Paying employees cuts into profits.

Takes something to resist the fear your boss or company threatens you with these days. Knowing that they threaten you with firing you and not having a job is worse than not getting paid.

What kind of resource are you for your company? Can they really get rid of you? Is your boss smart enough to know it if you aren't expendible? I think these are questions that have to be asked before you go in and nicely refuse to work without being paid. If you are a great employee, and your boss can't figure that out for themselves, then start quietly looking for a boss that does. Dump your low paying employer as soon as you can. Hell, it may even take a career change.

If you are expendible, or aren't a good resourse, I think you work on that, so that down the road, you can move if you can't get paid. Point is, nobody has to put up with lower pay long term. The question is if you do or not, and is getting paid properly something you want to make sure happens over the course of time.

There are a lot of bad companies, bad bosses, and bad employees. Sticking with them tends to be self destructive. You do what you have to so you can feed yourself and your family, and then you get on with making the job changes you need, in my opinion.

This is called capitalism! Work the lowest class of workers to death and pay the CEOs record bonuses = US Capitalism

Or do you prefer Bain style capitalism: fire all unionized, pensioned or high salary workers, have the govt. pick up their pensions under the pension guarantee provisions, hire them back on a low ball contract, borrow millions/billions of dollars to expand the company, put the company in bankruptcy, then either sell it or have the government bail out the company.

Your attempt at distraction is FAIL.

Mark-423819

I'm sure these workers diligently record any time they spend on facebook, cell phones, or for unscheduled breaks.

Are you kidding me? Most workplaces are using technology to make sure workers are on task for a certain percentage of the time (usually in the high 90s), and any discrepancies are noted electronically. Show a slight drop in your "time variance" statistics and you won't get that bi-annual twenty-five cent per hour raise, if you don't get fired for it.

The ones that have jobs you mean.

I have never worked for a company that shortchanged me. However, I have worked in many companies where the employee cheated the employer. It happened this way. We had a time clock. The real employee didn't clock in but had somebody else do it for them. So this article should also report how much cheating is going on by employees. Another example is when a time clock is missing and the day begins at 8 and habitually employees come in around 8:15., but they sign in saying they arrived at 8. This report also doesn't account for theft that is rampant in most companies I ever worked for. Employees stole all sort of office supplies on a routine basis.

What is fascinating to me and extremely revealing is that I personally know of several businesses run by very active progressives in my town that DO NOT PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES AT ALL. I live in a fairly small town and that sort of information gets around. In one case, it is like what Huffpo did with their bloggers. In another case, wages flat were never paid because the employees were friends or related. In another case, a place just recently shutdown by the IRS, they just never paid their employees wages owed each week. In many cases, other progressives that own well established drinking places pay ONLY in cash and thus no payroll deductions EVER.

This cheating and dishonesty cuts both ways. The integrity starts from the top.

I'm sure these workers diligently record any time they spend on facebook, cell phones, or for unscheduled breaks.

First of all, employers WILL spend on equipment to spy on employees.

The employees arent being paid a living wage, why shouldnt they take breaks and spend half the day yapping? The employers pay for half a day's work, thats what they should get.

you want harder workers? pay up. Take it out of the obscene pay given to the senior execs.

Mark

Or those who take no breaks, or turn off their cell phones or take work home to maintain their production levels or to finish what the companies thinks they can do in a lot less time that it actually takes.

Not all emploiyes are cheats - in fact, most of the are diligent, honest and good workers.

Don't be a part of the problem.

First off there should be no exemptions. If one works over 8 hours then overtime kicks in. This exemption and salary crap need to go. Just because one is salary doesn't mean they work 24/7 with no overtime.

I'm seeing more and more of where employers are hiring people at salary, work them 10-12 hours per day, and give no overtime or incentives. Basically the employers are hiring, work the employee into the ground, then the employee says "I've had enough of this s@#t" and leaves or the employer fires the employee and hires again. Repeat as many times as needed.

This isn't about the "party of no" or democratic party. It's about our government (all parties) officials not doing their job, representing the people...not the lobbyist or rich.

@Jeff

Wlecome to the Obama version of The New Frontier, this is the change we can [not] believe in.

Want some cookies with that Koolaid, Jeff? If it were up to business leaders and their GOP puppets, slavery would still be legalized and FLSA (as well as FMLA and Workman's comp) would be repealed.

Its like the Civil War all over again - is profits and the economy worth more than human rights?

for those who think this is some kind of fluke of a weak economy....well think again.

www.nytimes.com/2004/04/21/politics/21WAGE.html

this has been going on for some time now.

allenjames

Put all employees into unions problem solved. That will enrich the unions to a point they could supply the democratic party with a endless stream of money. Boy what a plan I don't know how Obama missed that one.

But you don't have a problem with these corporate criminals stealing from the middle-class. That's right, criminals! They are violating the law and should be prosecuted to it's fullest extent.

I guess stealing from the 99% to enrich the 1% is the way it's suppose to be for people like you...I believe I see torches and pitchforks in your future.

No surprise that Walmart showed up loud and clear in this article!

Every time you put in extra hours...it is the company's way of NOT HIRING MORE EMPLOYEES.

We've become ENABLERS.

Although I work an entrepreneurial job -- my level of work is directly connected to the success of my organization. I could count hours, or I can count accomplishments.

I work so that my organization is successful, and therefore I am successful. But I work in a place that rewards these things (if not through overtime pay). However, there was a guy here who just got laid off who was a bean-counter on hours and didn't make the connection between his success as a worker is based on his contributions. Now he's unemployed.

