Bethel Laying Off

by Bob_NC 32 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Glander

  "I think they are letting go the older Bethelites because over time they become a liability. Worker's Compensation, and so on."

  So lovely to see Jehovah's loving spirit at work !

  Interesting point, Shirl.

  I have heard that they have a JW-MD and a "clinic" on premises, maybe someone could verify this.

  If so, it would seem that elderly Bethelites with serious conditions would get to the point of requiring outside medical care.

  Whatever, it is always a burden on somebody when a person gets old and worthless, is when they require the most $$ for care.

  The Inuit people had a solution.
• 

  sir82

  Bethel has a long-standing policy of dismissing people with serious health problems that get to be too expensive.

  I know a couple for whom serving in Bethel was their one and only ambition, the only goal that they had in life. They got accepted.

  A few years later she developed lupus.

  After a few months when it became clear she wasn't going to get better, it was "don't let the door hit ya on your way out, bubs. Hope you can find work! Here's a letter of recommendation explaining how you guys never missed morning worship and could operate the laundry machines with expertise."

  This was around 15-20 years ago.

  They are utterly shameless about kicking people with expensive health issues to the curb.
• 

  Theocratic Sedition

  Sir82, that's messed up. Wow.
• 

  sir82

  I was a full-on believer when it happened. It shook me up.

  The "layoffs' were, in my opinion, a pre-emptive strike to (1) avoid paying high medical bills and (2) avoid looking like the cold heartless villains they would appear to be by dismissing dozens or hundreds of people with serious health issues.

  You can dismiss a single couple because the sister develops lupus and only a handful of people will know what happened. But if you suddenly turn out 500 people who have developed cancer or are recovering from a stroke or whatever, that's pretty hard to hide.

  Most of those dismissed 4 or 5 years ago were late-40's, early-50's folks who had been at Bethel eating less than healthy Bethel food and living a sedentary lifestyle for 20-30 years. Heart attacks and strokes and colon cancer just waiting to happen.

  Better those guys get their debilitating diseases while serving as pioneers in Desloation Falls North Dakota than while at Bethel.
• 

  Glander

  Kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about the organization doesn't it?
• 

  jgnat

  Yup. I wondered why there was still a call for young Bethelites after the big layoffs. Then it dawned on me. They want their Bethelites young, hale and hearty, and innocent. The ailing generation was summarily replaced.
• 

  RubaDub

  More of the same.

  If there is a need for new workers at Bethel it's a blessing. If the number shrinks and Bethelites get "reassigned" it is a blessing since they can spend more time preaching.

  Same with the congregations. If more are added, it's a blessing. If congregations merge, it's a blessing.

  Same with publishers. If the number increases, it's a blessing. If the number decreases, it shows we are in the time of the end and the love of the greater number will cool off.

  Sort of like mental arbitrage.

  Rub a Dub
• 

  hamsterbait

  NY passed a law saying these kinds of operation must provide health care and pensions to the older volunteers.

  Same as in Spain - that's the real reason they closed the Spanish Beth Hell.

  HB
• 

  cobaltcupcake

  I know a couple for whom serving in Bethel was their one and only ambition, the only goal that they had in life. They got accepted.

  A few years later she developed lupus.

  That sounds a lot like my brother and his wife. My brother had been at Bethel for 6 years when he was allowed to get married and bring his pioneer wife to Bethel. They were there 12 years before she developed lupus and they had to leave. I never heard the details from my hard-line company-man brother, but he made it sound like it was their decision. They ended up moving to Maui, which is where she is from.

  My brother had risen far - Bethel elder, running the water treatment/sewage treatment plant at Watchtower Farm, so I never thought that he would have been asked to leave. They'd invested a lot of money and training in him for classes and certification. Then again, she couldn't physically cope with her housekeeping job. In fact, I remember visiting them, and she took a nap instead of eating lunch. She was fast becoming dead weight.

  Knowing what I know now about the coldheartedness of the Society it seems more likely to me that they were given the boot. Little bro is still staunch, an elder in his congregation, but I haven't seen him or spoken to him in 9 years, so I don't really know.
• 

  InChristAlone

  Bob_NC, I honestly don't know if there is any correlation or not. To be honest, what I have found much more interesting is the lack of discussion here about what is being discussed over there. JWN is generally way ahead of the game when it comes to things like this. It kind of makes me wonder what is up BG's sleeve. Is it just him pulling the strings or is there something actually about to go on? Time will tell.