THE BIG SQUEEZE
Steven Greenhouse
STEVEN GREENHOUSE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Some people ask me why I called my new book, "The Big Squeeze." The answer is simple: The nation's corporations have been squeezing workers every which way in their drive to push down labor costs. This, unfortunately, has left the nation's workers (and consumers) weakened and weary even before we feel the full brunt of a recession that will inevitably mean unemployment and lower paychecks for many Americans.
This squeeze has taken one especially disturbing form: many corporations have cut costs by violating wage-and- hour laws. Managers at Wal-Mart, Pep Boys and Family Dollar, told me that they secretly erased hours from employees' time records because of fierce pressures to minimize costs. At many companies, managers strong-arm employees into working off the clock; hourly employees who clock out at, say, 5 p.m., are ordered to work an hour or two extra unpaid. Swift & Company, Smithfield Foods and Wal-Mart each employed, directly or through contractors, more than 1,000 illegal immigrants, who often accept lower wages than native-born workers.
In my research, I found that many companies also squeeze workers by treating them with a shocking lack of dignity. A Wal-Mart cashier in Kansas City told me that managers were so stingy about bathroom breaks that some cashiers ended up soiling themselves. RadioShack had the gall to fire 400 workers at its Fort Worth headquarters by e-mail, the message saying, "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated." Corporate executives told Myra Bronstein, a software engineer in Seattle, that as long as the company did well and she worked hard - she put in many 14-hour days - she would have a job. But one day the company suddenly fired Bronstein and 17 other engineers, telling them that if they wanted any severance pay, they had to spend the next four weeks training the workers from India who would be replacing them.
The biggest squeeze has been on wages and benefits. During the economic expansion that began in November 2001, corporate profits soared, while productivity per worker rose more than 15 percent. Nonetheless, hourly wages for the typical worker have inched up by just 1 percent since then, after inflation, while median income for working-age households has fallen nearly $2,400 to $54,726 since 2000, according to the most recent Census Bureau report on poverty and income.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, employee premiums for family-health insurance coverage have doubled in seven years, rising by $1,650 on average. And the number of Americans without health insurance has jumped by 8.6 million since 1999, to 47 million. Many young people just starting work are finding it surprisingly tough, because entry-level wages have slid since 2001, after inflation, while the percentage of entry-level jobs offering health or pension coverage has fallen as well.
For millions of Americans, the up escalator toward the American dream has stalled, although those at the very top have thrived. Income for the middle-fifth of Americans has risen a modest 21 percent since 1979 (largely because both spouses, taken together, are working far more hours than before). Meanwhile, income for the top 1 percent has more than tripled. One study found that the top 1 percent has 22 percent of all reported income, up from 9 percent in 1980. The top 1 percent earns more after tax than the bottom 40 percent of Americans. Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, has calculated that if income inequality had remained unchanged since 1979, the bottom 80 percent of Americans would be earning $670 billion more per year - or $8,000 more per household.
ORDER
Steven Greenhouse
STEVEN GREENHOUSE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Some people ask me why I called my new book, "The Big Squeeze." The answer is simple: The nation's corporations have been squeezing workers every which way in their drive to push down labor costs. This, unfortunately, has left the nation's workers (and consumers) weakened and weary even before we feel the full brunt of a recession that will inevitably mean unemployment and lower paychecks for many Americans.
This squeeze has taken one especially disturbing form: many corporations have cut costs by violating wage-and- hour laws. Managers at Wal-Mart, Pep Boys and Family Dollar, told me that they secretly erased hours from employees' time records because of fierce pressures to minimize costs. At many companies, managers strong-arm employees into working off the clock; hourly employees who clock out at, say, 5 p.m., are ordered to work an hour or two extra unpaid. Swift & Company, Smithfield Foods and Wal-Mart each employed, directly or through contractors, more than 1,000 illegal immigrants, who often accept lower wages than native-born workers.
In my research, I found that many companies also squeeze workers by treating them with a shocking lack of dignity. A Wal-Mart cashier in Kansas City told me that managers were so stingy about bathroom breaks that some cashiers ended up soiling themselves. RadioShack had the gall to fire 400 workers at its Fort Worth headquarters by e-mail, the message saying, "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated." Corporate executives told Myra Bronstein, a software engineer in Seattle, that as long as the company did well and she worked hard - she put in many 14-hour days - she would have a job. But one day the company suddenly fired Bronstein and 17 other engineers, telling them that if they wanted any severance pay, they had to spend the next four weeks training the workers from India who would be replacing them.
The biggest squeeze has been on wages and benefits. During the economic expansion that began in November 2001, corporate profits soared, while productivity per worker rose more than 15 percent. Nonetheless, hourly wages for the typical worker have inched up by just 1 percent since then, after inflation, while median income for working-age households has fallen nearly $2,400 to $54,726 since 2000, according to the most recent Census Bureau report on poverty and income.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, employee premiums for family-health insurance coverage have doubled in seven years, rising by $1,650 on average. And the number of Americans without health insurance has jumped by 8.6 million since 1999, to 47 million. Many young people just starting work are finding it surprisingly tough, because entry-level wages have slid since 2001, after inflation, while the percentage of entry-level jobs offering health or pension coverage has fallen as well.
For millions of Americans, the up escalator toward the American dream has stalled, although those at the very top have thrived. Income for the middle-fifth of Americans has risen a modest 21 percent since 1979 (largely because both spouses, taken together, are working far more hours than before). Meanwhile, income for the top 1 percent has more than tripled. One study found that the top 1 percent has 22 percent of all reported income, up from 9 percent in 1980. The top 1 percent earns more after tax than the bottom 40 percent of Americans. Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, has calculated that if income inequality had remained unchanged since 1979, the bottom 80 percent of Americans would be earning $670 billion more per year - or $8,000 more per household.
ORDER
No comments:
Post a Comment