Employers Moving From Furloughs To Outright Pay Cuts

New York Times:

The furloughs that popped up during the recession are being replaced by a highly unusual tactic: actual cuts in pay.

Local and state governments, as well as some companies, are squeezing their employees to work the same amount for less money in cost-saving measures that are often described as a last-ditch effort to avoid layoffs.

A new report on Tuesday showed a slight dip in overall wages and salaries in June, caused partly by employees working fewer hours.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[hypnotoad72]

04:53 PM on 08/05/2010

Yup, that'll save the economy!

(Or maybe it won't... I bet cutting wages won't help a damn thing. Mostly because we've all seen it happen before....)

[farmilyman]

06:30 AM on 08/05/2010

It's becoming a GOP utopia. The upper 2% are enslaving the lower 98%.

[hypnotoad72]

04:54 PM on 08/05/2010

A corporatist utopia. Certain entities in both political parties are responsible. A "Democrat" does not automatically grant innocence. What's Ben Nelson's excuse?

[farmilyman]

08:08 PM on 08/05/2010

True. Reagan started the snowball though.

[punkin14]

10:16 PM on 08/04/2010

The government needs to start with the VA hospital system. Ever tried to do business with the VA? So much red tape it makes your eyes spin. That's even if you are a vendor on contract. They have 7 people that do the same work 1 person does in a for profit hospital, and they are paid more. Just a shining example of government waste of taxpayers money.

[farmilyman]

06:30 AM on 08/05/2010

The VA is the best hospital system in the country.

[americanwhoserved]

06:51 AM on 08/05/2010

The VA is not the best hospital system in the country, farmilyman. You are totally incorrect and punkin 14 is totally correct. The VA medical care is substandard by every metric and the workers are so abused by the "system" they just don't care anymore. The system needs a complete overhaul, as does the benefits side, and uninformed comments like yours will never help.

[americanwhoserved]

06:52 AM on 08/05/2010

You are exactly correct punkin, and farmilyman does not have a clue.

[farmilyman]

09:40 AM on 08/05/2010

You have no proof.

[dragonladywaltham]

08:59 PM on 08/04/2010

Republicans win their goal of middle class slavery. We will soon be back to the robber barons who will push an injured employee aside so the next one can take his place.

[jikjack]

05:07 PM on 08/04/2010

until obama does a 180 and changes his policies, unemployment and pay cuts continue, end of story!

[Cia2]

05:04 PM on 08/04/2010

There appear to be three natural economic classes: the poor (workers), the middle class (merchants and professionals), and the upper class (corporate executives and politicians). When workers are scarce, they band together in unions to squelch competition and demand increases in income and benefits. When workers are plentiful, as they are now, competition takes over again and workers are no longer in a position to bargain. The fact that workers were included for a time in America's middle class seems to have been a historical anomaly. Those very workers were short-sighted enough to undercut themselves by spending their money on imported goods (think: cheap Walmart imports from Asia) and are now incensed and dismayed that their middle class status has been lost. The irony is that many blame the wealthy - but it is not the wealthy who are spending their money on cheap imports that deny American workers a good wage.

[americanwhoserved]

06:54 AM on 08/05/2010

It would be nice if you really understood economics Cia2, instead of posting wingnut garbage.

[byoungusa]

08:37 AM on 08/06/2010

Your post begins with a completely inaccurate statement and then just goes completely wrong from there. Please get some sociologyl/economics/american history classes then come back with a more informed, at least accurate thesis.

[GetAbike]

03:27 PM on 08/04/2010

Since deflation is out of most of our experience, now we know a little bit more about what it felt like for people in the 30's.
But the "interesting times" aspect of our current experience won't stop there.
At least in the 30's we were still sitting on the biggest bonanza of energy yet to be seen in history.
Well, we as a nation, partied our way through that heap of riches and built an Empire and an unprecedented middle class society- and the question is: "what is left? how do we continue or even get back to, business as usual? what does the future hold for us in a capital and energy starved world?
We squint at this foreign experience in befuddled rage and angst- the clouds of black swans are ominous- they can't be real can they?

[MrBadExample]

03:44 PM on 08/04/2010

Agreed on all fronts. The question (stretching the black swan/flight metaphor a bit) is whether the elites and their buddies in the two parties decide to bring the economy in on a controlled dead-stick landing or they continue to fight like rabid animals while the unyielding tarmac rushes up on them.

there is ample evidence the top 1% are not concerned about the restive rest of us. The game changes when the people with pitchforks stop their faux historical tea party dressups and start gathering at trendy nightspots in the Hamptons where the well-to-do have heretofore considered themselves protected species.

[GetAbike]

05:06 PM on 08/04/2010

Hey Mr Bad- how'r you doin?
You know why the rich live in gated communities?
So the rest of us know where they are when we get hungry- sort of a pen, or corral.
(:P yum!

[GetAbike]

05:35 PM on 08/04/2010

Hi MrBad- how'r you doin?
You know why we keep the rich in gated communities, don't you?
(;-p)

[OSCPJ]

08:20 PM on 08/04/2010

I think you are racist. It is not a "Black" Swan, but rather "White" Swan. Nothing has happened that is not been forseen. You just have to look for it. The current admin would rather look the other way and blame a Black Swan, when in reality it's color is white.

Band-Aids and inability to address the problem, let alone recognize it is the problem.

