In the United States we are under at will employment in every state but Montana. Essentially, hire at will fire at will quit at will. This is not good for employees and I’d argue employers too. My proposal.
Mandatory contract employment for all non Independent contractor employment (Independent contractors must be entitled to their own hours & be paid per project/unit of work) Contracts would have set limits minimum of 12 months, maximum of 5 years. (exception for seasonal employment) The contract would be required to specify all policy rules, what hours they will work and regulations of the company, the starting pay, the frequency of raises and how much the raises are, the expectations to receive raises.
Employment courts would be set up where a fired employee would be allowed to appeal a firing in where the company would have to show cause, by showing a legal rule was broken and that there was consistent and equal enforcement. If found to have cause the employee forfeit unemployment insurance, if shown to not have cause the employer must either keep them employed with 1.5 backpay for days not worked or pay out their contract.
Conversely if an employee wants to quit they must show good cause (harassment, unequal treatment, breech of contract) or buy out said contract either directly or by monthly payments)
If either the employer or employee violates the law they can be held in criminal contempt and jailed until bailed (which will be paid to the other party) or stipulations met or contract would have naturally expired.
This imo would be far superior to the nonsense we have currently.
Ideally the same government that implemented the removal of at will would also implement state level single payer.
Unions would be more of an outside thing where guilds would form instead to help get favorable Contracts for specific fields which would probably work better. Imagine each industry including service and retail had a “guild” that would handle contracts and decide minimums via member votes
Edit: 5 years of stability sounds amazing imo
The thought of being stuck with a shitty team and/or boss that isn’t technically violating any laws or my contract is absolutely horrifying to me.
I know I’m not the only person who has had issues with suicidal ideation stemming from having such a shit job that in the end I just fucking ghosted it, regardless of losing the stability. Zoning out driving in and coming back to myself to realize I was two towns past my workplace. I don’t know what I would have done if I had some sort of contractual obligation with potential fees or legal repurcussions for quitting. My car would probably be off the side of that bridge, with me still in it.
It seems to me like you’re suggesting an overadjustment for your current personal struggle of lack of stability, while ignoring other possible problems and secondary effects.
I’m sorry you’re going through it right now. The job market fucking sucks.
But making people even less able to leave exploitative and soul crushing situations only puts more power in the hands of the corporate fuckstains that want to squeeze out every last drop of profit from you even if it costs your life.
Yeah if anything employees should always retain the ability to walk away at any time because of the power disparity involved. Get rid of at will rules for companies, keep them for employees.
Friend, your guild idea already exists. It’s just called a Union in the current day. Many trades already operate this way, from the Carpenters Union to the Iron Workers Union. There’s even a Teamsters Union. The different name doesn’t change the work they do. White- collar hand much less representation with collective solidarity, but that can be fixed by starting a Union at your local work place. I won’t tell anyone it’s easy, but it’s worth putting in the work. A great example is the Starbucks unions that have popped up in the last few years. The reason you don’t see more unions is because employers are terrified of them, and want to continue to freely exploit the workforce through fear.