So at the end of the day... if you want to distill your contribution to your organization using hours as the only measure. You are doomed to a life of mediocrity, and your organization may not be able to even compete... so you may be doomed anyway.

People have gotten soft.

theboys

What is fascinating to me and extremely revealing is that I personally know of several businesses run by very active progressives in my town that DO NOT PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES AT ALL. I live in a fairly small town and that sort of information gets around. In one case, it is like what Huffpo did with their bloggers. In another case, wages flat were never paid because the employees were friends or related. In another case, a place just recently shutdown by the IRS, they just never paid their employees wages owed each week. In many cases, other progressives that own well established drinking places pay ONLY in cash and thus no payroll deductions EVER.

What's fascinating to me is that an obvious corporatist, Koch Brothers tool type such as yourself would actually post a message implying that democrats are the pro-corporate party who screws over workers, which further implies the republican party is the party of the people! For those who aren't familiar with Republican doublespeak, here's the definition. Become familiar with it, you'll see it a great deal leading up to the 2012 election.

Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs, "servicing the target" for bombing, making the truth less unpleasant, without denying its nature. It may also be deployed as intentional ambiguity, or reversal of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peace"). In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth, producing a communication bypass.

"When they show you who they are...believe them"

I love how the baggers and right wing nuts demonize unions every chance they get. But what are unions in reality ?

Unions are an essential redistribution of wealth from the top back into the economy.

The middle class then in turn, pumps this higher income back in to the economy giving it the demand it needs to thrive and expand. Thus creating more jobs and businesses.

It is a WIN WIN for all involved. Not even mentioning the workplace safety and labor rules (ie vacation, sick time, health care) that are necessary for strong family bonds and health.

Don't believe me ? Just check out the 30+ years of failed Reaganomic, trickle down, deregulation, union busting and look where we are now.

This is great news for all of the narcissistic workaholics who will do all of it and talk on themselves about how great they are for doing everything that no one else wants to do.

Unions have their place, but they are filled with abuses in their own right. And those organizations are having a tough time competing, or those cities having a tough time balancing their budgets.

Theres more to it than that though Mark-423819. I too am in the same position as you but most most hourly employees are not. If you are getting paid by the hour you are probably getting asked to do tasks that are necessary to keep the place going but overall don't necessarily contribute directly to the bottom line. For a lot of workers, they are not going to be rewarded in the end by working more hours and showing the company they are a team player. They get exploited further.

Mark, you are an idiot.

Some excellent comments here. The key point is that the wealthy top enders have different incentives than the rest of us - they like high unemployment. Giving more power to the top enders (ending unions, more tax breaks, Citizens United, voting GOP) all serve to empower the core group whose interest it is to reduce pensions, overtime, wages, and benefits.

Meanwhile, the corporate propaganda wing has convinced many workers that the only tools they have - government and union - are evil socialist things. Keep 'em dumb and keep 'em poor ought to be the rightwing motto.

So at the end of the day... if you want to distill your contribution to your organization using hours as the only measure. You are doomed to a life of mediocrity, and your organization may not be able to even compete... so you may be doomed anyway.

People have gotten soft.

Some have. They come in for exactly what is required. They goof off, but as long as they are physically present for x number of hours, who cares. These people wind up in the same position for decades never getting promotions. They also tend to be the first to go when the company falls on hard times.

I don't see it in my industry. Everybody works like hell 10 - 15 hours a day, often with no OT because they are salaried.

Put all employees into unions problem solved. That will enrich the unions to a point they could supply the democratic party with a endless stream of money

Or you can go with the GOP model and rely on a handful of robber baron feudal overlord billionaires to fill the parties pockets with cash at $20 million a pop ENDLESSLY.

I am willing to bet almost non of those employees are unionized employees. Unions would never let this happen to one of its members. Thank your union busting politicians for this!

To Mark

Mark-423819

1.21 and 1.25

I'm puzzled by your accusation that we are too soft.

The best places to work offer this:

A philosophy of being Fair and Balanced.

An acknowledgement of Family Time

An opportunity to take your Vacation Time

And an honest day's pay for an honest day's work.

Wow, this is why Corporations hired Illegal Immigrants--to work them 24/7, avoid paying benefits (because local govts & taxpayers would pay them), and avoid paying them a living wage. After all, is an Illegal Immigrant going to submit a complaint about Unfair Labor Practices (aka slavery)?

I guess we the people are the Illegal Immigrants now.

the day begins at 8 and habitually employees come in around 8:15., but they sign in saying they arrived at 8.

That is what a boss or manager is supposed to be there for. When they turn a blind eye to this situation, it is as much them being responsible for the theft as the employee. They both deserve to be punished for their failures.

@Mark,

I would suggest that you go read the definition of entrepreneurship. There is really no such thing as an "entrepreneurial job." You may work for an entrepreneur, but unless you control the creative, financial, and business processes necessary that directly turn ideas into profits for yourself, you are not an entrepreneur.

While it is laudable to see yourself in terms of contributions to a business's bottom line, that is not an option for the millions of assembly line workers, temps, warehouse pickers, people in all service industries, etc.

There was a time in this country when employees were seen as assets and the desks thay sat at as expenses. Companies valued long time employees abecuase of the value of their institutional and professional knowledge. Companies trained employees to make them more valuable. But in these times, the desk has become an asset and the employee and expense. A good indicator is that employer-supplied training has dropped from 2.5 weeks a year in the 1970's to .5 days a year today. Employees, no matter how "entrepreneurial" they see themselves are nothing more than "expendable units of work."

