Greetings from Switzerland, speech: You are fired!

dportabella

Hello,

What a nice idea to have a public forum and wiki!
I am a toastmaster from the european "district".

I don't know if there is a better channel in this forum to poste a speech.
Anyway, here it goes, my 4th speech:

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[you can find the video here]
http://icwww.epfl.ch/~portabel/files2/toastmasters-dportabella-3rdspeech.mp4

Title: YOU ARE FIRED!

We are in a competitive society, unfortunately.

These means that there is people that want to be better, richer, smarter, happier... than
everybody else.

Basically, there are two ways to achieve this:
You get better, richer, smarter, happier... than the others,
or the others become worse, more poor, more stupid, unhappier than you.

Today I am going to talk about the second option.
Not because I think it is a good choice;
I don't think so.
But so that you can protect yourself about it.

In-ti-mi-da-tion. That is the word!
Typically people around you tries to intimidate you some time or another, right?
your boss...
he obliges you to work many hours; many extra-hours!
he can ask you,
but he cannot oblige you.
So, why do we accept? Why we do not complain?
Because we are intimidated.
Yes, we are afraid.
He has not the right to fire you if you do not accept his request,
but he might find an "alternative reason" to fire you...
"You know, your contract expires in 3 months, and even if we are very happy with you, we
don't really have so much work to fill a position."

So, what can you do to protect yourself from this type of intimidation?
Be aware of your rights! and do not give in!
You know that he cannot oblige you to work many extra hours.
You know that ht cannot fire you for not accepting to previous request.
So, please do not give in!
I have a friend, Maria, that was working in a company. They fired her because "there was not
enough work for her". Afterwards, this company requested the services of Adeco (they find
people for temporal jobs). Adeco looked for people that matched the type of job requested,
and guess who found... Maria. Of course, she already knew the job details! So, she started
to work at the same place, with a temporal contract and for a smaller salary. Well, she toke
them to the court and she won!

So, precisely, what can you do right tomorrow?
Join a consumer association!
Here, in Lausanne, we have the consumer association of the Vaud county. I find them quite
unfriendly. But there are many other options! Personally, I am registered to the magazine
"Bon à savoir". They send you a monthly magazine comparing products and services. But they
offer you something more valuable: A free juridical advice service.

Concluding,
Do not give in to abusive request! Do not let you intimidate!
Be aware of your rights!
Don't wait until the problem arises. Join now a consumer association!

Thanks.