Nintendo Of America Named In New Workplace Complaint

If they were doing contracted work wouldn’t that mean they aren’t technically employees of Nintendo?

Just placing a friendly comment saying I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day or night before this comment section hopefully doesn’t turn into a war zone.

I do have opinions to share on this matter but I think it best to leave it to the side as this debate can get quite heated.

@RubyCarbuncle are you talking about Nintendo of Japan, Europe, NA?? Or all??

grabs popcorn

@strollin_stu Thanks! I’m proud of it. Despite not drawing it, the color change in background I edited together.

For that splatoon 3 hype!

@RubyCarbuncle ya….these companies like to push and push and push people to work harder, more productivity etc.

Hey they want things on their terms. You don’t like it?? Too bad I guess. That’s why I like my job because though I do technically have a boss, I work on my own time/schedule.

@strollin_stu Hahaha, that got a good laugh out of me.

This says so little it would be foolish to make any conclusion.

This specific case doesn't really give a lot to actually go on but when there's this much smoke there's probably fire.

@strollin_stu hey, just curious, why Arlo? I watch his video sometimes, he seems alright

Remains to be seen what exactly this will amount to. My guess would be...not much.

Interesting that it’s same hiring firm. Probably who the focus should be on. But no, let’s just keep the spotlight on Nintendo.

As has been said already, Nintendo is a large company, so it should be no surprise that they try to violate workers' rights. Reggie also said recently he didn't believe unions were necessary... Hopefully this can lead to some changes within the company.

@Rambler You are absolutely right.

I said hello to someone at work and they blanked me , how rude. Now where’s my article xx

@papermarioamiibo I take it you’ve never worked a day in your life

@blindsquarel

Companies use contracted Companies to abuse People and the Law.
They set the Persons from the hired Company in the Positions formely run by internal Personal, but they earn less, have less vacation, more working hours (example: Main Staff 35 Hours, Contracted 40 Hours) and got under more Presure.
Also their Contract is limited, so they're not able to plan forward over Years, Banks don't give them Money to buy a House/Apartment, so they're forced to rent.

As the Contracts are limited, the Main Company can get rid of them whenever they want.
When they abuse Law, it wasn't the Main Company, it was the contracted one.

It is modern Slavery, as it is abusive and let stay people poor.

In Germany it was Schröder with its "social" Party that brought that Dilemma, not very social.
That Canciler that now is with Putin.

They also reformed how unemployed People get handeled.
When you get unemployed, they give you a very long List with Companies that are hiring.
But this List is full of such abusive Companies.

If you refuse a couple of Times an offer or you don't show that you try to get hiring, they cut your social welfair.

So many are forced to work in such an abusive System.
Thats why i and many call it modern Slavery.

The US has the same, if not much worse Problem, caused by different Laws.

@Azuris
I mean, how can it be slavery when
1: the worker is getting paid.
2. Said contractor agrees to the terms the company he is doing a job for sets. Can this be abused, yes it can be abused. But when both sides agree to the terms then nothing can be done. It is on the contractor to decide if they agree to said terms.

That is very vague.

Will wait for the investigation outcomes on these ones.

What does "engaging in protected activity with others" cover, and why does it sound so dirty? 🤨

Subcontracting sucks. Although nowadays they call us 'Independent contractors'. U.S. companies are infamous for labor abuse of us. Thankfully however, the DoL doesn't look too fondly on this type of setup. Planning my own exit strategy for '23 currently.

@blindsquarel

1. When the Payment isn't enough to barely have a Living or to plan your Life longer than a Year.
2. When the Worker has not really a Choice, than to agree to a abusive Contract.

People should be secured by Law from abusive Contracts, but in the last Decades it went Down Hill in some Countries.

The Industrial Revolution showed us what happens, if People aren't secured by Law.
Both Sides agreed to the Contract, so:
You break your Leg while working and you can't work?
You are fired, go begging on the Streets.
Vacation? Regulated Work Times? Forget it.

The Social Security Stuff Nations got is some of the bigges civilizatoric Accomplished Humanity got and it has big Damages because of Greed.

Btw. Slaves got paid in Rome and could earn their own Money.
That didn"t make them free.

Yawn! Sounds like someone is trying to get money off Nintendo.

@Tasuki Nintendo Co is still one of the best companies in Japan to work for and takes better care of their Tokyo and Kyoto offices. This article is about Nintendo of America, which hasn’t always been the best example of Nintendo. NL actually clarified in the headline for a change.

@RubyCarbuncle Definitely know that feeling, too. My last job was at a grocery store, and despite being unionized, the company steamrolled all over us, forcing us to do the work of a team of people single-handedly. Myself, I was in charge of both the cart duty and the garbage duty... at the same time. Even when another cart guy was working the same shift as me, it was always me who was outside, not them; I almost never got to work inside. I was exhausted and hurting every single day.

They also paid us poverty wages. In fact, two-thirds of all employees for the whole company make poverty wages, yet their executives are rolling in the dough like Scrooge McDuck! And for a lot of us, they cut hours, meaning we got paid even less, and lost out on our company-provided benefits... in the middle of the frigging pandemic (and the grocery business thrived during it)!

And forget trying to train to move up. Even if you were on the schedule, the supervisors or team leads would always tell you that you couldn't, because they needed you to take care of your tasks first, which (due to being the only person to do it), would take you all day. And this is despite saying during employee orientation that it was quick and easy to train and move up.

And don't even get me started on the scheduling. The days you work, the time slots you work, and the amount of hours you work was all completely random. They'd even schedule you for days and times that you're not available. And the schedule came out weekly, but any time off request had to be given two weeks in advance (and there was no guarantee it would be approved; one guy missed his sister's wedding because of that). And even though many of us were part-time, they demanded open availability from us. So there was no work-life balance.

