Don't get me wrong; I feel compassion for anybody working a job they don't want to, especially if they are forced to by a combination of economic pressure and a lack of value as an employee, real or perceived.

However, part of building value as an employee (in fact as a human being) is deciding what levels are treatment are unacceptable and standing up against them.

Are you suggesting that someone of less skill or experience has no right (forget legally - morally) to quit their job, even if it means a future of greater economic risk?

If your husband or wife, brother or sister, parent, best friend, roomate - whomever - comes to you and tells you that they are going to have trouble meeting their obligations to you because they quit their unjust job, tell them, "you did the right thing. You need to value yourself and love yourself. I'll do my best to get by until you can pay me back, and I'll help you find a job that respects you in the mean time."

No?

> However, part of building value as an employee (in fact as a human being) is deciding what levels are treatment are unacceptable and standing up against them.

Well that's true, I don't disagree. However, to be valuable on the bottom rung to large companies, you need to either show real management potential (and have a decent manager) - the good option - or simply be as drone-like and exploitable as possible.Are you suggesting that someone of less skill or experience has no right (forget legally - morally) to quit their job, even if it means a future of greater economic risk?

> Are you suggesting that someone of less skill or experience has no right (forget legally - morally) to quit their job, even if it means a future of greater economic risk?

No, I'm suggesting the opposite. However, society enforces the judgement by it's attitude toward the unemployed.

> If your husband or wife, brother or sister, parent, best friend, roomate - whomever - comes to you and tells you that they are going to have trouble meeting their obligations to you because they quit their unjust job, tell them, "you did the right thing. You need to value yourself and love yourself. I'll do my best to get by until you can pay me back, and I'll help you find a job that respects you in the mean time."

Of course, but a lot of these people don't have a support network, or their support network has no ability to financially support them.

Landlords and grocery stores won't care about your once-employer's social media password policy.

You might be able to ask for friends for help, but people are going to ask themselves if it's worth putting their loved ones through hell to keep their password to themselves.

I feel like the "Don't work there!" argument is ignoring the fact that we needed unions to get to where we are with employment practices.

The US baseline is that you can be fired for any reason or no reason. Where is there to go but "up" from that? How do you find a reason to be outraged about this?

That's not at all the choice confronting Illinois workers.

That's why we need lower unemployment: to make employees bargaining position better.

If an employee fears for their job, they will put up with almost anything, whether lawful or not. Employee protection regulations have real bite exactly when they are almost not needed; when employees can just walk away from a job and be certain to find a new one.