Stand up for yourself this Labor Day

Labor Day is the national holiday set aside to honor workers and their struggles for better conditions on the job. Thanks to labor activists, we have the 40-hour workweek, paid holidays, and sick leave.

Or do we?

In theory, yes but in practice, maybe not so much. Or at least, not so much for everyone. There are entire swaths of the population who work more than 40 hours each week, who take few or no vacations and who have no paid sick leave.

Oddly enough, these “have nots” are spread out across the economic range, although their situations vary widely. For example, low-income “have nots” often exceed 40 hours because they’re working multiple jobs, while those higher up the pay scale are putting in extra unpaid hours just to keep up with their workloads.

Likewise, both groups are susceptible to missing their paid holidays, but for entirely different reasons: Low-wage workers are often part-timers whose holidays aren’t compensated, while full-timers at the higher end of the range are prone to conducting “jus talittlework”onaholiday, again to keep from falling behind.

It’s enough to make you wonder if we’ve made so much progress after all. But of course, we have. For the most part, work in the United States is safer, better paid and far less exploitative than ever in our history – and better still than in a large percentage of the world.

What I find ironic is how much of our individual situations we can control, or at least influence – but which we do not attempt very strenuously to change. Admittedly, this is more true of workers who are not living a hand-to-mouth existence through multiple, low-skilled jobs. The workers at lower pay levels are the ones who most rely on government regulation to improve their lot with employers.

Even so, these are also the workers with the most power to “vote with their feet” by switching jobs, as the frequent turn overatthis level creates opportunity for movement. If this describes your situation, consider that even incremental improvements might be worth the disruption of changing jobs.

What about workers whose employment already includes paid sick time, vacations and even perks lik etuiti on reimbursement, but who consign themselves to working as if they didn’t have these benefits? During the depth of the recent recession, I often heard an answer tied to fear: Fear of losing the job, fear of looking less committed and being passed over for promotion, etc.

Now that some employers are reporting difficulty in finding candidates, doesn’t that give employeesaned ge? The answer is a qualified “yes”. The edge is there, but it’s only effective if the worker recognizes and uses it.

Hence, an employee who continues to work unpaid overtime when the boss can’t otherwise cover the shift is losing an opportunity to negotiate for better conditions. In the same vein, a worker who always answers emails after hours is sustaining the expectation of being ever-available.

I’m not talking about going on strike in your workplace. I’m just asking: Have you considered chang- ing the de facto employment agreement between you and your boss? It takes some preparation, but you’d be surprised at what you can achieve by simply having the conversation.

Here are the basic steps of the process:

1. Identify what you want to change

2. Think about the process for making the change and how it might affect your workplace

3. Meet with your boss and reques tt he change

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? For the most part, it is. The difficult part is finding the courage to act. Another place workers get hung up is trying to envision the solution in its entiret ybe fore approaching the boss. To break this logjam, remind yourself that it’s not your job to solve the problem. If you can’t think of a solution, your boss will need to.

If fear of your boss’ reaction keeps y ouf ro m having this conversation, let me pause to ask: Is this a healthy work setting for you? In this case, I’d suggest the extra step of preparing your resume before initiating a meeting. Or jump straight to seeking new employment.

ThisL a borDay,vow to stand up for what you need as a worker, even if it means shaking thin gsupa bit. And for heavens’ sake, start using the perks you do have, whether that’s a holiday without work or employer dollars for training.AsIsayeveryyearin this column, people literally died in the fight for the better work conditions we have today. The least we can do is avail ourselves of those benefits. Enjoy your Labor Day.