Class-Action Suit against 24 Hour Fitness

[noworries]

I can't believe they still only pay fitness instructors $20 per class.  My daughters mom was very well known as an aerobic instructor back in the early 80's.  She performed during halftime at a Laker Game and bunch of other things like that.  I saw her doing a class out on a tennis court before the event at West End in LA.  They had maybe 250 people on the courts with her while she did a session.  Her nickname was "Flashdance" because she looked like Jennifer Beals and she dressed like her.  Way back then she was making $20 to $30 an hour class.  She usually taught 2 classes a night.  During the day she was a physical therapist.


http://clubindustry.com/forprofits/24-hour-lawsuit-group-ex-payment-20091030/

[wes mantooth]

"Amara Posadas-Romesberg, one of the original plaintiffs, has been a group exercise instructor at a 24 Hour in Chula Vista, CA, since 1997. Romesberg teaches five to seven classes a week and makes $20 an hour. 24 Hour instructors get paid one hour for each class, according to the lawsuit, even though instructors arrive early to set up equipment and stay late to clean up or talk to members about the class."

OMG!! How dare they get paid $20 an hour to teach aerobics. 

And the nerve of the 24 hour Fitness to make them set up and actually SHOW UP EARLY to work!!! The HORROR!!!!


This country is going to pure T shit.

gimme a fucking break

[The Luke]

OMG!! How dare they get paid $20 an hour to teach aerobics. 

...so to make a living wage they should teach 40 aerobics classes a week?

Wouldn't that kill you within 6 weeks?


At least a Roman galley slave could expect to live 6 months.


The Luke

[shootfighter1]

If you don't like it, go somewhere else.  That's how the system works.  Then if the club wants good experienced instructors, they need to pay more to attract them.

[emn1964]

Alot of people would love to get paid 20 bucks an hour.  What a bunch of shit.

[The Luke]

Alot of people would love to get paid 20 bucks an hour.  What a bunch of shit.

That's how corporations control and effectively enslave populations.

A local corner store can't find workers paying $9 an hour... but if Walmart abuses their employment monopoly by only paying $9 an hour; that sets an industry standard. Now the corner store can pay $8 an hour, no problem.

That's what I don't understand about the American mentality... I understand capitalist free market fundamentalism, it's a (somewhat) justifiable ideology...

But why don't the proponents of such thinking (ie: those parroting the propaganda) comprehend that monopolies; corporations; corporate personhood and cartels are ANTI-CAPITALIST?


The Luke

[Alex23]

That's how corporations control and effectively enslave populations.

A local corner store can't find workers paying $9 an hour... but if Walmart abuses their employment monopoly by only paying $9 an hour; that sets an industry standard. Now the corner store can pay $8 an hour, no problem.

That's what I don't understand about the American mentality... I understand capitalist free market fundamentalism, it's a (somewhat) justifiable ideology...

But why don't the proponents of such thinking (ie: those parroting the propaganda) comprehend that monopolies; corporations; corporate personhood and cartels are ANTI-CAPITALIST?


The Luke

Well said "The Luke"... I enjoyed reading your post.

[wes mantooth]

...so to make a living wage they should teach 40 aerobics classes a week?

Wouldn't that kill you within 6 weeks?


At least a Roman galley slave could expect to live 6 months.


The Luke

if you think teaching aerobics is a full time job then your fucking crazy.

are you retarded?

its called supplemental income. by your reasoning they should be paid $300 an hour so they can "make a living"


they get free gym memberships as well. they should be lucky to get paid $20 a class

[timfogarty]

24 Hour instructors get paid one hour for each class, according to the lawsuit, even though instructors arrive early to set up equipment and stay late to clean up or talk to members about the class.

this is the part that will cause 24 hour to loose.   courts don't like it when you don't get compensated for time you're required to work

[wes mantooth]

this is the part that will cause 24 hour to loose.   courts don't like it when you don't get compensated for time you're required to work

agree

unless it is part of the original agreement. gotta put it all in writing these days

[JaggyShortBuff]

Where 24hr fitness will win is in the lack of evidence from the instructor to prove her case of arriving before and stay after to do extra work. Unless there is video evidence and or time clock evidence..... Just stating the facts as they are presented.

[The Luke]

Where 24hr fitness will win is in the lack of evidence from the instructor to prove her case of arriving before and stay after to do extra work. Unless there is video evidence and or time clock evidence..... Just stating the facts as they are presented.

...CCTV.


The Luke

[shootfighter1]

$20 per class is a typical rate in a lot of fitness centers.  If she doesn't like it, she should start her own classes somewhere else or try to negotiate with them.  They may realize there's more value for them if giving her an extra $5 per class keeps a great instructor.

This is why many personal trainers go on their own and don't work for the big companies.

[tonymctones]

...CCTV.


The Luke

LOL none of the 24's ive been to have CCTV in the gym itself

this may not be needed though, im sure there members that witness the instructors show up early to set up and stay behind to clean up.

I agree they might get screwed on the making them show up early and stay late but only paying for an hour. As for the rest though go somewhere else if you dont like the pay. If you want to get payed for the member per class dont be surprised if they want you to meet quotas, LOL I wonder how many aerobics instructors would be in favor of that shit?  

This wont cause them to change their pay rates but it will probably cause them to pay some back pay or at the very least pay for every min that can be accounted for in the future.

[The Luke]

As for the rest though go somewhere else if you dont like the pay.