I bet there are even MORE employees who feel shortchanged, maybe even 2 to 3x as many as those filing lawsuits, but won't because they fear they'll get laid off. This fear is keeping many people underpaid and unhappy. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do because CEO's would rather keep their pockets fat no matter the expense. The rich don't suffer because they sacrifice employees at the lower end of the totem pole.... such a sad civilization we live in....

You can do anything and everything to appease employers but the fact remains - everyone is disposable. If your employer decides you are gone then you are OUT! I was abused at my last job. It was a "salaried" administrative position that legally should have been hourly. You give and give and damn it if they don't demand MORE. One of the happiest days of my life when my position was eliminated. I detested the owner and feel sorry for his next victim. As I found out after I was hired I was one in a long line of employees he used and abused.

No way in hell are you union.

Myname, correct! Salary, exempt, and in IT (development).

RI Mom--

Because it is my perception, based on where I have worked in my 20 years, the ones who complain most are often lacking in many other regards as employees.

But pragmatic is right as well, I'm no longer hourly, so the balance exists because I work in an organization that understands it anyway; it's not codified. If I go to my boss and say --- kid's sick, gotta go -- he knows I'll make up the work. As long as I make deadlines, he is not going to say anything.

I do not bean-count hours. I write a list of things I have to get done, and the deadlines I have to make. I do them, and make them.

When I was hourly, I remember doing a job for a company where I did get irritated with the way I was being treated, and I did do a little loafing (long breaks), and my supervisor was constantly telling me what a great job I was doing so I thought he didn't care about the work. Then I found out they used to contract it out. The people who did this work before me worked in crews of three, got paid 20% more than I did per person, and I was getting 3 times the work done per day than they were. I didn't find this out until I left the position.

Chris-- I work an entrepreneurial job. I have the capacity to win grants that benefit my organization. I couldn't win these grants outside the context of my organization. The organization's ability to earn these grants is enhanced by my participation. It's symbiotic.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I make sure I do good work, and then I make sure I get paid for that good work. And I don't consider my opinion of my work as the only assessment. Don't know if that philosophy works for anyone else, but for me, I've never given a company time for no pay.

And of course we hear from the anti union clowns even though thius is about companies that don't pay their employees what they have earned. The two are not the same. You people are sad and predictable.

Unions this and unions that. Guess what? This is why unions came about numbskulls. Companies that don't want to pay their employees what they are owed. I guess you low achievers want to work for nothing but most of us need to feed our families. Maybe you're on unemployment and just freeloading but think everybody else is the culprit.

Some things can't be fixed, you anti-union clowns are a big part of that. Congratulations, you're a big part of the problem.

Just another example of why capitalism is a failure...

Don't get me wrong....it was great in the beginning when those at the top actually gave a hoot about the people below them.

Now its just a sad, pathetic system that only bennifits those at the top....no surprise the USA has the worst income equality of any civilised country.

Here's Walmarts idea of fair.

June 20, 2011 |

. Robson “Rob” Walton, Walmart chairman, has a net worth of about $19.7 billion . And he's only number 9 on the list of 2010's top 20 richest Americans.

Walmart workers, meanwhile, make around $8.75 an hour—about $18,000 a year. They'd have to work over a million years to approach what the chairman of Walmart Stores is sitting on. Alice and Jim Walton each have about $20 billion, and Christy Walton has $24 billion

http://www.alternet.org/story/151351/ceo_of_walmart_makes_in_one_hour_what_the_average_employee_makes_in_a_year%3A_how_skyrocketing_inequality_is_hurting_america/

And yet they want to screw their employees out of money they earned. THIS is why we have unions. Some people are just not very bright.

jeff d

Wlecome to the Obama version of The New Frontier,

WOW, you're smart. You didn't look at the chart did you? That way you won't have any facts get in the way of your stupid comments.

Guys like jeff are a dime a dozen in the Republican party. They can't read and don't want to learn. Waste of space, that's all. It's the faux/Rush Limpd!ck syndrome. No cure for it.

Jeff D (#1.8) How in the heck did you work this into a slam against Obama? Your thought process is deranged.

Corporate America will screw every one of us until they have it all. They aren't creating jobs, they are outsourcing where ever they can find slave wage employees.

You that bitch about unions--shut to hell up. Less than 10% of the US work force are union members.

I worked for a company that did not bother to learn CA labor laws and routinely violated them. In CA, when you leave a company you are entitled to be paid all money you are due on your last day if you have given at least 72 hours notice that you are leaving and within 72 hours if you did not give notice. The rules say that having a check in the mail postmarked by the required day meets the requirement. If the company fails too do this, you are considered to be still employed at your regular rate until you receive the money you are due for up to an additional 30 days of pay. The company would routinely just wait and send out the final pay on the next scheduled payday instead of having special checks cut to pay off departing employees. When the company did not do this, I called them on it and they ended up having to pay me an additional ten days pay while they got their act together and got me the money I was owed. What really ticked me off and caused me to press the issue was that I had a lot of vacation on the books when I left that they owed me for and they did not pay that in my last paycheck and wanted me to wait another full pay cycle (two weeks) to get that money. This pissed me off so I held them to the letter of the CA law. Companies can ask employees to voluntarily waive the requirement for immediate payout and many will do so, and surprisingly most employees will agree to wait until the next regular payday so as not to "burn a bridge" with the company should they ever want to go back. Many people who work in CA and many large companies whose payroll offices are not in CA are completely ignorant of this law so many people unknowingly let companies get away with violating it.

