No raises for experienced workers

[HelenWheels]

Booz&Co., a prestigious corporate consultant, is advising American companies to discontinue pay raises to veteran workers. They say companies could save a lot of money by giving pay cuts to senior workers and bringing their pay down to the level of new hires.

A former Band of America CEO says we infantilize veteran workers by paying them for their years of experience as this insulates them against the harsh economic realities by paying them above market wages.

Booz said experienced workers should accept lower pay checks to help their corporate employers "keep up with intense competition" from elsewhere in the world.

They did not address the fact that US CEOs take in more that twice the pay in Europe and nine times the pay in Japan.

This information came from an article written by Labor journalist Sam Pizzigati. It was printed in the Liberal Opinion Week.

[Broderick]

1. On the bright side of things

Gas is way down, bread milk butter and sugar prices are rock bottom. Not to mention how affordable vehicles are today, insurance costs are at an all time low, and one can buy a pony with a handshake.

:sarcasm:

[bklyncowgirl]

20. No, someone will be happy to GIVE you the pony because they can't afford to feed it!

[Broderick]

25. LOL

[millijac]

2. That's actually happening to me.....

They want to bring my salary "in line" with other employees. I'm 55 and have been at the company for 8 years. In all other respects, they're a great company. In order to get a raise, I would have to outperform the majority of my department and since I'm an administrative professional, that just ain't gonna happen.

[xchrom]

3. ...

:eyes:

[Warpy]

4. I was checking out my last place of employment

and nurses there haven't had a raise since I left. Once you max out on pay, you stay there. It's been over seven years now that experienced nurses haven't had a raise. I don't know how some of them are managing.

Hospitals are also trying to push these older, experienced nurses out the door in favor of younger, less experienced and cheaper nurses.

Hospitals cut costs on the backs of their staffs first.

[Brickbat]

5. Yep, the vast majority people are definitely able to earn raises through their own hard work.

Who needs unions?

[abelenkpe]

6. Coddling our experienced workers are we?

"A former Band of America CEO says we infantilize veteran workers by paying them for their years of experience as this insulates them against the harsh economic realities by paying them above market wages."


How about we stop coddling CEO's instead?

[starroute]

12. Sounds like the same argument they're using against Social Security

It seems like from the conservative point of view, any kind of security is equal to dependency and infantilization. And it's only the bracing sense of being on the edge of starvation that enables people to be fully mature and independent.

Is there something even more warped than most conservative arguments about this one? And can we take this as a sign that they're desperate -- or are they going to manage to stick it to us yet again no matter how implausible they become?

[abelenkpe]

7. This is what republicans/libertarians prescribe for our ailing economy

Here's a good run down on their ideas for creating jobs (aka one group of low wage laborers and another group of owners)

Twelve Specific Recommendations

Banks and bondholders should take a hit. Banks are not going to lend anyway so bailing them out at the expense of taxpayers is both morally and economically stupid. End the bailouts, all of them, and prosecute fraud, the higher up the better.
Implement serious bank reform now, not 9 years from now. Banks should be banks, not hedge funds. This proposal will necessitate breaking up banks. So be it.
Scrap Davis-Bacon and all prevailing wage laws. Such laws drive up costs and have wreaked havoc on many cities and municipalities, now bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy.
Pass national right-to-work laws. Once again, we need to reduce costs on businesses and local governments to spur more hiring and reduce costs.
End collective bargaining rights of all public unions. The goal of unions is to provide the least service for the most money. The goal of government should be to provide the most services for the least money.
Scrap ethanol policy and end all tariffs.
Legalize hemp and tax it. Prison costs will go down, tax revenue will grow, and biofuel and fiber research will expand as hemp produces very soft fibers.
Corporate income tax rates should be lower in the US than abroad. Current policy encourages capital flight and jobs flight via lower tax rates on profits overseas than in the united states. This penalizes businesses that work only in the US, especially small businesses that do not have an army of lawyers and lobbyists.
Stop the wars and set a plan to bring home all US troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, and 140 or so other countries.The US can no longer afford to be the world's policeman.
Implement Paul Ryan's Medicare voucher proposal. It is the only way so far that anyone has proposed that puts much needed consumer "skin-in-the-game" that will reduce medical costs.
Legalize drug imports from Canada
End the Fed and fractional reserve lending. Both have led to boom-bust cycles of ever-increasing amplitude.

Those are the kinds of things we need to do, not throw more money at problems. The latter does nothing but drive up national debt and interest on the national debt for short-term gratification.

from: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-09-07T22%3A11%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=3

This is the same stuff parroted by the republican hopefuls. Read it and weep.

[AndyTiedye]

14. Even a Stopped Clock Tells the Right Time Twice a Day

They're doing even a little better than a stopped clock:

>Legalize hemp and tax it. Prison costs will go down, tax revenue will grow, and biofuel and fiber research will expand as hemp produces very soft fibers.
>Legalize drug imports from Canada
>Stop the wars and set a plan to bring home all US troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, and 140 or so other countries.The US can no longer afford to be the world's policeman.
>Scrap ethanol policy and end all tariffs.

I don't see Perry or Bachmann doing any of these. Ron Paul might, but he's wrong on practically everything else.

[abelenkpe]

15. You're right

those things I would welcome, it's everything else that is wrong wrong wrong. And sadly don't see any candidate doing any of the things you pointed out.

[WDIM]

19. That's their ideas?

Agree no more bailouts never should of been one. They believe in the free market let them die by their own words!

