Message boards :
Politics :
strikes for better wages
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thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Taxi Workers Unite: 48-Hour Strike Set for September 5th Yesterday there was an article writing, that Tomorrow at a press conference the Taxi Workers Alliance of PA will announce a 2-day strike across the city in conjunction with cab drivers in New York City and Rome, Italy. The strike is set just after Labor Day, and TWA expects 98% of drivers will go on strike crippling the city. Ronald Blount President of the TWA-PA sat down to talk with the Philadelphia Independent Media Center and explain the reason for the strike. Account frozen... |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Such things seldom are mentioned in the corporal media, aren't they? Account frozen... |
Labbie Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 4083 Credit: 5,930,102 RAC: 0 |
Since they are usually a local matter, they rarely make the national news, unless it is the United Auto Workers or another high profile union. There has been a strike here (Albuquerque, NM) for a couple of months against the Hilton Hotel chain, but it rarely even makes the local news. Calm Chaos Forum...Join Calm Chaos Now |
Jon (nanoreid) Send message Joined: 16 Aug 07 Posts: 643 Credit: 583,870 RAC: 0 |
Taxi Workers Unite: 48-Hour Strike Set for September 5th And yet they make more than most people in China and India. You want more money? Get a better paying job. Hopefully the cosmos is not trying to reverse the charges. Moderation in all things. |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Taxi Workers Unite: 48-Hour Strike Set for September 5th Why don't they just pay such necessary jobs like taxi drivers, like guards, like nurses, like sales personnel etc an appropriate salary? A salary that these employees need only one job to earn their needs? Sometimes there are no better paying job in the area you live. and not everyone is able to always move to where jobs are, to become a "job gypsy". Account frozen... |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
They're "striking" against the gov't, so just dump the medallion system. Get the gov't out of the way. None of their complaints would be an issue then. Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
BrainSmashR Send message Joined: 7 Apr 02 Posts: 1772 Credit: 384,573 RAC: 0 |
Taxi Workers Unite: 48-Hour Strike Set for September 5th Salesmen work on commission and very rarely earn a wage Nurses have skills/education the average person does not posses. Not sure what kind of guards you're talking about, but I don't know any rent-a-cops living in a 2 story house on the lake. Drivers who barely speak English are EASILY replaceable by ANYONE with a drivers license. I wonder if you are smart enough to do the math yourself since you obviously lack the common sense most people are born with. |
KWSN - MajorKong Send message Joined: 5 Jan 00 Posts: 2892 Credit: 1,499,890 RAC: 0 |
They *DO* pay them an appropriate wage. Nurses make a VERY decent salary due to their special skills (my sister was a nurse and made about US$80,000.00 a year). Sales personnel usually are paid by commission (a percentage of their sales). A person that can't sell squat will be paid accordingly. A person that is a GOOD salesman will be paid accordingly. I mentioned my sister earlier. She was a nurse. She is now a salesman for one of the 'Big Pharma' companies and is selling a high volume indeed. She currently makes somewhere between $90,000.00 and $100,000.00 per year. Security guards make an appropriate wage as well. Granted on the low end it isn't much ($8.00/hr), but then those guards are just 'warm bodies', their jobs require no special skills, and they are easily replaced. On the highly trained, high end corporate security jobs, I know some that are making $20.00/hr. Taxi drivers are similar to the low-end security guards, in that you can drive one with very little training, and there are a large number of people wanting to drive them. Taxi driving, however, is dissimilar to security guards in that it is a tipping job. Drivers are expected to earn a significant portion of their income as tips, therefore the taxi companies pay them less in wages -- just like restaurants and waiters. I am sorry to have to tell you this, but an employee is paid by their employer according to how much profit that employee makes for the employer. Jobs exist for the benefit of the consumer and the employer, not for the benefit of the employee. If an employee wants to make more money, that employee should do one or more of the following: Increase their productivity, thereby increasing the profit the employer makes based on their labors. Increase their skill-set, thereby qualifying for a higher-end job with that employer. Retrain and get a job with an employer in another industry that pays more.
