Transforming Tech Woes Into Votes

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20323-2004Feb6.html

SEATTLE -- For Myra Bronstein, the news that she had been laid off from the best job she ever had came on a Friday last May.

The following week, she was back at work, having been told that if she wanted to receive her full severance package, she would have to train her replacements. They had flown in from India just for the occasion.

In a tense meeting called by management at telecommunications firm WatchMark Corp., the Indian workers sat across the table from the approximately 20 Seattle-area employees they would replace. "The quality assurance manager stood up and in a very perky way said, " 'This is my old staff, and this is my new staff,' " said Bronstein, who spent three years at WatchMark testing software. "The old staff was just trying not to cry."

Bronstein has been out of work ever since, and that reality will shape her pick for president this morning when she participates in Washington state's Democratic caucuses.

...more...

[Eric J in MN]

1. It should be illegal to require a worker to train a replacement as a

It should be illegal to require a worker to train a replacement as a condition of collecting severance.

[markbark]

10. Oh I dunno.....

you could have fun with it....

To wit:


--MAB

[mrdmk]

2. This is the coldness of the job market as of lately

Without of a doubt, the nation of very cold people has taken leadership roles as of late and call it good. There as been an abandonment of the middle class ever since the eighties and more so since the year of two thousand. This makes some wonder if some of these people can see past ice laden nose.

The real question comes down to, who do these management people think they are going to sell their product to. Other counties with a raising middle class, well could be. The majority of the people who purchase products are the middle class people of the world. Without such a class of people the rich will begin to feed upon themselves. The poor (former middle class) are to many in number to contain over a long period of time and there will be a revolt. Then there will be mix of classes and the whole cycle will begin again.

[Vitruvius]

9. This "coldness" in management is utterly characteristic of sociopaths.

And if you look at the checklists of desirable character traits that many companies use to select managers, they are very very similar to the diagnostic criteria for sociopathy.

Basically, your typical manager / sociopath sees other people as objects to be exploited, not as fellow human beings worthy of empathy.

As for your question: "who do these managers think they are going to sell to" when everybody's out of work: sociopaths -- and all-too-many managers -- are notoriously unable to anticipate consequences. Their whole mentality is "screw the consequences, to hell with tomorrow, grab the loot & run!"

Which also describes the Bu$h administration. Grab the loot & run.

[mrdmk]

12. I once worked for a company where one of the owners

was a lying psychopath. When he bought into the company, there was an air of change for the worst. I was warned about his behavior before we started working closey with each other. When I did start working closely with this guy, him and I locked horns for over 4 years before I was fired. It was a great relief not to be involed with this person any longer.

[54anickel]

11. So when do we start the revolt?

I'd like to see every mid-class American with a 401K tranfer their funds to the nomally available Money Market Fund in unison for one month. Won't happen though, most holders are just as greedy for the earnings as the corporations.
We've become mini-mes.

[mrdmk]

13. You make economic post here 54anickel

A revolt has already begun. Record number of people are voting in the primaries. Surprising is it not!

It is very difficult for people to move their investments around, that is if they have any in the first place. Some investment groups (namely retirement groups) have been telling their fund managers not to invest or disinvest in certain companies because of certain concerns. People need to keep themselves informed to be smart about their money.

[54anickel]

14. Understood. Did not mean that they should take them out of the group,

just move them to the MM allowed within the group. Most of the investment groups set up for 401Ks are set up with several funds, at least 1 bond fund and a MM fund.

Yes, people need to be smart about their money.

on edit add: (finish my thoughts)
Just get so frustrated with all the layoffs and outsourcing. Yanking investments just seems to be a way to let them know we are out here and we are pissed. I begged my employer to get our 401K group to offer at least 1 socially responsible investment fund. He did try, but never happened.

[mrdmk]

15. Yes, me too

Bill Moyers Now had an interesting show about the Middle Class. The elected officials chose to work for two groups of society. The poor and the rich. The reasoning is that the Middle Class can take care of themselves. This trend started in the 1980's with guess who?

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassoverview.html

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassmyths.html

http://www.pbs.org/now/

[54anickel]

16. Thanks for the links. n/t

[Voltaire99]

3. US economic savagery

Here is the very right wing ethos of employment-at-will at its finest. Prepare to be replaced, ye faithful worker, regardless the value of your service to the company -- we've found your cheaper replacement!

Where, apart from the American sweatshop Wal-Mart, will these displaced tech workers go?

[fearnobush]

4. A sick example of human exploitation.

What a country, Lou Dobbs had me so pissed off at our fucking corporate pigs last night. Everyone, Please boycott Wal-Mart.

[NeoConsSuck]

5. And the neocon logic gets worse...

I have a neocon friend at work who claims this is good and will eventually equal out. He said that as more foreigners replace Americans, they will demand higher pay, while American wages fall. Then American corporations will start re-hiring Americans, since the cost of outsourcing will cost more than hiring Americans.

I asked him how with American living costs, how could you ever expect wages to equalize between India and the USA? What I pay in a mortgage in one month probably exceeds their annual housing costs.

[sendero]

6. I think....

... that in the long run, he's close to correct. Problem is, as one famous economist put it "in the long run we are all dead".

[porkrind]

7. This is NOT correct ...

because of sheer numbers: they have more. :scared:

There are hundreds of foreign workers to every American worker.

[mn9driver]

8. The CEO's of these corporations don't care if their markets

collapse 4 or 5 years from now; just as long as there's enough time for them to cash out before it happens. With huge executive compensation packages, there's no incentive for these guys to manage for the long term.

Sort of the same way that * is managing the Country right off the cliff; as long as he and his buddies have time to cash out, what happens after that is of NO concern to them.