Circuit City Slaughter: Seniority Means a Pink Slip (AlterNet)

[marmar]

Circuit City Slaughter: Seniority Means a Pink Slip

By Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet. Posted April 10, 2007.



Not so long ago seniority was rewarded with higher pay and other perks. But that higher pay now carries a lethal risk, as Circuit City has just demonstrated.

Columnist Bill White of the Allentown Morning Call pictures Circuit City CEO Philip J. Schoonover getting a warm welcome to hell -- very warm. Satan tells him, "This place is full of overpaid, outsourcing, golden-parachuting, employee-abusing worms like you."

Schoonover's sin? Laying off 3,400 employees because they had been around for too long and needed to be replaced by minimum wage workers. His punishment? Having a choice of Dick Cheney or Nancy Grace as a roommate and spending eternity listening to Sanjaya's Greatest Hits.

The New York Times took the Circuit City slaughter with much greater equanimity. In his economics column last week, Times columnist David Leonhardt showed some pious sympathy for the laid-off, who will, after a 10 week cooling off period, be able to re-apply for their old jobs at much reduced pay. But he goes on to explain that Circuit City's employee abuse is just part of the larger corporate demand for "efficiency." Wal-Mart, after all, has capped employee pay and taken the stools away from its elderly employees. Sadly, Leonhardt notes:


It's probably not possible to halt these changes. It may not even be desirable. The flexibility of the American labor force seems to be one reason that recessions have become less frequent and unemployment is less of a problem here than in Europe, notes Jason Furman, a leading Democratic economist.
..(snip)..

But from Allentown to Times Square, no one is commenting on where the new flexibility may be taking us. Time was, not so long ago, when seniority was rewarded with higher pay and other perks. But that higher pay now carries a lethal risk. As a friend who writes software for a major multinational explained to me: "If you ask for a raise, the boss is going to say, 'Why would you want that? It would be like having a bulls-eye painted on your back.'" The more you make, the more tempting it is to fire you.
..(snip)..

Once you fire the high-performers and experienced workers, the next step will be to demand that employees pay you for the privilege of working. Why not? Most workplaces provide air-conditioned environments and bathroom facilities, complete with soap and paper towels. These are things you'd expect to pay for in a hotel, so why should workers get them free? Having busted his $10-20 an hour senior employees down to $7 and change an hour, Schoonover's bound to see that the best route to higher profit margins is negative pay. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/50371/

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Hoes, pitchforks and torches.

Heated tar pots. Feathers. Fence rails.

All ideas whose time may have returned.

[msongs]

13. who you calling a ... hoe? :-) nt

[formercia]

14. My momma don't look like no agricultural implement. n/t

Kingfish.

[formercia]

2. The future is here

At least, slave owners had to provide shelter and food for their property, now they make them hit the street.

[raccoon]

11. Sometimes the slaveowners would free the slaves when they were too old to be useful. nt

[fasttense]

3. And the really sad part of it is you need a 7.5% raise just to stay ahead of inflation.

Our labor force is more flexible, and able to take low, low wages without recession, as compared to some European nations because we had a richer, larger middle class - not so much anymore. Our middle class has spent all their savings, borrowed on their homes and credit cards and are pretty well tapped out.

[formercia]

7. Soon to join us

no more 'trickle-down' economy.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. It has been done...

Businesses controlled by Chinese organized crime often force employees who are usually recent immigrants to pay daily for their job, but they can keep their tips or are paid commission.

[catnhatnh]

5. This is what unions are all about....

this is WHY they protect certain rights so emphatically...
Wages with increases that outstrip inflation and recognized increased productivity.
Work Rules to protect against harsh and arbitrary changes to workplace practices.
Protection of seniority to prevent the firing of experienced workers for economic advantage.
Pensions controlled by the unions to prevent predatory company looting.
Protection of benefits such as insurance and overtime premiums, plus protection of the workforce as a whole from capricious retaliation against individuals.

Unions are the power of the little people to be seated at the grown ups table...

[Somawas]

6. So long as we demand the right to buy stuff cheaply

we have to expect this kind of thing. Circuit City is simply competing with Wal Mart.

[formercia]

8. Every time we buy something made in some third-world sweat shop

we are supporting these corporate gangsters. The solution is simple. Make do, or do without.

[madrchsod]

9. circuit city will be out of business with in two years

cheap labor is`t going to solve their problems.

[mongo]

12. Big Bear did the same thing

about two months before they went under.

[NEOBuckeye]

10. Endgame Capitalism

The Capitalistas forget in their own excessive greed that people must make money in order to spend it in pursuit of goods and services. And so the snake swallows and chokes to death on its own tail in search of maximum profits.

[AnneD]

15. Well spoken.

This is the end game and shows why capitalism need unions--- for it's own good.

[winston61]

16. It's easy to hope that Circuit City will collapse and fail-

but then even the low paid serfs will have no jobs. Thanks wal mart, the race to the bottom is done, we won?