This reminds me far too much of "mandatory overtime" in America. Federal overtime law under the FLSA does not prohibit employers from forcing employees to work mandatory overtime.
Its technically illegal, but theres nothing to stop an employer from firing you for consistently refusing overtime shifts. Time clocks rarely allow you to punch in anything later than the time specified in the system, or 5 minutes before.
Employers can also retaliate for your lack of participation by altering your work shifts between day/night, or cutting your work hours to make you poor. This was pretty common at most of the factories in the south i worked in while saving up for trade school. I once worked at a glue manufacturing plant that routinely scheduled 14 hour overtime on the weekends a few times a month. I refused once, and was fired the next week.
This is a lot worse than a job asking for overtime. I say 'asking' because you can leave that job. If the soviet state demanded it; it's not optional, there is no leaving, there are no other jobs.
I actually think the American corporate system is the best of both worlds; you have central control and authority of a corporation which makes it efficient but if that central authority is poor the corporation dies so they're incentivized/evolved to be competent. And you as a worker can leave that corporation anytime you want, so as long as workers are scarce they're strongly incentivized to be good to you. Not a perfect system, but pretty good compared to any alternatives I've seen (e.g. soviet-style top down government control with violence as the enforcement mechanism).
>This reminds me far too much of "mandatory overtime" in America.
The big difference is the ability to consent and not consent. Yes, some places demand mandatory overtime or you will be terminated, but that is it. They won't pay you anymore, but you are free to do whatever else you want. In this case, the alternative is often prison. That changes the equation so that a person is not consenting to a trade (work more hours to have this job instead of finding an alternative) but instead being forced under threat.
This difference is important.
As for the illegal side of things, that is a problem and something we do need to change. Laws should be equally enforced.
Its technically illegal, but theres nothing to stop an employer from firing you for consistently refusing overtime shifts. Time clocks rarely allow you to punch in anything later than the time specified in the system, or 5 minutes before.
Employers can also retaliate for your lack of participation by altering your work shifts between day/night, or cutting your work hours to make you poor. This was pretty common at most of the factories in the south i worked in while saving up for trade school. I once worked at a glue manufacturing plant that routinely scheduled 14 hour overtime on the weekends a few times a month. I refused once, and was fired the next week.