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November 23, 2008 2:34:58 AM CST

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Good Job, Bad Job

Posted Apr 21, 08 1:33 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – There's a stark divide between good and bad employers in America today, and you don't want to be on the wrong side of it. In a New York Times excerpt from his new book, Steven Greenhouse compares FedEx and Patagonia. FedEx forces workers who deliver packages to be "independent contractors"—to avoid paying benefits—and to buy and insure their own trucks, but fires them if they request time off to be treated for cancer.

Meanwhile, Greenhouse writes in The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Patagonia is so serious about flextime that 2-hour surfing lunches are the norm, and the company closes if waves are high enough. Patagonia provides childcare, pays 100% of health insurance costs, sponsors civil-disobedience training, and allows employees to take 2-month internships with environmental groups.

Source New York Times

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A FedEx truck leaves a New York distribution facility to make deliveries in this Dec. 13, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
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