I worked for anther company in MD as a senior manager and the owner/CEO told me to send a letter out to all my employees that they were only going to get paid their regular rate instead of time and a half for overtime. She wanted me to do this because she had signed a contract with another company (subcontract on a government job) that did not include paying premium for overtime work. The customer then was asking our employees who worked in their office to put in overtime. We could not afford to eat the extra wage costs and the CEO did not want to anger the customer by refusing to allow our people to work overtime. I refused to send out the letter, explaining that the people were non-exempt and that this was illegal. The HR director was on the meeting and backed me up. The CEOs response was to tell the HR director to change all of my people to exempt, which the HR director informed her was also illegal since there are guidelines for making someone exempt that these people did not meet. The CEO got pissed and fired me and then sent the letter out herself. One of the employees got pissed and filed a complaint. I quickly found a new job at better pay while the CEO ended up getting fined, having to pay all the back wages, and getting her company barred from government contracting for the labor law violation. In the end, she ended up losing her entire company.

I am always amazed at the ignorance of the laws as well as the brazenness in ignoring them that I have seen in senior people in companies who should know better.

and if Mittens was your boss . . .

Don't worry about not getting paid for OT. He'd say: "You're fired! Now help pack up your office to ship to Burma. I mean Myanmar. And quit being jealous of my success and money. Don't forget to vote for me. You'll get even more of the same."

I've been working for a large company for years now who took 10% of all salaried people's pay about 4 years ago, and we all have pretty much given up the hope that we'll see that 10% again. So, I make sure I take my 10% of "company" time in exchange for their salary reduction. So, when someone tells me I slack off too much, I just smile and say "...and your point is....?". This takes a little of the pain away from losing salary I was guaranteed to make when I took the job.

When will companies learn that you get what you pay for??

OBXRon

This is called capitalism! Work the lowest class of workers to death and pay the CEOs record bonuses = US Capitalism

Or do you prefer Bain style capitalism: fire all unionized, pensioned or high salary workers, have the govt. pick up their pensions under the pension guarantee provisions, hire them back on a low ball contract, borrow millions/billions of dollars to expand the company, put the company in bankruptcy, then either sell it or have the government bail out the company

OR

You can prefer Obama style crony-capitalism. Hire all unionized, high salary workers, don’t properly vet the company because the CEO was a bundler for your campaign, give the company a $585 million "loan" (read payback), tell them to work for about a year so it looks like they tried to make a success of the failing industry, then just let them go bankrupt. Have a sham Congressional hearing where the CEO and CFO just take the 5^th Amendment and walk out. No problem the taxpayers will just foot the bill for this whole scam.

At least Bain worked with private equity, not taxpayers money and no one was "bailed out".

Hypocrite!

Look folks.......its just more of the same

Aabout 20 or 30 years ago, Companies STOPPPED considering workers ASSETS to be developed , prmoted and rewarded for acheivement.

Now the mantra of Corporate America is that WORKERS ARE PURE COSTS, to be REDUCED, ELMINATED, AUTOMATED or OUTSOURCED.

In other words, your big Koch-Sucker CEO's want AMerican workerts to be PAID LIKE 3rd World workers, have STANDARD of LIVING of 3rd world workers and POLLUTE like 3rd world countries....and do it all without any taxes, minuimum wages or PRODUCT SAFETY regulations.

America: Corporate America DOES NOT GIVE A CRAP about your future development or your career. YOU ARE A WIDGET, humanity just gets in the way of their bonuses and profits *because th rules dont apply to them.

Maybe we should all stage a nation-wide walk-out for a day.

Mark, I agree - you ARE an idiot. Ive been a salaried employee too. Professionals are salaried, and are SUPPOSED to have autonomy. The law was not put in place so that professionals can be worked like slaves. It was believed that professionals would be respected enough that they would not be exploited. This has NOT been the case. I was lucky as a salaried employee. I never had any issues. I made my own hours and got my work done. I was not exploited by having an avaricious company attempt to load me up with the work of two or more employees. I worked for firms that had management that also wanted to work reasonable hours because they all understood and valued life-work balance, and wanted to have dinner with thier families. I have not worked for any employer that implicitly expected 10+ hours of work a day. They expected 8, 5 days a week. That was it. No weekends required. I have watched movies like Office Space with the poor fool being asked on Friday afternoons to come in on Saturday... and was flummoxed. There are companies that do this to their professional level employees? You DO realize at some point, your salary decreases to minimum wage if you allow yourself to be exploited in this way...

Its very easy to exploit the "professional" salaried employee, and it is happening more and more.

The laws need to change to protect the professional employee as well as the blue collar laborer.

There are also many studies that show quality and quantity of work go down after appx. 6-7 hours of work a day, and can in fact become more costly due to drastically increasing errors and workplace accidents from fatigued and unhappy workers.

Of course, the top-level never sees this and they adore being able to exploit and use (against other employees) starry-eyed, ass-kissing, self-sacrificing idiots like you to avoid hiring more workers, and boosting productivity to increase the wages of the ones who spend long lunch breaks on the greens, on a regular basis.

Congratulations for being a good little do-bee, willing to go that extra mile for an employer that would and could easily replace you.

Boot-licking idiot.

I once worked for a REPUBLICAN and he thought just paying commissions was OK and not taking into account the minimum wage, well the Labor department was up his butt for 4 months and he ended up paying $175,000.00 in back pay and what even made it worst there was no time clock and the REPUBLICANS think they are smart. I explained the labor laws when I first was hired as his manager that he was breaking the law and he said well We've been doing it this way for 7 years and we are not going to change it because you say so. That was an Expensive lesson to learn.

Tyler; restore Allenjames-1.3 thank you,

even if a employee ifs not in a union there should be similar protection for everyone..We live by laws lets start enforcing them.

sandtrich

Corporate America will screw every one of us until they have it all. They aren't creating jobs, they are outsourcing where ever they can find slave wage employees.

