unemployment uninsurance

I used to work for a big corporate photo lab in LA. They handled all the big defense contractors and some movie studios. I started in order-entry but then moved up to black and white contact printer. The machine printers were pretty unique - big contraptions that sucked long rolls of photo paper through all the chemical baths and then dried and cut them into 8x10 glossy prints of head shots or experimental aircraft. At photography school I had learned to dodge and burn on graded archival paper using strict formulas for developing times and temperatures, none of which was required to run this machine. The guy who used to run the machine was an old timer who had been moved to the color roll printer because Lockheed had a big order for color glossies of it’s new stealth fighter. He trained me before he started the Lockheed job. The main things to worry about were paper jams and dust. I liked the job because when I was in the darkroom, if I turned on the safelight, a little red light went on outside the door forbidding anyone from entering my private space. I would listen to the gulf war on NPR and doodle. The place was thick with chemical fumes and it was too dark to read but no one, not even the boss, could enter when that red light was on. Jobs would be delivered to order entry by the in-house drivers. Then they would go to the repro department, unless it was a reprint job. Repro would turn the original image into an 8x10 neg and deliver it to me. I started work at ten, but most jobs wouldn’t get to me until after noon. This meant most nights I was working overtime. As time went by I started coming in later to work and my overtime disappeared. Three months went by, the Lockheed job was done - delivered to the congress and the press, and my mentor was let go. He was fired just before he was eligible for his retirement benefits. I was notified of this only after I went looking for him to help me with a particularly fucked up paper jam. They had the nuts to call him at home to ask him to talk me through the problem. He was noble enough to help me but I felt dirty. I was due for my yearly review (and expected raise) but they postponed it, explaining that my next review would be one year from the day I started as a printer ( having moved from customer service to production). I objected and they agreed to give me a review in six months. Some time later we got a big job from McDonnell/Douglas (another stealth fighter). Now they asked me to do the color contacts as well. I kept my overtime down by coming in late but I was still exhausted - they had us coming in on saturdays! My review came up. I went into it expecting a 25 cent an hour raise - the same as my previous reviews in order entry. They told me I was doing a great job but because I was late so often they were only going to give me a ten cent an hour raise. They also asked me to start training someone from order entry to run the contact machine. I did my best to explain their depravity and gave my two weeks notice. They offered my a 25 cent raise but I refused. They offered me a fifty cent raise. I told them if they wanted a loyal employee they shouldn’t have fired my mentor. I meant to point out that if I had accepted the raise I would be first in line at the next downsizing. They told me they needed me to finish the McDonnell/Douglas job and to train my replacement, so I agreed to give four weeks notice. Some months later I applied for unemployment insurance. They explained that I was not eligible because I had quit my job. Up to that point in my life I had no idea what unemployment insurance was, nor had I ever expected to need it. I explained that I quit because I was about to be downsized and I wanted to make a statement. I said that I quit because I was constantly exposed to hazardous fumes. I said I quit because my employers were cretinous fuckheads. They explained that I was not eligible because I had quit my job and my ex-employer has the last word on that.
I was reminded of this period in my life when recently my old employees at the Lodge have all been fired or quit and have come to me looking for work or a loan.
I thought about the economics of the unemployed. If jobs were plentiful and you could easily quit and find another job or have some expectation of insurance (that you had been paying dues on) until you found a better job, then managers and owners would have to actually work to keep things running smoothly. Most employees don’t slag off or steal or sabotage unless they have reason to. That reason is poor management. Managing a company is a cakewalk if your employees act like slaves because they are afraid they cannot put food on the table.