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From: bert@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.jobs
Subject: Re: Is this company breaking the law with it's employees?
Message-ID: <8588@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 29-Jan-86 14:50:19 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.8588
Posted: Wed Jan 29 14:50:19 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 04:10:57 EST
References: <108@graffiti.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 75

> 
> I would like to describe the plight of a friend of mine to you and
> ask for suggestions.  There is a huge company that is currently hiring
> people in droves to be trained as Systems Engineers.  They are 
> accepting people without very long lists of credentials to fill the 
> 
> There were glowing stories at first from my friend about what a great
> opportunity this was, and what advancement it would bring in the future.
> But there were a couple of 'catches':
> 
> 	1) The employer told my friend that the training was
> 	   worth $9000, and that if my friend quit within
> 	   the first year, the company wanted to collect this
> 	   amount in return.
> 
> 	2) The job would involve a lot of hard work, especially
> 	   during the training period.
> 
> 	3) The job would bring with it a potential for relocation
> 	   to any of the company's worldwide locations.
> 
> 	4) The pay was not competitive with equivalent positions
> 	   at other companies since this company was taking raw recruits
> 	   and training them at the company's expense.
> 
> My friend decided that the benefits of getting training and experience
> outweighed the detriments above.  My friend accepted the job.  There 
> 
> Guess what?  My friend is getting screwed blind.
> 
> 	1) The fine print on the contract states that you owe 
> 	   the $9000 for the first **two** years, not one.  Not 
> 	   only that, but you owe the money whether you are let
> 	   go or you quit.  Not only that, but they do the computer

at my company, we have to work free for the first two years and
live on only the moistened bread crumbs that our cruel managers throw at us.

> 
> 	2) The 'hard work' is more like slave labor that can only
> 	   be described as detrimental to your health (mental and
> 	   physical).  You are required to be in class most of the day.
> 	   They teach you JCL, COBOL, CICS, and Assembler all in a 
> 	   nine week period.  You are expected to write 5 large COBOL
> 	   programs in the first three weeks during your free time.

we had to write our own operating system and compiler, hand assemble them,
and then toggle them in using the front panel.  when we were finally allowed
to write application programs, we had to write 1000 lines of working code
a day while our managers stood behind us and beat us with sticks.

> 	   This is a *fast* pace.  The instructors tell you that it
> 	   is part of the job to pull all-nighters at the terminals.
> 	   If you don't work all day, and all night and part of the
> 	   next day on one of the programs, you will be let go.  This
> 	   is after the final chance to bail out without owing $9000.
> 	   My friend is averaging three or four hours of sleep per
> 	   night for the last eight or nine weeks.
> 

we had to get up every morning, 3 hours before we went to bed, and 
work for 36 hours at a time.  at quitting time, our managers chopped
us up into little pieces and danced while they sang halleluyah on our
graves!!

> 	3) My friend had to relocate to do the initail three months
> 	   of grunt work.  My friend had to relocate to do the nine
> 	   weeks of training.  My friend will have to relocate again
> 	   for the actual job.  The company won't tell you your final
> 	   destination until three weeks before the training is up.
> 	   That's well after the final decision to bail out without
> 	   owing $9000.
> 

ecstacy!!  we had to live in a shoebox.. in the middle of the road!!