Good point.

Now let me ask you a question. What’s the first thing you look at when you’re buying a new pair of running shoes at Walmart or Target or Sports Authority? Price, right?

Now, when was the last time you checked where those shoes were made? How about your last pack of socks? How about your last t-shirt?

You people pi$$ and moan about every corporation leaving our shores but you still want everything CHEAPER AND CHEAPER! Buck up Buckwheat, you can’t have it both ways. We are no longer competitive in the global market. We have priced ourselves out of the competition because you want everything as cheap as possible.

theboys

I have never worked for a company that shortchanged me. However, I have worked in many companies where the employee cheated the employer

.........Merrrily we troll along, troll along, troll along.....

You once posted, to enhance your expert opinion on these issues I suppose, that you owned and ran your own business, now you say you worked for companies, which is it, or both, just curious. It is difficult to believe you because you have consistently defended businesses that engage in dubious practices while castigating the American working person, claiming it's all their fault.

I work in IT support and have worked for MANY companies that ignored the law on overtime pay for IT people. If you are a software developer, a database developer, or someone else who writes code, then you are indeed exempt from overtime. On the other hand, if you work on the help desk, do desktop support, network support, or other types of IT support jobs, you ARE eligible for overtime, and if the company is not paying you for it, they are breaking the law.

Hence, that stressed out network admin that gets phone calls at 3 AM about servers going down should get paid for that extra off-hours work he does. That desktop support guy that stays until 7 PM to catch up on tickets because the support team is short staffed should get paid as well. Don't want overtime? Hire someone.

This isn't China. Companies that want people to work for free for the common good of the company and the economy are...quite literally...communists. Want to get free labor and ignore human rights? Go find some third world dictatorship banana republic to setup shop in.

I worked as a contractor for Microsoft Xbox a while back. Even after MS lost that lawsuit for taking advantage of contractors, they still would shovel on well over 40 hours of work, and demand you not "work" (translation --> bill) more than 40 hours. Several of my fellow contractors and myself pointed this out, and were told to "figure it out" or "work smarter, not harder" or "you just need to be more efficient." The MS director I reported to said "there are a lot of people looking for a job". My coworker got a more blunt response of "either do it, or we'll find someone who will." Yeah. That's why you kept us around for years, giving us more and more responsibility for high-profile projects... because we can't get them done, right? A guy working in another division, but through the same contract agency told his MS boss he would need to work through the weekend to meet a deadline they dropped on him on a Friday, but when they told him not to work more than 40 he didn't come in... so they missed deadline and he got fired (err... I mean "ended his contract"). Our contract boss, in a weekly meeting, told the group we should not be working hours without billing, that's why we were contractors, with no MS benefits, and not full-timers. The next week, someone must have gotten to him too, because he was encouraging us to, "not work free overtime, but consider how it will help you keep your job to stick around 'after work' to see how you can help out, maybe train a co-worker." Nice, euphemistic, plausible deniability speak.

Beautifully and so true!!

No - it's you who doesn't get it. Employees are working in defense of "their own Constition, Bill of Rights, etc., by refusing to go back to the serf society they left in England to form this great country. Employees do get that they are no longer valued so they are fighting back in the only way they can - you are talking about two separate issues here

So you're saying that it's OK for businesses to steal from their employees with impunity.

Moron

You mean Bush deficit spending.

Fed up - while I am conservative, why does it always have to come back to "hate Obama" - I can't stand him either, but it is mostly BIG BUSINESS, with millions of dollars, that are doing this. Not the small businesses. While I completely agree that we should NOT increase the taxes on small business (in fact should give them a tax break) we are not addressing the big issue. And if you try to tell me that Bush, and his cronies did not help big business at the expense of the little guy, then you are living in a dream world. And I voted for him......twice......how dumb was I???

Chris, it is not BIG BUSINESS that is doing to this sort of thing. Big business is much more rule oriented than smaller businesses. I worked in HR for many years for the big corporate world. I mean they are anal about rules. Small business is much more lax.

Again, this dishonesty cuts both ways. I saw tons of theft when I worked at big corporations. That is because the employee sees them as a cash cow and mentally believes nobody will notice the pen I steal.

Wal Mart is trotted out each time this administration wants to encourage class warfare. What I do know for sure in my town is that illegals are being worked at most chicken facilities. I got that from a police officer that sees it all the time. Do we hear about those establishments?

Well the lazy bellyachers are complaining about the conditions in their jobs... while advocating policy that kills the very employers that they work for... and today, an event that has direct impact on that goes unreported by the Lamestream media... and FYI... big business isn't some malevolent entitly... it's shareholders and workers collaborating to provide goods and services to consumers... every single thing that Liberals do to cripple businesses will just make the whiners' lives more miserable... ironically poetic actually....

theboys - all you had to say is that you worked in HR and I stopped reading. I work on the other side of HR in a large company - they know the rules - they can get in trouble for breaking the rules - they tell us they are following the rules, and then when we investigate we find they are in fact breaking the rules and trying to cover it up!

Fed up - love it - because people want to be treated fairly and paid (PER LAW) for the work that they do, they are whiners -that dog don't hunt! all you want to do is "bellyache" about liberals (which many of us are not) and the media. YOU ARE NO BETTER

Fedup - So it was the fault of the Liberals that the world economy collapsed because they did - - what???

Don't even begin to try to tell us that the honest, upright corporations that oversaw the mortgage debacle had any concern about the people they sold houses to with full knowledge that those mortgages would default. Further, don't try to tell us that the return to their policies is going to improve the financial situation of this country.