...and how do you do that when almost every aspect of American industry has been monopolised by cartels of massive corporations?

We have this same shit happening here in Ireland, one massive milk distributor or one massive beet processor hammering farmers on price and forcing them to sell below cost. Except over here we don't have people attacking the little guy by spouting the corporate propaganda... we tend to side with the common bloke, you guys seem so convinced that someday you too will be one of the super rich that you want to keep things skewed in their favour.

Strange?

Paying people only $20 an hour for something as tough as teaching an aerobics class is simply abusive.


The Luke

[~flower~]

If they had worded it '$20 per class' there would be no lawsuit.  I believe that is how they are paid around here, per class, not by the hour.

[kiwiol]

...so to make a living wage they should teach 40 aerobics classes a week?

Wouldn't that kill you within 6 weeks?


At least a Roman galley slave could expect to live 6 months.


The Luke

The difference being the slave had no choice about their being a slave, as opposed to the woman who is free to quit and look for another job.

[shootfighter1]

Complete disagree with Luke on this one.  She has choices and can chose to go somewhere else.  There's no monopoly here, that arguement doesn't apply at all to a non-specific aerobics class.  Dude, you spend too much time with your pro-union literature.

[The Luke]

The difference being the slave has no choice about their being a slave, as opposed to the woman who is free to quit and look for another job.

Why do sensible people repeat this type of drivel?

The whole "If you don't like it you can go work somewhere else!" bullshit is EMPLOYER propaganda.

Any working class person repeating that is simply enslaving themselves. Kiwiol, you are a disgrace to your class; the bottom 99%.


Quitting is not her only option, it's just the only option her employer would like her to consider.

Her options (in order of ascending aggression) are:
-complaint
-labour court
-lawsuit
-work to rule
-forming a union
-strike
-boycott
-monopsony

...all of these are perfectly legal and complaint is the only one companies aren't scared shitless by.


The Luke

[kiwiol]

Why do sensible people repeat this type of drivel?

The whole "If you don't like it you can go work somewhere else!" bullshit is EMPLOYER propaganda.

Are you saying she is not free to quit and go work elsewhere?

Leave your analysis of me out of it and answer the question. Cause you're as accurate as you were, when you used to make all those 9000 word posts about Sarcasm being 14 years old.

[The Luke]

Are you saying she is not free to quit and go work elsewhere?

...she is.

But why do you guys assume that is all she is entitled to do? She is equally as entitled to take any of the perfectly legal actions I listed.

Indoctrinated much?



The Luke

[kiwiol]

...she is.

But why do you guys assume that is all she is entitled to do? She is equally as entitled to take any of the perfectly legal actions I listed.

Indoctrinated much?



The Luke

That's much better.

And yes, she's free to pursue any of the legal actions you've listed. But that's beside the point. The point is that companies like Walmart offer what they do as wages, but don't force anyone to take the job. So the comparison to slavery is wrong.

[The Luke]

That's much better.

And yes, she's free to pursue any of the legal actions you've listed. That's beside the point. The point is that companies like Walmart offer what they do as wages, but don't force anyone to take the job. So the comparison to slavery is wrong.

...monopolies DO force people to take slave wages.

That's why companies strive to attain and maintain monopolies, because it allows them make wage slaves of their workers.

Companies like Walmart are the reason the world economy is falling to shit. Their irresponsible corrupt business model inevitably collapses into neo-feudalism.

Monopolies are anti-competitive.
Monopolies are anti-supplier; anti-worker; anti-consumer.
Monopolies are anti-Free-Market-Capitalism.
Monopolies are anti-Democratic.
Monopolies are anti-human.

But here on GetBig we have a bunch of supposedly knowledgeable Free Market Fundamentalists who don't understand any of this... all they know is what the Rothchilds want them to think.

But hey... if you don't like what I'm posting you're free to go find someone who'll lie to you.


The Luke

[Boost]

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas Edison

[kiwiol]

...monopolies DO force people to take slave wages.

That's why companies strive to attain and maintain monopolies, because it allows them make wage slaves of their workers.

Companies like Walmart are the reason the world economy is falling to shit. Their irresponsible corrupt business model inevitably collapses into neo-feudalism.

Monopolies are anti-competitive.
Monopolies are anti-supplier; anti-worker; anti-consumer.
Monopolies are anti-Free-Market-Capitalism.
Monopolies are anti-Democratic.
Monopolies are anti-human.

But here on GetBig we have a bunch of supposedly knowledgeable Free Market Fundamentalists who don't understand any of this... all they know is what the Rothchilds want them to think.

But hey... if you don't like what I'm posting you're free to go find someone who'll lie to you.


The Luke

How is Walmart a monopoly? Are you saying that they have the power to prevent someone from forming a rival company that could, for example, pay double the wages they do while only charging half the price for the same products they sell?

Monopoly is only possible if the government interferes and forbids individuals or corporations from manufacturing and selling products or services that would compete with the company that's holding the monopoly. If there is no governmental interference, then anyone is free to run a company like Walmart out of business by providing a similar or better quality of goods & / or services at a lower price while perhaps even paying higher wages. In a free market, the best product has the biggest share of the market.

As for your talking about Walmart wiping out the little fellows, don't forget that they offer goods of the same or better quality for a much lower price than the little fellows could ever offer you, with a lot more convenience in terms of payments, hours of operation, range of products to choose from, multiple locations etc