(09-05-2024, 03:44 AM)FlickerOfLight Wrote:(09-04-2024, 10:05 PM)Schmoe Wrote:(09-04-2024, 09:29 PM)FlickerOfLight Wrote: Growth of CEO compensation (1978–2020). Using the realized compensation measure, compensation of the top CEOs increased 1,322.2% from 1978 to 2020 (adjusting for inflation). Top CEO compensation grew roughly 60% faster than stock market growth during this period and far eclipsed the slow 18.0% growth in a typical worker’s annual compensation. CEO granted compensation rose 970.2% from 1978 to 2020.
Now add in all the inflation over the years for the working class.
https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2020/
This is the problem. We shouldn't be struggling like this.
It's not that people don't want to work hard. It's that they're tired of getting breadcrumbs for their hard work. I know that I've always felt this way about it when I'd get my meezly little paychecks (after busting my butt), and then see how much of it was used for taxes. Then Every week it's, stretch stretch, stretch (and with little growth to my possessions). This is so many people's lives that are about to snap. Because, things are about to be stretched even further.
No election is going to save it.
To me, even choosing to do a months worth of work in two weeks, and then wait two more weeks before I receive that due payment is going to screw my entire system up. I *depend* on weekly overtime. As do many others.
Without it the ship sinks. No matter how "hard I work."
I don't see this going well, if ever put up on the block for companies. I don't see why any of them would turn that down.
Our pro is a more flexible schedule.
Whoopee
(09-04-2024, 08:53 PM)Schmoe Wrote: @"FlickerOfLight"#259
I like my job mostly. We made parts for the suspension on the Mars Rover, which of course was interesting. I didn't think anything of it at the time when the customer was JPL. Which makes it all the more frustrating that the people I work with ruin it. I get it, it's a machine shop. I don't expect to work with Einsteins and Nobel laureates. But at the same time, fuck. Whatever happened to pride in your work?
I 100 percent agree with, "Whatever happened to pride in our work."
I'm one, like you, who does take pride in my work. No matter how big or small the job is.
Like you I'm surrounded by people who have no pride in anything, much less their job, and so I step up my game because I have to pick up the slack.
So, we work harder, with more frustration, with no raises coming our way for our extra effort.
That's really cool. I've never done any machine work quite like that.
So, you machined parts for the Mars rover? Wow...that's avmjnd blow, Schmoe. Cheers
That's it exactly, the frustration that comes along with working with people like that. I'm tired of doing other people's jobs for them.
We make all different types of springs, from tiny torsion springs, springs that go into reels for mid-air refueling, to springs that separate the booster for submarine-based tomahawk missiles. The particular springs that went into the Mars Rover suspension were wide constant force springs. It was a very simple part, but it was cool to be a part of it.
A good example of doing other people's jobs for them: basically we set up a machine for a particular part, then samples are sent to an inspection office, they get approved, then the parts are ran off.
I had an inspector come out and give me shit for a part having the wrong stencil on it. I didn't set the machine up, the parameters of the part aren't specified except for a few things like inside diameter, length, etc. I said, so I have to do my job, the person who set up the machine's job, the supervisor's job, AND your job. How does that make sense? I laughed at him and told him to get fucked. Never heard another peep about it at least. And I'm not arrogant and I hate tooting my own horn, but I've made scrap parts twice in the 10 years I've been here, so I was pretty pissed.
I can imagine; if I've goofed, I know it, own up to it, and fix it immediately. Rarely do my own mistakes get by me. I can imagine you are meticulous as well. Jobs like that don't usually* hire slack workers. But, here we are, eh?
Another good point you made is, now we are expected to do three or four additional jobs that weren't even in our job descriptions. All because companies are hiring labor as cheap as possible. So, they're getting what they paid for. And anyone who has a kick of self pride steps up and does whatever necessary to get the job done, and done right. And yeah, I may make a few dollars more for my efforts, but in the long run, I'm getting worked like a rented mule and beat the hell up from "hustling" for 33 years already. I'm not even close to being done yet.
I am worried about our future. It does not look good, no matter how its looked at. Globally. There's not anywhere to even flee to, that I can see. I'm not rolling in dough, so I don't have any bunkers in New Zealand for when they finally decide to push them buttons.
Im annoyed with this.ya know.
Cheers.
That's right. When I started here, I worked my ass off to try and stand out, because I'd heard of layoffs every once in a while. My daughter had just been born, so I got it into my head that I have to go in there every day and give 110%, I'm now responsible for a life.
I survived 3 layoffs in the first 2 years, but that was a double-edged sword. On one side, I proved my value, but also screwed myself because they now expect that effort all the time. Which I was happy to do. Fast forward 8 years, and I find out some half-ass who'd been hired a few years ago was making the same amount I was. I erupted, told them they'd either make it right, or they won't, and either way I'll be better off.
They made it right, but it's still stuck in my mind that I was getting screwed for years. "Why can't we find loyal employees anymore?" I've slowed down quite a bit at year 10, I got that large raise, smiled and thanked them, but at the same time I'm thinking that's the end of them getting 110%.
To your point about cheap labor- my brother is a roofer, started out with a decent-sized company, learned all he could, then went out on his own. He was successful for years, but then everyone started hiring immigrants, legal or not, and paying them pennies. He said it got so cutthroat that he had to do the same and hire people who'd work for less, just to win bids on jobs to keep going. Even that failed though, and he went to a different company as an estimator.
You're right, I'm worried about the future too. Especially for my kids. It feels like once a week I get thoughts about how their lives are going to be decades from now. I can't say they're optimistic thoughts. I stress to them all the time, it's vital they do well in school. Don't be like me, and be a shithead when you're young. You'll likely pay for that fun for the rest of your life.
Another recurring thought I have is how I'd love to just pack up and run away from it all, set up a homestead and live the way humans were supposed to. I doubt my daughters would agree though, they're established in their school with friends. They'd never want to leave modern conveniences behind either. I didn't think that way either when I was young.