As one who grew up hearing stories from the older folks on how labor was in dire straits back in the day, with long hours and lousy pay, until the unions came along. After much turmoil the older folks would boast, the unions won out and workers were given the forty hour work week, more benefits and better wages.
Now granted it was a different world and the older folks were Great Depression Survivors or who at least grew up in its shadow, hearing stores from their parents, uncles, aunts and the like. They were focused on basic labor. Then America was a place for heavy industry, manufacturing and a lot of manual labor. It’s a different world. Instead of white collar and blue collar you have today the employees working in technology and other industries that are not as easily defined in terms of labor and management. Today it seems there are more polo shirts or even tee shirts in the workforce than white collars or working person’s uniforms.
But now we don’t necessarily face the Great Depression, at least not yet. We do face a major recession and an economic meltdown that may flatten outbut take years in restoring us to our former economic status. If ever. The recession is a wake up call and while employers are struggling in every way to keep afloat the smaert ones are trying to retain their working staffs for the eventual if even limited turnaround.
So now you have media giant, Hachette Filipacchi imposing salary cutbacks and increased working hours. Unlike other companies that are cutting salaries and creatiing mandatory free days, according to an article int he New York Post, Hachette is imposing six percent pay cuts on all overtime exempt employees and three percent pay cuts on all those workers eligible for overtime. The company is also extending the workday from 7.5 hours to 8 full hours. Being Hachette is French owned, this is a notable difference.
But Hachette believes it can save between $3 Million and $5 Million with this move. They believe it’s the difference between earning a scant profit and going underwater. This comes on top of the company closing down certain magazines and trying to sell others within its group. Hachette also wants to sell its office building and move into cheaper digs downtown.
So while the strategic measures from Hachette and others imposes harsher working conditions on its employers, they are not the harsher standards or a throwback to the early union or even pre-union days. Even the unions realize certain measures have to be taken to keep their members working. And working, in a market of extreme layoffs and employee buy outs, is the key. As the elders said about the Great Depression, “you were lucky to just have job.”
