quit. That doesn't solve the problem, it just changes who is suffering.
Secondly, people installing anything in or on an American house, absolutely do not have to compete with the 3d world -- good luck installing cabinets from 12,000 miles away. The ONLY way this becomes true, is if you enable companies to employ 3d world practices here at home, which apparently, you support.
Lastly, if by using 3d world labor standards, the company can run all others out of business, your solution: quit and find other job -- doesn't work.
I heartily suggest you go fuck yourself. Hard. Without lube.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:01AM
good luck installing cabinets from 12,000 miles away
It's called H1-B.. need many specialist you know. ;)
More specialists comes from the south. They don't require any bureaucratic burden.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday April 25 2017, @03:07PM
He already DID quit and go find a better job. But he's still trying to get SolarCity to actually fulfill the terms of the contract they agreed to and pay him what he's owed. So what exactly is your point? Are you saying he should have demanded payment in full up-front or something? Good luck with that one...
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Monday April 24 2017, @04:34PM (1 child)
Dear Mr. Musk
If you want to achieve scalability, you need to reconsider this. Making your workers unhappy is not the way forward.
Instead, learn to make your customers unhappy. They exist in much larger numbers than your workers. The approach is scalable. One worker could be very happy making one hundred customers unhappy.
You may want to study how this is achieved by looking at companies such as Comcast.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 24 2017, @08:41PM
He's not listening, he's too busy hanging out with his bimbo-who-took-Johnny-Depp-to-the-cleaners and soon-to-be-fourth-divorce-in-a-decade.
Maybe he'll eat humble pie when all those alimony payouts rob him of everything he has, including his god-complex.
(Score: 4, Informative) by mr_mischief on Monday April 24 2017, @04:43PM
An employee has no right to work overtime. If they do work overtime, in many cases they qualify for overtime pay. There's a big difference.
If there's overtime available, who works it might be determined by a union contract, by simple seniority, by volunteerism, or by management's requests.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Monday April 24 2017, @05:37PM (1 child)
When I had solar panels installed, most of the electrical work, including the work on the main panel was done with the power on. I was shocked (mentally, thankfully, not shocked by electricity) at seeing the electrician working with all those live wires hanging out of the panel.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 4, Informative) by DECbot on Monday April 24 2017, @07:05PM
With the right tools and care (or lack there of) it is quite possible to work on a live system safely. However, for the sake of 'safety', billable hours, and inconveniencing the customer, the electrician's handbook recommends to lock out the power source on both the main breaker and on the utility pole. And then leave the locks on both after getting the customer's signature and leaving for the bar. Most importantly, it recommends to not return phone calls from your customer until after you're fully recovered from your hangover.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @02:40AM
Union organizing and complaints of substandard compensation at Tesla.
Elon's response was that the workers get stock options in leu of competitive pay. The workers pointed out that unvested stock options don't pay the rent.
Elon also responded that he wants to build a roller coaster at the plant to make it a fun place to work!
In other news, turns out Elon Musk is a descendant of Marie Antoinette (or at least acts like it).