Disposal Workers

I read something recently in one of those advice columns. A woman wrote in, telling her story of how she was laid off from her former employer after more than a decade with the company.

She said she still felt bitter and angry about her termination, and was still obsessing about her former company. The advise columnist wrote back that she should basically get over it, move on, and that her former employer owed her nothing for her years of service.

Yes, the columnist made a good point. I freely admit I let my bitterness and resentment over my layoff consume me at times (but never to the point where I stopped looking for another job).

However, my second thought was that the advice columnist has probably never been laid off, and has always worked freelance or been her own boss. So, how can she know what it’s like to be laid off after many years with a company?

Is this what it has come to for millions of working Americans? We’re nothing more than disposal paper cups to be tossed aside when we have outlived our usefulness to our corporate overloads?

I understand companies must make staffing cuts to survive in harsh economic times (although I’d like to think there are other solutions). But it seems to me that all the power has shifted to the executive suite and workers have little or no say in the matter. Where is the balance? Where is the fairness?

Companies expect loyalty from their workers, but what are they giving us in return? No job security, no raises and crappy health plans.

Are we nothing more than disposal workers?