More importantly to your false statement of the facts is that the bill passed in the Senate yesterday lowers taxes for the small businesses, just like it does for the other 98% of our population.

Shame on you!!!!!

We frequently roll out Hell Mart because they're such a great example of capitalism gone wrong! The top 6 paid Walton family members combined make more money than 75% of the US population COMBINED. Yet they pay their employees terrible wages, literally encourage medicaid and food stamp usage (rely on govt for their benefits instead of the company), gut communities of their small business, strong arm manufacturers to move factories over seas for cheaper products and frequently don't pay overtime, just to give you a few examples. They are the poster child of bad companies.

Fedup: Unitelligent rant. All wrong. When it gets bad enough we'll need a Zoro, or a Robin Hood. IT was this bad back in the 30's. So Dillinger, Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde and more did their thing and were supported by the people. The 5 families in NY and Capone in Chicago made monster fortunes giving the people gambling and alcohol feeding their nastier habits. We're heading back to those days. As we weaken the international wolves already circle looking for thier chance to take a piece out of us. A nation of burger flippers and retail clerks cannot provide for itself.

Fed Up-2683606AND, look, not a word today on DNCNews about Obama's tax hike on small businesses being passed by the Senate..

is this the tax hike eerrrrr I mean tax cut your talking about?

www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/us/politics/senate-passes-tax-measure-with-election-in-mind.html

If not please provide proof of your alternate reality news fact.

theboys

Again, this dishonesty cuts both ways. I saw tons of theft when I worked at big corporations. That is because the employee sees them as a cash cow and mentally believes nobody will notice the pen I steal.

Ah...Doublespeak again...very nice. You're going to try and create some kind of equivalency between an employee taking a pen home and a corporation stealing millions of dollars from employees...very nicely done; have you considered a PR job with the RNC...or do you already have one with "Americans for Prosperity"?

Wal Mart is trotted out each time this administration wants to encourage class warfare. What I do know for sure in my town is that illegals are being worked at most chicken facilities. I got that from a police officer that sees it all the time. Do we hear about those establishments?

Thank you for again pointing out corporate greed. blatant violations of federal law in the name of corporate profit.

"When they show you who they are...believe them"

Amen, gramapoetmn.... there have been lots of finger pointing at the wrong people when the ones responsible sit at the top of the food chain and watch people scramble and kill themselves for a decent living, not unlike Emperor Nero. There needs to be stricter laws on the financial system but as long as they have friends in Congress, nuthin' ain't gonna happen. I got so sick of Wells Fargo that I switched recently to a credit union and I am ashamed to have given them business for so many years. What we all need to do is withdraw out money from Big Banks and let them suffer but alas it won't be done.

Fed Up-2683606

big business isn't some malevolent entitly... it's shareholders and workers collaborating to provide goods and services to consumers... every single thing that Liberals do to cripple businesses will just make the whiners' lives more miserable... ironically poetic actually....

You really believe this? Get real. American Corporations are outsourcing more and more jobs to other countries and with a conservative RIGHTY tax credit for doing so. What does this cause? Oh, higher taxes on everyone else because corporations are to busy BUYING Congress to ensure there money train grows and donating MILLIONs under the GOP Citizens United. I wish the GOP were required to wear NASCAR like patches, then we could see who buys and sponsors them.

Corporations are all about the all mighty dollar. They want Americans to "BUY" their products, but sure as heck don't want us to play any role in making them, including a "JOB". Those who do have jobs, live under the constant 'whip' of losing it and having it outsource to another country. Why should a corporation create more jobs when they can just drive their existing workforces into the ground. The "GOP" way.

"Articles like these are a testament to the fact that too many Americans are only interested in what personally and/or directly affects them individually."

Clearly they are not since the GOP/TP gets people to vote against their own economic well-being time and again. How? By the use of social wedge issues like gay marriage and abortion that the conservatives pay lip service to, but could really care less about.

While they demand a vote in our bedrooms, they deny us a vote in their boardrooms. Every time you hear about a CEO making millions of dollars, that is money that has been redistributed from that company's workers to his Swiss bank account. When you pay the workers, that money goes around a community any number of times from repairmen to grocery stores to small businesses. But, pay a CEO the equivalent of 250 employees' wages and that money rarely stays in the community, or even the country. Just ask Mitt R-money where his went.

theboys - all you had to say is that you worked in HR and I stopped reading

(chuckle) I hear ya.....'Himan Resources' is such a joke, Face it they are the spys and the manipulators of situations to fit the company.

I never talk to HR, because the only time they do, is when they are going to fire you or lay you off. HR has been reduced to covering the companiy's ass and firing people. And even when they meet with you to fire you (if they dont outsource that too), then they say next to nothiong (again covering the company's ass) and hand you a folder.

HR is a sad joke. JUst change it to 'Corporate CYA', thats all they are

@fedup

Well the lazy bellyachers are complaining about the conditions in their jobs... while advocating policy that kills the very employers that they work for... and today, an event that has direct impact on that goes unreported by the Lamestream media... and FYI... big business isn't some malevolent entitly... it's shareholders and workers collaborating to provide goods and services to consumers... every single thing that Liberals do to cripple businesses will just make the whiners' lives more miserable... ironically poetic actually....

And this is why we think people like you are pretty much idiots. Keep sucking at the corporate hind tit fedup. We will all continue pointing and laughing at you, the village idiot.

