Soapbox: A 'Recession of Convenience' for Employers
April 15th 2009 00:38
At a time when increasing numbers of people cannot afford to pay their billslet alone tackle a mortgage - some employers (particularly those large 'greed is good' corporations with government in their back pocket, are using the current economic downturn as a convenient excuse to cut pay and benefits before it's even necessary for their companies' survival.
And don't think for a minute the soapbox is perpetrating some conspiracy theory - there are genuinely companies out there that are hurting - equally there are boardrooms making decisions based not on survival but on executive bonuses and cost savings.
Of course more and more companies (such as QANTAS) seem to be using the grim economy as an excuse and since employees are afraid of losing their jobs in this climate, fail to lodge any kind of fight - having had the myth spun that they feel lucky that they're not being laid off completely.
Radical-level dismissals of workers thinly spun as a "realignment" of costs" has all the hallmarks of big business, crocodile tears and we have to work as a team to get through these hard times spin when in effect there's bucket loads of feathers and a whole of nests being prepared in mahogany rows throughout the corporate world.
. . . just don't get me started on the banks!
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Comment by Norm
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My favourite type of spin: "More pain ahead."
It's off.
Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
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Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Is it just me - or is no-one holding the big corp's to any accountability. Citing that your profits have diminished from $2 billiion to just $500m his hardly justification for hyper-ventiliating.
Yep - the keepers of the grail continue to dine out on half-truths and spin while we get the scraps. I'm sure they'll tell us when the nose-dive they put us into - and that we are pulling them out of - is over - and no doubt they'll ask us to thank them for their efforts as well.
Cheers
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Unless it suits - then it's FACT.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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Movie Train
so true
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Comment by the world of gaye
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REFLECTIONS
THE WINDMILLS OF MY MIND
Comment by Wilson Pon
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Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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I couldn't agree more . . . when it comes to the bottom line - Gordon Gekko lives.
I noticed today that not only have the banks here not passed on anywhere near the full 25 point rate cut (some have passed nothing on at all) - but that all have reduced their interest rates on savings by as much as 66 per cent,
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Give the vultures a sniff of the carcase and they'll converge until only the bones remain.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I have to add that it's interesting how the media treat redundances these days as opposed to a few years ago. People across Australia were losing their jobs in our so called "prosperous" times too. They got little airing.
Think about all the divisions of these corporations that were shifted out to India. At one point, Telstra, was advertising pretty heavily about how technology would allow you to do your job from anywhere - even Ayres Rock! At the same time, this new technology was allowing them to ship a whole lot of jobs to India.
Greed didn't seem to matter then because we were prosperous. I don't think this is something new but it is something that the media are paying much more attention to now.
You are right, though. Corporations are just using the whole "global recession" thing to make more and more cuts.
What will we do when we don't need anyone in the workforce anymore? Has anyone thought of that?
Comment by Morgan Bell
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no, you did
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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You make a good point too about off-shore jobs - haven't heard too many CEO's tell us that they're trying to save the national economy by retaining local workers and laying off Indian call centre employees - hmmmm
Comment by Mrs M
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And we are forever being manipulated. Recession or boom time it doesn't change. Just the rhetoric. Everyone is always trying to sell us or convince us of something.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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