[GetAbike]

12:33 PM on 08/05/2010

Since for the sake of principle i do not flag people- mayhaps i can say, "i think you are an idi-ot" if you think i am racist for saying "black swan" my comment.
If you were trying to be cute, then your comment is merely incoherently all over the map.

[procrustes13]

03:24 PM on 08/04/2010

This is part of the payoff for those who crashed the economy. Bad behaviour is rewarded as usual.

[oldpol2]

03:11 AM on 08/06/2010

Well they ought to love it when people finally take to the streets.

[Mondayboy]

03:08 PM on 08/04/2010

The good news is 80 years from now we will all be retired!!

[oldpol2]

03:12 AM on 08/06/2010

At the rate things are going, no one will ever retire. They will work us till we drop.

[blindhog]

02:18 PM on 08/04/2010

Listen, unless these boards of directors of these corporations that are doing all the cutting start with their own pay cut and the pay cut of the top brass, we will not have a United States of America to call home.

How long do they think the citizens of this country can put up with the s... they've been subjected to?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OSCPJ]

08:23 PM on 08/04/2010

You understand the BOD doesn't care (and shouldn't) about you? They report to shareholders (People who actually put skin in the game by way of money).

Your rant is tiresome. The rich stole from you and benefitted from your labor. Try again.

[pattio66]

02:02 PM on 08/04/2010

ATTENTION AMERICAN WORKERS!!! Congratulations, your willful ignorance and/or apathy toward your voting rights for the past 30 years is now bearing fruit. Thanks so much for taking down with you the ones who've paid attention and voted in your best interests for decades. We're all sinking in this ship together and there are no lifeboats.

[MrBadExample]

02:34 PM on 08/04/2010

You almost nailed it--

There WERE lifeboats, but if you aren't in first class, they're already spoken for. It's like the Titanic.

[byoungusa]

04:12 PM on 08/04/2010

wow, now its nailed guys. cudos to both of you.

[OSCPJ]

08:24 PM on 08/04/2010

Bad Example,

What is your plan? I was always taught that I could complain all I wanted, but I had to present a solution? You up for it?

[hans sulu]

01:56 PM on 08/04/2010

I remember when the Auto Industry was in trouble and about to go under. There was debate about helping them or not. Then Speaker Pelosi said that the Unions, the Executives and the stock holders would all have to get a hair cut. For the Stock holders and the Executives it was more of a trim while the Unions took a buzz cut.
The Auto Unions all took less money during the past few years for benefits and to help the auto companies survive. Yet they were attacked by right wing media because of all the benefits they were receiving.
Now companies are telling their employees take a pay cut of we will do lay offs. I wonder if the companies will give the employees back their money back if things pick up again. I think not. Many employers see wages as the biggest impediment to profits and will do whatever it takes to increase profits. One company near me was paying their line employees, on average, $20 an hour. They fired all of them and hired new employees at $10 an hour.
Companies are sitting one trillions of dollars, some are reporting better than expected profits. Yet they are not hiring, why because they know that soon people will be so desperate to work that they will work at half or even a fourth of what the made just so they can survive.

[byoungusa]

04:23 PM on 08/04/2010

Unions started taking pay concessions in the 60's for good retirement and healthcare. Ended up chumps on both counts, no retirement and cut their throats just to keep healthcare, Now Chevy is paying $14 hr. for jobs they used to pay $21.

[OSCPJ]

08:26 PM on 08/04/2010

Are you crazy? The UAW got share of the company FOR NOTHING. Shareholders took a 29 cents to the dollar haircut.

Stop lying.

[maninal]

01:49 PM on 08/05/2010

You sir are the lier. The UAW got a share of the company and absorbed the health care costs that GM was behind in. Read something instead of watching FOX

[T4]

01:44 PM on 08/04/2010

take me out to the crying pole. If you have a job and your pay is going down - it is because the Obama market has driven it down, except if your a megabanker and the you are getting all the bonuses that should be going to the rest of us. Once again thank Obama.. Public sector pay and pensions are going down. The San Jose bus drivers in CA just got a 6% raise in pay.

[hans sulu]

03:02 PM on 08/04/2010

Actually under the Bush Administration average yearly salaries went down $2000. We have watched as good paying jobs are shipped out of country and are told it is our fault since we expect a high wages, when in reality we want a living wage.

[OSCPJ]

08:27 PM on 08/04/2010

I would love to believe you..... But first I need to fact check. Do you have a government citation?

[CaliGrown78]

03:40 PM on 08/04/2010

You need to get your facts straight, your wilfull ignorance is astounding

[Shaddup]

01:43 PM on 08/04/2010

Our corporate masters hate to see anybody making a living wage.

[millicent101]

02:12 PM on 08/04/2010

Somedays it seems they mind if you live at all, beyond the scope of the corporal body.

[OSCPJ]

08:27 PM on 08/04/2010

Or maybe YOU could become someone who makes more than "Living Wage".

Stop blaming others and actually work to better yourself.

[maninal]

01:54 PM on 08/05/2010

You obviously do not understand the term "Living Wage" . Living wage is a term used to describe the minimum hourly wage necessary for shelter (housing and incidentals such as clothing and other basic needs) . Lucky for you there's no calculation for intellect or you'd be in an extrememe deficit.

[Amado Magtoto]

01:41 PM on 08/04/2010

Break out from the cycle. The government has a vision that is no longer shared by a vast majority of people here and worldwide.....

www.audymm.com.