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OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 2:29 UTC (Thu) by maco (guest, #53641)
In reply to: OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering by BrucePerens
Parent article: FSF to host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software

I think this is where the difference between "I'll put up with their shit because the pay is good, and it cant get *too* bad since there are rules at the office" and "I don't need this from something that I'm doing in my free time that's supposed to be *fun*" comes in.


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OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 4:35 UTC (Thu) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

Candy-stripers don't get paid. And they do get abused, between male staff who think they're fresh meat and the union folks who think they're scabs. And yet, lots of women do it.

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 16:05 UTC (Thu) by maco (guest, #53641) [Link]

Candy-stripers still exist? I thought they were a World War II era thing, and nowadays hospitals employ real Registered Nurses.

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 17:14 UTC (Thu) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

Hospitals employ registered nurses, and many also have volunteers who perform lesser tasks than the registered nurses. Candy-striper is one designation for such people, because of the pink and white striped uniform. They still exist. Often the nurses are unionized, and sometimes there is tension between them and the non-unionized volunteers.

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 21:46 UTC (Thu) by hypatiadotca (guest, #60478) [Link]

And presumably the volunteers in a hospital are able to access the same venues for redress of things like harassment as the paid employees are. At least they can in every organization I've ever volunteered with, though none of them have been hospitals.

After all, there's an additional incentive to not lose volunteers, since the organization isn't paying for their labour.

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Aug 27, 2009 23:07 UTC (Thu) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

And presumably the volunteers in a hospital are able to access the same venues for redress of things like harassment as the paid employees are.
I am not so optimistic that the situation is fair to the little people. The hospital has much higher stakes in dealing with the union than with volunteers. It is a lot easier for the volunteer to walk out than to accuse some "important" doctor and have a long controversy in which she is tarred too - including in the newspaper. And managements all around have tended to prefer to keep such things quiet.

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