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MrGray Send message Joined: 17 Aug 05 Posts: 3170 Credit: 60,411 RAC: 0 |
Depends on the cost of living in your area, If you have to strike to survive and raise your family: Strike! Easy to talk about getting an education and what's fair for the employer and consumer but I bet the people striking have a point. Each case will vary, as with any other situation. To categorize all into one folder is simply assumption. The days of unions may be over but the original purpose of their creation is far from gone. - People strike for a reason. - Employers are not hurting for cash, in most cases. - Consumers will pay what they have to pay for the services needed. If not, then they don't get that service. STRIKE! You are people with needs too! If you don't, you'll have to depend on the kindness of others. Not a great proposition in America. "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
I'm an absolute supporter of minimum wages - in the meaning of: there has to be paid at least a minimum which lets the employee afford their needs working 40hrs a week. I met many people in the States having one job 8hrs a day 5 days a week to afford their rent and the car necessary to get to their jobs, and another job 6 hrs a day to earn the needs for their family. Ain't this slavery? Here in Germany, some companies offer temporary worker jobs in areas of high unemployment with 3, 4 Euro an hour knowing that's below the minimum tariffs, but also knowing that ppl take every job to get out of welfare. Here the officially lowest salary for a temporary worker (according to tariff) is 7 € per hour which hardly can be called an appropriate salary. And many employers, especially security companies, some retailers, and many gastronomy companies expect their employees to work a lot over-time - officially to give them more time-off or holidays, but in fact it's unpaid if you can't take this time-off until March of the next year. A buddy of mine had worked 156 hrs of over-time (= more than one month) in 2006, when he insisted to take his time-off in February to have his afforded benefit of the hours he worked - and the result was: he was fired. Now he is a strong supporter of the union he always refused to join fearing redundancy. Now he knows that with the help of the Union he wouldn't have been fired, and he wouldn't have had to work so many unpaid hours over-time. Account frozen... |
XIV-Gemina Send message Joined: 25 Mar 07 Posts: 13 Credit: 2,647 RAC: 0 |
And yet they make more than most people in China and India. And, because they live in the USA, their cost of living is higher than in China or India, you numpty.
You want someone to drive you around whilst you're drunk? Be prepared to pay them what they charge you! Veni, Vidi, Bibi. |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
Why don't they just pay such necessary jobs like taxi drivers, like guards, like nurses, like sales personnel etc an appropriate salary? A salary that these employees need only one job to earn their needs? Sometimes there are no better paying job in the area you live. and not everyone is able to always move to where jobs are, to become a "job gypsy". The same reason they don't pay the kid who mows the lawn 500K a year: they aren't worth it. I mean, you're welcome to pay them, but you won't either. Besides, cabbies work for themselves mostly. They rent the car for the day and keep everything they earn. It's the gov't the prevents them from charging higher prices so they can earn "a salary that these employees need only one job." Once again your precious gov't is skrewing people. Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
XIV-Gemina Send message Joined: 25 Mar 07 Posts: 13 Credit: 2,647 RAC: 0 |
And I'm sorry to have to tell you this - but you are wrong. Employers pay their workers according to whatever is the *absolute minimum* that they can get away with paying them! Otherwise those 'oh SO productive/Value-adding' entities called "Shareholders" get pissed off, because they demand the MAXIMUM cut that the employer can possibly provide. If Shareholders think that Managers are generating sub-maximal Profits because they are 'wasting' money by paying it to mere employees, the Managers will get fired. Or/and the 'production' side of the business will get outsourced to a low wage economy, like China or India. Veni, Vidi, Bibi. |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
Depends on the cost of living in your area, Yet that damn gov't is skrewing these people as well. Their fares are limited by the gov't and only x number cabs can be on the street. - Employers are not hurting for cash, in most cases. How the hell could you ever possibly know what individual employers can or cannot afford? - Consumers will pay what they have to pay for the services needed. If not, then they don't get that service. Drive the costs up, and less people use the services. Less people use the services means less people are needed to provide them. Cabbies could just charge everyone $800 per ride. Guess what? They'd never make even one dime. If you don't, you'll have to depend on the kindness of others. Not a great proposition in America. Which is, of course, just stupid because Americans give significant amounts to charity each year. Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