I do not shop at Wal Mart, but very occasionally, but I do shop at Sam's Club. The employees at Sam's seem very happy and friendly and I see the same faces week after week. They hire the disabled as well. However, Wal Mart in my town is quite different. The employees look sour, they are extremely slow, and they are not helpful at all. So there is some sort of disconnect.

goat 45

The Wal Mart cases are a great example of the trickle up theory of economics. Screw the workers whenever possible to enrich the CEO and investment bankers.

In some states it is a crime to deliberately withhold wages from a worker.

However I don't think that state labor boards have fully recovered after 8 years of Bush 2 and the current conservative supreme court and Gonzales appointees accross this country. During the Reagan years, complaints over wages being withheld were referred to someone else, and then someone else, until the complaintee finally was given a phone number to call and the phone just rang, rang, and rang. When Clinton was in office, these complaints were responded to very well.

When the people say the lower and middle class people seeking fairness are really engaging in class warfare they are responding to comments like yours Goat45. Warren Buffet says there is class warfare, it has been going on for a long time and we are winning. Warren means the rich folks are winning. He is being descriptive he is not being snarky and trying to rub it in. Benson Arkansas is the highest concentration of mansions per capita in the country. More than hollywood. IT's all mansions that Wal Mart execs built from money stolen from workers and from importing cheap chinese crap worth 1% to 5% of well made US stuff but sold at 80% to 90% of well made US stuff. Enough to pull people away from properly made merchandise but high enough to give a huge margin of profit to the Wal Mart folks. The landfills across the country are full of cheap chinese crap. But the people volunteered to unemploy their neighbors to save a couple of bucks and put the fortune in the crokked bosses mansions. But they don't get to keep their savings because now they have to support the unemployed and worry they are next. Stupid is as stupid does.

Paulo, That's not true. That's what gets companies in trouble. Just being salaried doesn't mean your exempt from overtime. The article states and the truth is that's what causes this mess. A non-exempt employee is due OT. You can't give a janitor a salary and tell him he needs to work 60 hours a week. It's the exempt v non-exempt rules that trip up employers.

If your willing to work for free, your just an Idiot. Time to quit and get a new job. or better yet, time to unionize3 your work place.

Paul,

spoken like a true employer, "if you don't like it, quit" sounds like you think it's your right to withhold pay from employees.

That's the biggest problem in this country, cheap, greedy corporations and business owners caring about no one but themselves and their wallets.

It's not always easy to just walk into a new job. You get a new job, THEN you quit the old one.

this is what is happening in the last decade due to the breaking up of unions, lower pay included no voice for the employee. Big Unions have become corrupt to some point, but they do serve a purpose and they need to be re organized and regulated. Employees also need a voice not just the top players that take it all in and give nothing back, while hiding their money in other countries and taking federal incentives while paying no to little taxes on earned income and using all the loopholes there are while they all continue to keep 2 sets of books.

the "job Creators" will do anything for greed. Hire illegals, change benefits, hold back hours, change schedules, etc.

Posted at 9 am... no doubt you've deducted the work time you spent reading this article and posting a comment and following up on your comments from your complaint.

How much personal time to you spend at work.

I'm lucky to have a boss that's outcome oriented. As long as I get my work done, he's pretty flexible about time spent in the office or on personal matters.

the "job Creators" will do anything for greed. Hire illegals, change benefits, hold back hours, change schedules, etc.

Granted some do... but most businesses know that their workers are an intrinsic part of what makes their company successful. Making a blanket negative statement like that just shows your ignorance, your willingness to parrot Obama's class envy BS, and your potential to actually be successful yourself... which, with that toxic attitude, is infinitesimally small...

Paul is what's wrong with America. If you work you are supposed to get paid period. When since has slavery been instituted. You can't pay your bills or lead a productive life without being paid on time. Forget overtime. Some people are not getting paid, meanwhile their labor is upholding the corps they work for. It is not always easy to find a new job, so most people grin and bear. The government needs to have stricter rules regarding payment of wages period.

Mark and Fedup - Gee, I'm posting this at 10:06 AM - because I'm not at work due to the fact that the food shelf is closed today. You need to start thinking outside the conservative box.

Your "blanket assumptions" are just as negative and bad. Prove President Obama's "class envy". It seems strange to me that he would envy his own class. Your assumption of a lack of intelligence because someone differs from your opinion is pathetic, as is your assumption that the person would have a hard time moving up in the world because he has a differing view from yours.

Many of us have been worked over by our employers and we can only judge by our experience within that framework. Maybe it would help if you tried to see someone else's experience instead of attacking them for their beliefs.

Mark,

How much personal time to you spend at work.

I'm lucky to have a boss that's outcome oriented. As long as I get my work done, he's pretty flexible about time spent in the office or on personal matters.

Most bosses of salaried employees are like this. That's sort of the reason you are salaried in the first place. Do what it takes to get the job done. Sometimes you'll have time to goof off, other times you may be kicking in 12 hours a day 7 days a week to meet a deadline. You win because you get a steady income that doesn't vary week to week based on available work. The company wins because they get the results they need without having to pay you OT for working more than 8 hours when the occasion is required. In the end you may work a little more than 8 hours/day 5 days/week but salaried positions often pay more than hourly positions for this reason.

Pragmatic-3918582 - you're right. I know someone in this salaried position. If the work flow was actually up and down, it would even itself out.....but for many it's not. He's been working 70-80 hour work weeks for a year straight. His $80,000 is actually the equivalent of a $40,000-$50,000 salary. So, for the corporation he works for....it actually benefits them to have more salaried employee's.