Agree Implement bank reform! More regulation.

Davis-Bacon don't know

Nationl right to work. No way! Start right to a job!

Collective bargaining cannot be made illegal It is the right of the people to assemble.

Need more ethanol/biodiesel especially from hemp!

Legalize hemp! Push for paper products, building products, oils, fuels, The opportunities with this plant are limitless. BTW plants can not be made illegal! You're making something made by god illegal! Makes sense to you christians?

Bullshit on the taxrates!

Stop the wars indeed! Now! now! now!

The biggest mistake. Protect our Jobs! we need tariffs Tariffis TARIFFS!!!!!!!! Bring our protective tarrifs back! Do not allow any natural resource to be sent overseas unless it is processed or changed into something else! Protect our industries! End Globalism!

[abelenkpe]

23. davis-bacon

from wikipedia:

"The Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law which established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects."

We shouldn't get rid of Davis-Bacon. It's just an attempt to allow employers to pay workers less than a living wage which would do more harm than good.

When Mish and his libertarian followers say they wants bank reform he is only talking about reforming the amount of needed reserves not regulating banks. He would never advocate regulation.

We should legalize hemp and end the wars. Everything else in this particular list is detrimental for anyone who isn't in the top one percent.

[dtexdem]

8. Yeah, it only encourages them to get even better at their jobs ...

and then their increased productivity puts on pressure to just pay them more. Better to lower the level of productivity to that of new hires because that has the added benefit of lowering overall morale, so that both experienced and new workers will be less productive.

After all, a company can't feed its death spiral by rewarding efforts that could bring the company out of it.

;-)

[AndyTiedye]

28. It Encourages them to Leave and Start New Companies

…which is actually what they want. The huge corps know they cannot innovate their way out of a paper bag.
Instead they must acquire companies that have done the innovations they want to sell.
Their workforce consists of sales, marketing, and support for the stuff they bought,
and they don't need many senior people for that.

We have no lack of productivity, it is innovation that is being choked off by the way large corporations work,
and the people running those same corporations know it.

[onethatcares]

9. my advice to mr booz

go fuck yourself.

[guitar man]

10. Corporate thugs

Corporate thugs committing yet more economic violence against the working class. The only question that remains is, how long are we going to tolerate it? :grr:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. They're just "levelling the playing field" with the 3rd World.

[LadyInAZ]

13. I'm a veteran in my field

As a capitalistic society we do promote competition... and given veteran employees pay raises to motivate them to stay and continue giving our best. I for one is against not giving your skill works financal rewards. Like many of us, we spend a lot of money, time and effort in educating and perfecting our knowledge and craft within our fields. A nice reward is being paid more for our continued pursuit. This in turn provides company with skilled works to help them continue to compete in a global economy.

I also see the standard of living in US has not decreased, offering us lower wages will only hurt us all. We worked hard to get where we are today, is it really fair to ask millions to take a pay cut, expect no more pay raises... where does that lead us? looking for lower housing? I for 1 didn't attend college to live in a slum area. Nor should we be forced to do so. This isn't a 3rd world country, but it looks like we might be turning into one if something isn't done soon.

[HelenWheels]

16. Should be "Bank of America" not "Band" nt

[guitar man]

18. Thanks for clearing that up

I've had "Ventura Highway" running through my head ever since I read that :silly:

[WDIM]

17. Take a pay cut.

While they still make record salaries and record profits!

The profits belong to the workers!

Go ask for a pay raise today!

[Horse with no Name]

21. Our elected representatives have allowed corporations to create their OWN market realities

Ridiculously high CEO bonuses and pensions and ridiculously low wages for the workers.

Fascism.

Yet, the idiots keep on harping about supporting "the free market"...well dingleberries, this is what you get...low wages, no benefits, and an occasional opportunity to kiss their ass and thank them for allowing you to do so.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

22. Rarely do I want to stab someone in the face without having met them

But this qualifies.

Who knows, maybe this sort of thinking will begin to open more doors for unionization of industries, like IT. I hope so.

[Capitalocracy]

24. Oh, CEOs need competitive pay, of course.

And of course you know, this is directly related to the lack of decent jobs. They're making excuses, honestly quite strange ones like "infantilizing" experienced workers (wtf?), but the real reason they're advocating this is because they think they can get away with it because people are more desperate to keep their jobs, and if they get everyone else to do the same thing, they can get away with it even more.

Scum of the earth. They're trying to perpetuate the trend of paying workers less. Even just out of blind self-interest, they should be advocating that other companies pay their workers more to boost the economy. What are these jackasses going to do when they run out of customers?

[Dawson Leery]

26. Yet CEO's can never take a pay cut.

[guitar man]

27. What do I tell my child?

I remember when I was a child, learning about work and rewards for working hard from my Dad, my Grandfather and my Great Uncle, 3 of the hardest working men that ever lived. I remember the talks they had with me and the examples they set with regard to work ethic and what to expect from getting up, getting after it and doing your best every day.

One of the things I was really looking forward to was imparting the same lessons to my own child. But now, there is no way I could look her in the eye and tell her what they told me. It doesn't apply anymore. If I did I'd be straight up lying to her. :(

[gkhouston]

29. Christ, the boozers really will say anything their clients want to hear.

Maybe the companies would do better if they didn't infantilize their CEOs by paying them so much. I'm surprised they haven't turned into embryos.

[Liberal_in_LA]

30. horrible.

[Kingofalldems]

31. Part of the overall plan