“Work sucks; I know.”
As we all know from Blink 182’s prophetic masterpiece, the working life can be a serious drag at times.
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We’re used to it within the context of the country we live in. But what’s it like elsewhere in the world? A Russian Redditor offered some interesting observations on work in their country.
The post appeared on r/antiwork.
Naturally, posters on this subreddit are going to be, uh, anti-work. Still, the post, “I am from Russia and I’m shocked reading this sub,” contained some interesting observations.
In the post, OP explains that they live in a city of one million people about five hours from Moscow. They broke down working rights in their country.
What are these rights?
Let’s break them down, two at a time.
Fourteen days’ vacation every six months: as OP explains it, this number grows to 21 days for dangerous professions, and unused vacation days are paid in cash.
Sick leaves have to be paid. “Companies MUST pay to social security fund and you get paid sick leaves, from 20 to 100% of your salary,” they wrote.
It goes on.
Night shifts are paid time and a half “no matter what.” Shifts during “free” days are paid double.
Pregnant women get 70 fully paid days before their kid is born, and 70 more days after they’re born.
It sounds alright.
Besides the pregnancy leave, one parent can take a year and a half of leave when their kid is born, for 40% of their salary.
If your position is cut or made redundant and toy [ sic ] lose your job as a result, you receive three times your monthly salary.
All complaints must comply with labor laws.
The final point says that workers are better protected against unnecessary firings.
OP then goes on to berate Americans for having comparatively few workers’ rights when many of them work for massively wealthy conglomerates. It’s…hard to disagree with that.
The post picked up traction.
“Alright guys, when Russia is looking down on us, I think we’ve lost the right to say ‘Greatest country in the world’,” noted one commenter.
As others pointed out, no one should really have been making that claim in the first place.
The post has nearly 80,000 upvotes.
That’s a crazy high number, but is perhaps unsurprising here. After all, it’s in a subreddit called r/antiwork, and features someone criticizing American workplace culture. More than four thousand comments were tallied on the post.
Is this a Russian bot situation?
OP’s post history is suspiciously pro-Russia, and never confronts Russia’s less-than-ideal qualities.
“Do gay people get these benefits?” one commenter asked rhetorically. “What about political party opposition? Do they get the benefits you describe? Also, how much does the Russian dollar go in the economy? I get all this time off but can’t afford a damn thing.”
Is Russia really all that?
The source here, just like the source on Russian workers’ rights, is someone on the internet, so take it with a grain of salt.
That said, one commenter claims that Russian employers can make their employees personally monetarily responsible for any theft or other shrinkage in their store.
Where would you rather live?
It’s an interesting post, and sparked some lively discussion, but it’s hard not to be skeptical of someone whose main purpose online appears to be spreading pro-Russian propaganda.
Workers’ rights in the United States could certainly be better, but is Russia truly the country to emulate?
Make sure to check out the post , then let us know your thoughts.
