Employers Cut Pay, Hours For Those Still On The Job

New York Times:

In recent decades, layoffs were the standard procedure for shrinking labor costs. Reducing the wages of those who remained on the job was considered demoralizing and risky: the best workers would jump to another employer. But now pay cuts, sometimes the result of downgrades in rank or shortened workweeks, are occurring more frequently than at any time since the Great Depression.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[sloreader]

09:22 AM on 10/16/2009

Wall Street responds favorably to news the American worker takes another big hit. Just great to know your slashed wages and benefits help the company so much, eh?

[Pieface]

04:58 PM on 10/15/2009

Thanks to the progressives, folks can't even get a job in a coal mine anymore.

[sloreader]

09:25 AM on 10/16/2009

Easy on the corporate kool aid youngster.

[ScroogeandMarleyLLC]

04:34 PM on 10/15/2009

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

[Stock market]

02:09 PM on 10/15/2009

Everyday the middle class get g0uged through stealth inflation

hat tip to; http://bit.ly/1NkbAn

banks keep reporting blowout earnings while everyone muddles along

[vippy]

11:39 AM on 10/15/2009

Back in the 1990s in retail and food we had only two categories of employees, fulltime and parttime.
Then we tried the "on call" which did not work out since people did not wait around at home to get a phone call when it got busy. We then decided to make our profit margin bigger by employing intermittent employees, those who get 3 to 19 hours per week and no benefits. We ended up with ca. 75% of intermittents. It worked out fine when other employees called out we always had someone to cover. This started early 2000 and has been going on for that long. I am surprised that most people have no clue about this category!

[Snarkolepsy]

06:16 PM on 10/14/2009

Will work for food.

[LibGirlandProudofIt]

04:06 PM on 10/14/2009

For years, employers have asked employees to "do more, with less" while eliminating jobs and distributing the work load to others employees. All the while, padding their bottom line. I left the corporate world as my raises where becoming few and far between (reviews were stellar.) while shareholders and CEO earned millions/billions. Who ever started these golden parachutes and multi-million dollar salaries broke America. The workers are the casualties...

[mogens]

02:33 AM on 10/15/2009

Stand up and fight. Join the unions. The middle class abandon of union work, because they considered themselves too "fine" for that is now hitting them right in the purse.
If you don't fight for your rights, who should then do it?
The rich have the money , but the employers have the many, IF they can and will join forces instead of just grumbling.
"United we stand- divided we fall" is as sane as it was 100 years ago.

[vippy]

11:34 AM on 10/15/2009

I work with a number of people and from what I hear from those sorry sad sacks is they are against the unions, blaming the loss of jobs on unions. They listen to FOX NEWS
and there is nothing to deter them from it though they make barely enough to get by.
Same with the healthcare bill, they are all against it, claiming the USA was not founded on socialism LOL (shooting themselves in the foot - hilarious). Yet for Thanksgiving and Christmas we collect donations for those among us not so fortunate.

[MIKEBC]

03:39 PM on 10/14/2009

These financial hard times started a year ago on wall st. under the watch of the GOP, this is GOP depression #2

[Stock market]

02:52 PM on 10/14/2009

The wealth gap will widen to levels never before imagined while the middle class ceases. Our politicians need to do more to ensure equality.

good articles; http://bit.ly/1NkbAn

that means no bank bailouts. no tax cuts except for those in the middle and lower income brackerts more heath reform. affordable tuition.

[Stephen Wahls]

02:13 PM on 10/14/2009

It's times like these we need to ask "Is a little money better than none?" because our employers can say "We can arrange that too.” Our alternative is to be self employed and there is nothing stopping us from that also, as far as I can tell. In this case you can make as much money as you want to untill the government says "that's ours."

[katooom]

02:50 PM on 10/14/2009

I am self employed. Believe me, the government says 'that's ours' an awful lot. It is very depressing when you have no withholdings and must make quarterly payments. Very demotivating.

[MissingHands2]

02:55 PM on 10/14/2009

What fvcking planet do you live on?

[sarabono]

01:17 PM on 10/14/2009

What do you expect from an Administration that has a policy of ignoring what it takes to create jobs but is only interested in enlarging the role of the federal government ?

For example, how many jobs have been created at GM or Chrysler since the Government took over ?

[davidwayneosedach]

01:15 PM on 10/14/2009

We don't like reduced hours. But it is better than losing the job entirely.

[AZterritory]

01:57 PM on 10/14/2009

But it's still pathetic that we're supposed to be 'grateful' for being 'allowed' to work 20 hours a week instead of 40. At my house we're P*SSED.

[theMightyT]

01:12 PM on 10/14/2009

Tolby I'm a Fan of Tolby I'm a fan of this user 6 fans permalink
MightyT...under Carter we had 13% minimum mortgage rates and 22% prime rate. How long have you hated facts?

=========

"Stagflation happened to reach its peak on Carter's watch, spurred on by the 1979 oil shock. How Carter can be blamed for a trend that began a decade and a half earlier is a mystery -- and a testimony as to how presidential candidates often exploit the public's economic ignorance for their own political gain. "

Here - go learn something.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-carterreagan.htm

[spinns17]

12:55 PM on 10/14/2009

if wall street wants to screw the american people.then they should lose all there american rights.

[LHoney]

12:57 PM on 10/14/2009

"wants to" ??? I think they've already left the building...

[Ohsherrie]

12:44 PM on 10/14/2009

Screwing the working people out of their jobs so that Execs can get rich on cheap third world labor and play games on Wall Street then screw the working people again out of their tax money to keep their Wall Street playground working for them.

Don't you people realize that this is what republican Capitalism and Free Enterprise are all about? (rolling eyes)

[tlgeiger62]

12:52 PM on 10/14/2009

It doesn't go as deep as acquiring third world labor. They are taking full advantage of the situation and paying Americans whatever they think they can get away with. This is going to drive a wedge further and further between the classes and the lower class is going to grow until it rears up to take action.

We are seeing the very worst side of people these days.