Those were just a few of the problems at that store. I finally left last year (my last day was July 29, 2021), after working there for three years, and the company I work for now is much better. Better pay, better benefits, better scheduling, more opportunities for training, you're not stuck doing the same thing all day, every day, and you're not pushed as hard. Plus, they cater lunch every Friday!

Where I work now is not my dream job (that's either NASA astronaut, film director, or working for Nintendo, although this article makes me worry about that last one), but I am much happier where I am now.

@Rambler That's the problem: I did, but the union that represents the store is so weak that it's practically no different than having a union at all. There were two clauses that effectively rendered the entire contract toothless: management rights and no-strike.

With management rights, it basically gives the company the right to do whatever they wanted with you, short of firing you without proper cause. And with the no-strike clause, people couldn't walk out or go on strike to protest unfair treatment.

There was also another clause that prevented workers from being represented by another union. So we couldn't organize and form our own union to represent us better than the powerless one that we already had.

My father has been a union man for years (specifically, police unions), and when he read my contract, he said it was one of the worst contracts he ever read, it was that toothless.

As a result, the company I used to work for, based on what I described above, could be considered exploitative, like the so-called "black companies" in Japan. Granted, we didn't work overtime, as it was basically forbidden, but being forced to do the work of a team of people by ourselves, and dealing with abuse from tyrannical managers and entitled customers more than made up for that.

But this is what happens when businesses and their cronies in government spend the last few decades busting unions. Just look at how hard they're fighting to keep businesses like Starbucks from unionizing, after all.

The rest of the unions are so weakened by union-busting measures that they are practically on life-support, effectively making them powerless in the face of corporate demands for increased productivity from their workers and decreased compensation for them.

Of course, this is in America. I don't know how it is in the United Kingdom, or the rest of Europe, for that matter. But I bet it's leagues better than it is here. I just might have to learn a new language, pack my bags, and move to Europe, so that I can actually enjoy the rest of my working life without fear of being exploited by my employers.

@Azuris Roman slaves also were considered the property of their owners and could only earn and keep money if their master allows. They were not free in any regard. Being a worker in this day and age is many times better than Roman slavery.

@blindsquarel exactly, the problem is with the other company, not Nintendo.

"Back in April, Nintendo of America was named alongside contracting firm Aston Carter in a National Labor Relations Board filing, where an 'unnamed worker' claimed their legally protected right to unionise was violated."

"their"?

@progx ok that makes more sense. Thanks for the update.

@RubyCarbuncle I know the feeling. My job was nice at first, especially since it was my first job out of college (and after being unemployed for three years since graduating), and I really needed to find work to start paying off my student debt.

But then the corporate offices started getting greedy, and things went downhill quickly after that first year. When I finally quit, I felt relieved, but still very bitter about the whole thing, even a year later. And some people at my old job found their way to my new one, and they said that employee morale is in the toilet

One person who worked in the deli department was even forced to give up a better job offer with another company because the deli supervisor literally tore up her resignation letter (and we live in an at-will employment state, where you can be fired for any reason, but you can also quit for any reason, which effectively made supervisor's actions illegal).

@Rambler Those clauses may not be illegal, but they should be. What's the point of having a union if the contract is toothless, after all? But again, that's union-busting for you. And I am sorry to hear that it is also a problem over in the UK (maybe voting Labour back into power may solve or at least alleviate that?). Hopefully it is better in Europe proper, especially in Scandinavia. I've heard they're REALLY good over there.

Sounds like contract workers found out that the rights of contract workers in America is near nonexistent.

Maybe time to invest in some politicians that actually want to better workers rights (progressives)

@Mario500
You use 'they' if you don't know the gender of the person/ the person prefers that

@acNewUpdates

(an alternative version of the part of the article on this page involving the word "their" (specifically a version without it): Back in April, Nintendo of America was named alongside contracting firm Aston Carter in a National Labor Relations Board filing, where an "unnamed worker" claimed to have had been violated with regards to having had a legally protected right to unionise.)

I’m laughing that people are comparing modern day American workers to ancient Roman slaves. The disconnect to prove their argument is getting into funnyville territory

@Rambler I wouldn't be surprised if they swept back into power in your next general election (I'm assuming you're from the UK). Especially considering the last three Tory PMs--in a row, I might add--resigned in disgrace, and several longtime Tory seats flipped (such as the North Shropshire constituency: which, until last year, was held by a Tory ever since it's initial foundation in 1832 to it's dissolution in 1885, and it's reestablishment in 1983; now it's represented by a Liberal Democrat, which is more ideologically aligned with Labour).

I bet the British people will be so dissatisfied with the way things are going under Tory power, that they'll vote Labour back in. As it is, if simply lying about the reasons for getting involved in the Iraq War was what got Labour kicked out of power, all the problems under the Tories plaguing the British people today (fallout from Brexit, possible restarting of The Troubles, the cost-of-living crisis, COVID-19, etc.) would hopefully be more than enough for a tsunami of Labour MPs to take back the majority.

I may be a born and raised American, but I still pay close attention to global politics, such as those in the UK. Because, like it or not, we live in a global society, and something that affects one nation affects all nations.

@Rambler No worries. Even still, though, despite all of the UK's problems, they are still more free than we are here in America.

According to the Freedom House, a think tank that serves as the gold standard for tracking freedom around the world, the UK has a freedom score of 93 out of 100, making it the 25th most free nation in the world.

In comparison, the US has a freedom score of 83 out of 100, making it the 62nd most free nation in the world, a far cry from our claims of being the most free out of any other country. And with the way things have been going lately, I predict that number will only decrease further, making us even less free.

How ironic (and sad) that the very nation we seceded from nearly 250 years ago is now more free than we are!