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Article: Middle Class Secretaries Pushed Into Minimum Wage Work - Article

Posted: Sep 04, 2012

Article from The Nation:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169712/middle-class-secretaries-pushed-minimum-wage-work

"And the driving force behind the losses is just as troubling. Given that the ability to find a new job is almost nil in the miserable job market, workers are feeling trapped. (For example, the quit rate has hovered at a very low rate since the recovery began.) That gives employers huge leverage in pushing their employees to take on heavier loads without higher pay."

Sound familiar, MTs?

Definitely to me it does. It amazes me that for the most part all of us middle classers have consciences, whereby if we can't pay a bill we do our best to make good on it, even if it takes years.

What is unfolding with these corporate entities, such as large MTSOs, big business, Wall Street, all the way up to candidates for office is that they have no such compunctions about trying to get away with whatever they can. Such as simply paying us less, just because they can get away with it. It is wage theft, they look at their aging female workforce and say Booyah! Gotcha. More money in my pocket. No conscience, no morality. So maybe capitalism needs some controls, otherwise if this kind of market forces is allowed to prevail it is definitely tilted in the favor of those with $$$ much more than it has been in the past. We should fight for our middle class jobs, but how?

The topic of worker wages never comes up in stockholder meetings - Stockholder

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I've never seen the subject of worker wages even make it to the agenda.

Actually, it does, when they are eliminating thousands of jobs - Stockholder

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There is a lot of attention given when they eliminate huge numbers of jobs. Stockholders (not me) usually like that, because it makes more profits. That's the only time I ever see wages of the middle class worker ever mentioned, when they are being eliminated. By doing that, management gets huge bonuses.

I guess they don't need to bother - Some Jr VP gets a gold star

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For reducing costs, and that's what we are reduced to. Somehow this is even sadder, that nobody is even bothering to sit around plotting how to screw our wages down and get away with it! They don't have to. Used-to-be middle class workers turning into minimum-wage workers is a tragedy that is happening without anyone being called to account or even noticing for that matter!

It's happening in other countries as well: Greece, UK - While the Rich Keep Getting Richer

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I'm all in favor of the rich getting richer, but not if it's on the backs of the middle class and/or the poor.

This situation is out of control. The good unions were destroyed along with the bad ones, because the people with the most money make more if they don't have to be fair to their workers.

Someday there will be worldwide revolution, and - the rich will get it taken away from them.

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Can't happen soon enough for me!!!

Right, because taking away what - someone else has

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is so much easier than earning it yourself. If you want to be one of the rich people, start your own business, take all the risks associated with growing a business, all the headaches and long hours. Then come back and advocate that someone who didn't do any of that has a right to what you've earned.

No one says taking risks doesn't deserve reward - question is how much

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When the "rich people" are "earning" directly off the labor of workers like MTs, are you saying they deserve ALL the money and we should bow down and be slaves? Because what are you suggesting, that we actually deserve the minimum wage we are now reduced to because these glorious risk takers are so fantastic and we should bow before them and demand nothing for our long hours, our headaches, our skills, and our work?

Why do you stay in the job - if it

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makes you so miserable? You are not, in fact, a slave. You can choose not to remain in employment that you consider unsuitable.

The comment about "the revolution" is never meant only to target MTSOs. There is some weird idea that all the employees of all businesses are miserable and will rise up and smite their evil overlords. This is simply not true. Successful people do not stay in work that makes them miserable. Those who do stay have other issues that even better wages and working conditions are unlikely to solve.

Your best course of action is always to invest in yourself. If it is your choice to be an employee, the solution to poor treatment is to acquire skills that are in demand and that command the kind of compensation you think you are worth. Sitting miserably in a job where you feel unappreciated and poorly compensated and whining about it on a message board or dreaming of revolution WILL NOT MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER.

If you concentrate REAL HARD, I think you can - figure that one our for yourself. Aint too hard.

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.

Again, successful people - --

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do not stay in work that makes them miserable or work that pays them less than they feel they are worth.

Staying in that kind of job is a blueprint for failure.

We all have choices. Some people choose to be successful. Others, apparently, just complain about the people who chose success and try to tear them down.

Successful people find a way to - profit off others, right?

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This greed is good crap does not really fly here. We are all just workers doing work we love, working hard, and being good employees. You obviously think this makes us less than human. I am not dreaming of revolution at all. I am just wishing it weren't so easy for our "evil overlords" to treat us so badly. Again, you do not come clean about your origins. I am an MT who made $50,000 plus just a few years ago, now less than $30,000. I have not changed anything, they have. I love this job and will probably stay in it until I retire even if it is minimum wage because it is what I do well. If that makes me a loser in your eyes, I don't really care, but I don't want to be a millionaire or an entrepreneur, just to do the job I am good at and do well, so I will just keep trying until we are all extinct I guess. I am not going to read the stupid rich people idea list or take your how to get rich ideas. I an am MT, this is an MT board.

