By ALUM SUSAN, National Chairperson – UPTU
As the year 2023 rolls out, many have retained, sustained or quit their jobs at the end of 2022 or even been laid off.
Quitting a job and getting laid off work are two different situations in one’s employment life. Quitting a job is a voluntary act by an employee that can be called formal or even informal. The formal way is called resigning from your job position while the informal way is called absconding form duty and this is punishable by the law.
From a trade union perspective, quitting a job should be formal for an employee has the legal obligation to inform his employer ahead of time that he / she will be leaving that point of employment. This therefore calls for the employee to give a two weeks’ notice to the employer having got justified and clear reasons for leaving work.
This requires the employee to write a resignation letter to the employer and also have a one on one talk with the supervisor. The decision to quit a job should be personal and for justified reasons so that it does not cause confusion among other employees.
While these are the right procedures recommended for quitting our jobs, many of us just throw in the towel and abscond from duty leaving a vacuum that our employers struggle with after we have left.
Anger and frustration often dictate the course of action towards abscondment. But why get angry and frustrated at work as a result of mistreatment, dissatisfaction, abuse, ignorance and unfair treatment during critical situations such as poor health?
While most of these reasons are reversible if put to logical action, losing one’s social contract is often the last nail on the coffin. A social contract is lost at that point when all hope is gone and there seem to be no light at the end of the tunnel.
The concept of social contract comes from the social contract theory postulated by Socrates in his Crito- Argument. This theory holds the view that “Persons’ moral and or political obligations are dependent upon a contract among them to form the society they live in.
It is an actual or hypothetical compact or agreement between the ruled and their ruler. Socrates in Crito makes a compelling argument as to why he most stay in prison and accept the death penalty rather than escape and go into exile in another Greek country.
He argues that the ruled have the obligation to obey the law herein and accept verdict once passed. This he adds aids his very existence. He concludes by noting that the relationship between the ruled and the ruler are not coerced. Adding that the ruled once grown up and have seen how the ruler conducts himself can choose whether to leave, taking their property with them or stay. Staying implies argument and leaving implies disagreement.
Plato in the Republic poses the question “What is justice? To him a social contract represents a clear perspective of the justice we need. We agree.
He warns against committing injustices for there will be reprisals. So the ruled often avoid being treated unjustly or unfairly. Justice then, is the conventional result of the laws and covenants that men make in order to avoid extremes.
Learning from the above, a social contract is worth having in a work relationship. No one should go to the extremes.
The employee should obey and work and the employer should obey and pay. When either side go extreme the employee quits in form of abscondment and the employer withdraws pay or lay off the worker.
As a worker in the 21st century, before you think about quitting your job in whatever way you choose, do you know the procedures for quitting? Besides, having taken these into consideration?
- Do you have an enterprise?
- Does your side income amount to twice your monthly pay?
- 3. Do you save?
- Do you have an emergency fund?
- Can the emergency fund you have cover your expenses for 6 – 8 months of a pear comfortably even when with a job?
- What technical and entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitude do you have from your current employment?
- Are your business skills high enough to make your side hustle a main business?
- Are you determined to work hard and succeed on your own?
- Are you ready to work for 12 – 16 hours a day?
- Are you tired of your excuses at work?
- Won’t you give up along your personal journey?
If your answers to the above questions are in the affirmative then go ahead and write to your employer resigning your work. Otherwise, for risk of getting caught and accused for situations that can be avoided by obedience. Civil disobedience wherever it is practiced attracts penalty.
So go back to rule one. OBEY.
Have a fruity working year 2023 as we continue lobbying and advocating for our rights at our places of work ■
