Wednesday, May 19, 2004
The Fall of the American Worker
It's interesting how far the situation of the American worker has fallen in these days of business rules. I heard an interesting story today about some company that is growing through mergers and has big plans for the future. Supposedly there was some meeting where the usual buzz words about looking to the future and the customer is always right and more with less, etc. etc. were bandied about.
What surprised even your cynical blogger host was what was reported about the company CEO's outlook on his employees' morale. Basically it was that employee morale isn't wasn't the company's worry. Only the local levels should worry about their employees' morale. I'm kind of surprised at how this CEO expects his company to look at the future and take care of customers etc. etc. when no thought is given to morale. Screw the employee -- we want more customers.
I guess that's a good way to ask if you like curry for lunch? I've heard that a good paying job in India answer phones is costing a company around $2 an hour compared to whatever is being paid in the USA. The average pay for an automobile manufacturing employee in China is around $1,700 a year. If you get that a month here you're looking at legal poverty level.
The problem is that the CEO's outlook is right for his company. He doesn't really care if anyone quits over low morale -- there are thousands waiting outside the door to take their place - at a lower wage. They talk about business improving -- it is. It's business doing well and the businesses' workers that are making it happen. You can now get away with treating your employees like the replaceable stock they are. If they don't like it, there's always more where they came from. Let's face it, to an employee making $6 an hour at WalMart, a job making $15 an hour is worth putting up with a lot of hassles. The company has its replacement, the new worker is making almost three times a much as they did and the company no longer has to keep a high-paying experienced employee in the ranks.
2fers: Fucked Company dot Com and US Chamber of Commerce