Let me guess, Economics 101 was never in your class schedule? I mean, isn't it odd that accountants aren't paid minimum wage? Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
I'm an absolute supporter of minimum wages - in the meaning of: there has to be paid at least a minimum which lets the employee afford their needs working 40hrs a week. No. The U.S. has a middle class that dwarfs both the poor and the rich. Here in Germany, some companies offer temporary worker jobs in areas of high unemployment with 3, 4 Euro an hour knowing that's below the minimum tariffs, but also knowing that ppl take every job to get out of welfare. Yep, more evidence that there is always a market, regardless of what you think. Here the officially lowest salary for a temporary worker (according to tariff) is 7 € per hour which hardly can be called an appropriate salary. And many employers, especially security companies, some retailers, and many gastronomy companies expect their employees to work a lot over-time - officially to give them more time-off or holidays, but in fact it's unpaid if you can't take this time-off until March of the next year. What? You mean someone else on this planet doesn't run their business as you would have them do? Shocking, eh? Now he is a strong supporter of the union he always refused to join fearing redundancy. Now he knows that with the help of the Union he wouldn't have been fired, and he wouldn't have had to work so many unpaid hours over-time. Keep praying, and then ask yourself why union membership has been falling for decades. Could it be because union employees are too expensive? Hmmmm? Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
XIV-Gemina Send message Joined: 25 Mar 07 Posts: 13 Credit: 2,647 RAC: 0 |
Which is, of course, just stupid because Americans give significant amounts to charity each year. If your 'charity' model is SO pervading and supplies services to the needy SO much more effusively than the taxation model, then how come SO MANY rich people bitch about paying taxes? I mean, after all, if you are correct, then they'd be giving that money away anyway. [quote] Let me guess, Economics 101 was never in your class schedule? I mean, isn't it odd that accountants aren't paid minimum wage? [/quote Firstly, you could have picked a MUCH better example of a Professional class here. After all, it's the accountants who govern the corporate Budgets. Do you HONESTLY claim that they're gonna pay themselves naff-all? Secondly, isn't it 'odd' that SO MANY people who have access to the cash to study for all the years required to become accountants are now driving taxis? And just look at all the mILLIONS of unemployed CPA's, eh? Just because Taxi Driving is a job that 'anyone' can do, it doesn't mean that they should only receive slave-rates of pay. After all, anyone can join the Armed Forces - do you reckon that *they* should get paid naff-all too? Thirdly, if you are ONLY willing to pay the people who provide essential services at rates on which they cannot make a decent living, you end up with a society that has endemic corruption. And also VERY high rates of crime. If you examine the statistical record, you'll find that the societies that are the most corrupt, crime-ridden, diseased, marked-out by illiteracy, etc - in short, all the places you would NEVER wish to live - are the ones where there exists the largest gulf between the rich and the poor. And the converse is also true. The societies with the best 'Quality of Life' indices are those northern European ones with a social-democratic model, such as the Scandinavian nations and the Netherlands. But please feel free go on shouting your counterfactual political opinions. After all, if you shout loudly enough, *maybe* you'll be able to convince everyone that you are right. Veni, Vidi, Bibi. |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Sure. Cos u sez so.I'm an absolute supporter of minimum wages - in the meaning of: there has to be paid at least a minimum which lets the employee afford their needs working 40hrs a week. You call it market, I call it exploitation. Tariffs are the only way to have at least a certain amount of justice for the workers. And every company should be bound to them. That's why I support tariffs which have the same power as laws: tariffs every employer has to accept. Tariffs which say: same wages for the same work, which say people who are equally qualified and have an equal position have to be paid equally! And of course I also support sympathy strike actions - and even the idea of an General Strike to reach this goal.Here in Germany, some companies offer temporary worker jobs in areas of high unemployment with 3, 4 Euro an hour knowing that's below the minimum tariffs, but also knowing that ppl take every job to get out of welfare. What? You support such exploitation?Here the officially lowest salary for a temporary worker (according to tariff) is 7 € per hour which hardly can be called an appropriate salary. And many employers, especially security