It seems that you are - just

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looking for opportunities to tear down successful people and paint them as evil and exploitative.

I am an MT, but I would not continue to do this work if it did not provide the kind of compensation I think I deserve. If you don't like what you're paid, negotiate a better deal or get more skills that will command more money.

Complaining about successful people and tearing them down because they are successful won't change their lives in the least, and it won't make your life better.

I still do not understand why one would stay in a position that puts them at financial hardship.

What are you afraid of?

Individuals don't have power to negotiate, but groups do - sm

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Years ago workers were exploited much the way some MTSOs exploit MTs today. Thank God, we now have Child Labor Laws and other laws in place. Without those laws, unethical employers would take advantage of workers to get ahead of their competitors. In order to compete with them, even more would lower their ethical standards. The only way the 'little guy' can stand up to corporate greed is by banding together. MTs didn't do that, or at least the organization we had failed to stand up for us.

Really? - I negotiated

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my MT compensation. If an employer will not negotiate compensation with me, I thank them for their time and move on.

Of course an MT can negotiate compensation, but the MT has to take the initiative and be willing to walk away if she doesn't get what she wants.

What? Of course individuals have power to negotiate. - Where are you from, OS? nm

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Sure you can negotiate, but when most MTSOs align themselves - You can negotiate all you want

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You can negotiate all you want, but if all the MTSOs align themselves, you aren't going to accomplish anything. Of course you don't have to take the job if you have money and don't have to work. Most of us need and want to work. We don't have the option of negotiating ourselves out of work.

Just the kind of MT an MTSO loves. Too afraid to speak - up, negotiate and stand up for yourself. nm

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Wrong again! - sm

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When one party is unwilling to negotiate what they will pay, the MT who is negotiating has to move on. The MTSOs know what the other MTSOs pay. They used to be together in what was basically a union. Even though it has disbanded, they still know what the going rate is. You can negotiate until you are purple, but you will be talking to yourself. I'm talking about the large services. There are some smaller ones who are actually human.

The truth is, MTSOs make money hand-over-fist but are cutting MTs - The Truth

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MTs are having their income cut drastically at the same time the employers are making more than ever. That is just wrong.

Not exactly - anon

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The clients are paying a lot less and demanding a lot more, not to mention they have to pay for the platforms, software licenses, dictation lines, equipment, QA, advertising, account setups, hiring/training of MTs, healthcare, and other business overhead, etc. The larger ones have to pay for larger staff, etc. I am in no way sticking up for them, but they are not getting paid near what they used to get either, with more expenses.

The big ones are. The smaller ones scrape by like the rest of us - Huge ones make Huge Profits

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I think we all know better about the big guys. They make huge profits. Some of it is public information.

Just have to watch the news to see the violent protests else - where. It might come to that here. Maybe? nm

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x

see what happened after all the ..... - anon

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union busting. At least the unions protected the senior workers and those who had seniority. Without the unions there any more, the employer can pretty much do what he wants to whomever he wants and get away with it, and the employee has no protection at all. I am not a union advocate, but they did serve an extreme purpose in how the American worker was treated.

They certainly did serve a purpose - sm

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My family wouldn't have survived had we not had a strong union that demanded that my dad be paid a reasonable wage. Some unions, just like everything else in life, were/are corrupt. The one that saved our family from poverty was a very fine one.

serve a purpose. sm - Proud wife of a union member.

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Agree with you. Strong unions saved not only my father's jobs in factories and construction work back in the 1960s and 1970s, but also my uncles' jobs. They kept some food on our table, paid union members a small stipend when laid off from work, assured fair pay and decent working conditions.
When dad's company ultimately got bought out by a nonunion company, all the long-time workers lost their pensions. They ended up with a measly $100 a month from a government fund for workers losing their pensions. Those who have not been directly involved with a union might not understand. If it was not for another strong modern day union, my husband would not have a pension after 36 YEARS of service with the state government. I'm so sick of people coming down on unions. Most of them are legit unions. We still belong even though my husband is retired.

Now, if all MTs had belonged to a few of the big unions, things may have been different for us. Then again, maybe not. We will never know. There is strength in numbers, not 15 or 20 workers in a union in one state and a different union in a different state. JMO

I definitely think things would have been better - sm

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We would have seen written into the contract that employers could not send the work overseas. It would also have been written in the contract that if they choose to use SR, MTs would be paid a reasonable amount for the editing. There is nothing anywhere that protects the MT. Employers can do anything they want without regard to fairness. If we had a union, they would have made sure we were treated fairly.

There's still time, though not much. If we unionized - a lot of these injustices could be reversed. nm

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.

Thank you for posting - wheres_my_job

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We need to hear FACTUAL pro-union points of view. Tired of hearing about mythical "union bosses" (reference to old Soviet Union and Stalin, I suppose), who extort union dues from members and don't do anything for their memberships.

I'm pro-union, and pro-global unions.