companies, some retailers, and many gastronomy companies expect their employees to work a lot over-time - officially to give them more time-off or holidays, but in fact it's unpaid if you can't take this time-off until March of the next year. [/quote]Too expensive because they want to earn a living with the hours they work? Too expensive while wanting nothing less than to be able to pay their bills by working 40 hrs a week?Now he is a strong supporter of the union he always refused to join fearing redundancy. Now he knows that with the help of the Union he wouldn't have been fired, and he wouldn't have had to work so many unpaid hours over-time. The employers are just too greedy. What use is a manager who is paid Millions, while all the work is done by his employees? None. What use is that Stock exchange poker? None. Those who say employees are too expensive should live one month in their situation before they can come up with such arguments!!! Account frozen... |
thorin belvrog Send message Joined: 29 Sep 06 Posts: 6418 Credit: 8,893 RAC: 0 |
Which is, of course, just stupid because Americans give significant amounts to charity each year. Well said, SoxEd!!! :-) Account frozen... |
Rush Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 3131 Credit: 302,569 RAC: 0 |
Which is, of course, just stupid because Americans give significant amounts to charity each year. It literally supplies billions to needy people. Billions. People bitch about paying taxes because they are FORCED to pay for things they don't support and they loose choice over the matter. Thorin wants to force people to pay for his precious health care system but he always evades the fact that others want to force him to pay for their precious weapons and war. That's why people bitch about paying taxes. I mean, after all, if you are correct, then they'd be giving that money away anyway. No, it means that they would have more to give away than the now do, it means that they probably don't give as much as they would because "welfare" takes care of it, et cetera. Let me guess, Economics 101 was never in your class schedule? I mean, isn't it odd that accountants aren't paid minimum wage? You said "'oh SO productive/Value-adding' entities called 'Shareholders' get pissed off, because they demand the MAXIMUM cut that the employer can possibly provide," which means they do that to all employees, which means accountants too. I picked accountants as an example to note why your silly comment fails. Secondly, isn't it 'odd' that SO MANY people who have access to the cash to study for all the years required to become accountants are now driving taxis? Exactly. Ever wonder why that is, rocket scientist? Maybe their skills are in high demand? Unlike those of taxi drivers or people that do piecework? As far as "access to the cash" they're called student loans and they are sufficient to get you through most, if not all, of the state schools. They are guaranteed by the gov't, no credit check. Just because Taxi Driving is a job that 'anyone' can do, it doesn't mean that they should only receive slave-rates of pay. You're right. Pay them whatever you wish. Open a taxi company and pay them as much as you want. Oh, you won't? Odd. After all, anyone can join the Armed Forces - do you reckon that *they* should get paid naff-all too? They get paid, what they agree to join for. Just like everyone else, they get paid what they agree to work for. Thirdly, if you are ONLY willing to pay the people who provide essential services at rates on which they cannot make a decent living, you end up with a society that has endemic corruption. And also VERY high rates of crime. Ummmm, I'm not willing to pay them ONE THIN DIME. Why? Because I don't own a taxi company. I use them when I find them convenient. But that driver doesn't get to pick the rates, the gov't does. If you examine the statistical record, you'll find that the societies that are the most corrupt, crime-ridden, diseased, marked-out by illiteracy, etc - in short, all the places you would NEVER wish to live - are the ones where there exists the largest gulf between the rich and the poor. Which is not the case in the U.S. There are very rich people here, yes, and the poor have color TVs, mobile phones, microwaves and the rule of law. The societies with the best 'Quality of Life' indices are those northern European ones with a social-democratic model, such as the Scandinavian nations and the Netherlands. And they pay dearly for it. Notice how the whole world ISN'T scrambling to get into those countries? Ever wonder what would happen to one of those countries in particular if Nokia ever failed....? But please feel free go on shouting your counterfactual political opinions. After all, if you shout loudly enough, *maybe* you'll be able to convince everyone that you are right. I'm not shouting, and I haven't said anything that was counter-factual. I did say that the reason that these guys are "underpaid" is that the precious gov't LIMITS by law what they can earn. Their rates are set in stone. Cordially, Rush elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com Remove the obvious... |
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