Where's My Job, I agree with you wholeheartedly! - (nm) - Meerkat

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=^..^=

Unions created a strong middle class - anon

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It was largely the rise of unions and the subsequent consequence of better-paying jobs that helped propel our country into having a strong middle class, which in turn helped the economy for manufacturers and created a consumer demand for products like automobiles and other big-ticket items like houses and appliances. That to me is why I think all this off-shoring and lowering of wages in America is going to end up being very costly for our country on many levels because American consumer demand (not to mention taxable income) will drop off. I suppose that some consumer demand will be filled in India and China as their economies boom, but that won't help the American housing market so much, nor will it help with making sure there is enough taxable income being generated in our country for it to operate. Sure, there is a short-term gain in profits with lower wages and layoffs, but there is a long-term and very scary consequence as well. I feel very pessimistic about the direction our country is going in...

I do think that unions need to be careful, however. My husband is the manager for CWA workers, and if the union won't compromise on some of the issues like health care and ask some of the workers to make some sacrifices in other ways, then it could very well put the company in jeopardy.

The way they discriminate against over-50s, they - better start building those tent cities now, -sm

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because we're gonna need them. It's where we're all headed if we have spent our retirement money just to survive on our current crappy wages, and have to keep working beyond 65.

Thanks for sharing that interesting article! There - was another one on the same page - sm

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.. the one by Ben Adler about the RNC's Final Insult to Women, that is a must-read, as well.

Here's a different perspective - Xena

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Though it is unlikely anyone waiting for a union to come to the rescue or a revolution to take what others have earned is going to understand or appreciate it.

The thing is - They did NOT earn it all

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And we are not trying to "take" it all. We are just trying to get our fair share of the work we are doing. You obviously hold these "job creators" in high regard. Well, here's a question, are you an MT, and if so, just what do you think WE deserve? And if not, what exactly are you doing here and what are you fighting for?

Yes, I am an MT - Xena

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I am also retired from a well-paying job and have been a lifelong saver and investor. MT is my retirement "career." It suits my schedule and keeps my mind active.

I have a good MT job because I negotiated the compensation I felt I deserved. I am no smarter or better at this job than most people who are complaining about their compensation and poor treatment. If you don't like what you earn, change jobs, negotiate better pay, acquire new skills that will pay what you want to earn, start your own business, do SOMETHING to change your circumstances.

Complaining will solve nothing. Talking endlessly about unions and revolutions and strikes will not make your life better. Complaining that others have more and demanding that they be forced to distribute what they earned to those who didn't earn it won't help you either.

Even if all the wealth in the country was confiscated and redistributed equally to every citizen, within five years, probably less, the people who were had more before would have more again because they wouldn't sit around whining about life being unfair. They'd put the same traits into action that made them rich before and do it again.

The point is not that someone else has more. The point is that they are ordinary mortals like everyone else. If they did it, someone else can do it. The point of the article was to highlight the traits that make some ordinary mortals capable of acquiring financial resources. You will notice that none of the traits involved whining and complaining that life is not fair.

but....YOU didn't build that....someone else did that for you. - anon

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you did not participate in your "success." Someone else did that for you. The govt did that for you. Now, because the govt did that for you, cough up what extra you owe and give it to the govt so they can send it overseas to the less fortunate. That's how THEY are "capable of acquiring financial resources."

Um, what? - Xena

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure what your response means. We don't seem to be having the same conversation. Or you're just another sad, self-defeated person hating successful people because you think that's easier than making your own success.

Anon moniker, all posts hard to follow, slightly off center. - nm

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x

ha ha ha....yes, we are having the same .... - anon

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conversation. My post was directly under yours and related info to some of what you continuously spout...which is that we all "hate successful people because we think it is easier than making our own success." Is that the only sentence you know? You must think you are pretty special and everyone hates you because you think you are successful, and us "little people" aren't successful because we just want what you have and don't want to work for it. Get a new line. This one is getting old quickly.

Fortunately, - since I am, in fact,

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successful, your hatefulness has no effect on my life.

So, I think I will just wish you happiness stewing in your own misery as that seems to be what you do best.

and since..... - anon

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bragging seems to be what you do best, all the while looking down your perfect little nose at those of us who may not be as fortunate as you, your opinion of me or my life, or any of the other MTs lives on this board who are struggling due to the economy or whatever else has transpired to make them "stew in their misery", your opinion of me/us has no affect on my life either, and if I ever did in fact "hate" you, it would not be for your "success in life", but rather for your attitude of believing you are better than anyone else because of it. Stop gloating and start feeling some compassion for your fellow man, as nobody has a perfect little life full of success forever. Misery may befall you at some point, as well, and you may just have to associate with the rest of us who already have been in that state. Now, wouldn't that just be a fine kettle of fish for you to find yourself in? ha ha ha. Pride goes before a fall....and you are full of it. See you at the bottom! :-)

Not just a troll, an angry troll. lol - nm

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Bless your heart. You have no idea who posts what, but - you post as if you do. nm

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