Julie B - going out to get another job to get away from the nightmare one is presently in is hardly an option anymore. And employers know that. I would have loved to turn my ex-employer in for the overtime abuse. But one squeak from the unhappy wheel gets one walked to the door especially in an at-will state which Colorado is. BUT lessons learned and I will keep all of this in mind if this ever happens to me again. But the at-will state mandate will always haunt employees, good and bad.

the economy has forced people to settle for less but there are better companies to work for.... just do some searching SK-134 and I'm sure you'll find one...

Fed Up-2683606

the "job Creators" will do anything for greed. Hire illegals, change benefits, hold back hours, change schedules, etc.

Granted some do... but most businesses know that their workers are an intrinsic part of what makes their company successful. Making a blanket negative statement like that just shows your ignorance, your willingness to parrot Obama's class envy BS, and your potential to actually be successful yourself... which, with that toxic attitude, is infinitesimally small...

Obama didn't declare war on an entire class of Americans...the Republican Party and their Corporate masters did:

From 1992 to 2007 the top 400 earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%. The share of total income in America going to the lower earning 80 percent of American households (also after federal taxes and income transfers) has dropped to less than 1/2 in 2007.

"When they show you who they are...believe them"

Hey hey hey.... just remember guys.....

"Corporations are people, too." -- Mittens R-money

When I worked for Wal Mart years ago, the company forced everyone to watch a video about how evil unions were and that they just looked to take our hard earned money! Later, when I became a supervisor, I was told that if any employees ever revealed they were in the union, then I was to report them to the store manager! Incredible! I found it sickening.

And they think it's bad now, if Romney gets into office, the workers are going to pay the price, more taxes(so we can pay for the tax breaks for corps), longer hours, very poor wages, little to no benefits. If the ones who complain the most on the right, you may want to see who really has your back, and believe me it's not Romney!

That is a breaking the law...

Since when has breaking the law to the Repubs or teabaggers ever matter, oh yeah only when the dems do it.

Anti-Union Card

I am opposed to all unions. Therefore I am opposed to all
benefits unions have won through the years; paid vacations, sick leave, paid
holidays, wage increases, pensions, and insurance plans, time and ½ for
overtime, unemployment benefits and job security.

I refuse to accept any benefits that will be won by the
Unions and hereby authorize and direct the company to withhold the amount of
the union-won-benefits from my paycheck each week

Signed_____________________________

nuttin sadder than a guy making $30k to $40k trying to support a family, no medical, drivin a 12 year old belchfire, drafty house and he gets all balled up trying to protect the nouveau riche's right to get rich in a misguided attempt to believe in trickle down. The fact he can see the middle class disappear in front of him means nothing. The fact his boss wants him to work off the clock means nothing. The fact his boss just bought a new beach house means nothing. He is still gonna argue you people need to not tax the 1%'ers and at all costs be anti-union. Oh and then he files claims against the taxpayers to cover his kid's daycare, medical and education while applying for a gubmint job hoping he escapes the worries of the private sector.

Mary Reeves,

It was nice to hear from someone that has actually witnessed what corporations do when they are anti union.

Everyone needs to realize as well, that republicans are against card checks because it doesn't provide employers the time to harass, scare or fire the employees that support organizing.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) defended the rights of the four states and on Thursday reintroduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act, with seventeen Republican co-sponsors.

“This bill ensures every American worker gets to cast a secret ballot vote without pressure and fear of retribution from union organizers and coworkers looking over their shoulder,” said Mr. DeMint, referring to the card-check method of organizing.

The union can not do anything. It can not give benefitsit can not give pay raises it can not monitor the office or enforce existing laws all a union can do is take more money from minimum wage workers. We are talking store clerks, janitors and fast food joints for the most part.

Dennis, the unions can and do provide legal representation in labor law cases exactly like the issues in this article. They don't GIVE benefits and raises, but they bargain for those with the employers.

This criminal behavior by employers is why there are unions.

True, unions do not give benefits, with a union there is a collective bargaining agreement contract between the employer(s) & the employee(s), negotiated through the union. The union enforces the terms of the collective bargaining agreement contract. All collective bargaining agreements stipulate reference to federal, state & local laws and whatever other terms agreed upon like senority rules, work hours, overtime pay, regular hourly wages, vacation time, health and welfare terms, retirement accounts & other benefits. The union is there to enforce what was agreed upon.

@ Dennis if they had a Union maybe these big chains would be forced to pay a fair wage

Steve have you ever had any experience with a union job? I have with three different unions, no thank you. In one case the employee lost benefits the company offered before the the union, in another the low skilled minimum wage employee was over paid at the expense of under paying the skilled productive employees and the last case the company just closed the plant and nobody was employed. The day of the union is long gone.

I was part of a union long ago in Retail. The Union biggies would call for a strike, the management would negotiate, the Union fat cats got richer, the management would reduce the workforce to balance the spread sheets and we the workers actually ended up with less in our pockets because they only negotiated enough to put everyone in the next higher tax bracket. They did it often enough, the Michigan Supermarket Chains [Great Scott & Chatams] both went out of business ... I'm with Dennis-387683 above, Unions, No Thanks!

I work for a company with a strong union. The contract is so heavily skewed towards the high seniority guys, it's a joke. They make $30+/hour plus nearly unlimited overtime while the new guys scrape by at $8/hour while working 15 hours a week. It takes about 10 years to progress from a part time job to a full time job because of union seniority requirements. Yet, this is the type of thing the union bargains and votes for every few years. It's more about keeping the guys on top happy than raising the standards for everyone.

The GOP ideal is to remove regulations and put an end to unions. The continued buying of elections by the wealthy will put them more and more in control of our country.

Remember that Grover pledge and GOP mantra of no taxes? Well, the GOP plan for extending the Bush tax cuts has a plan to end tax credits and raise taxes for the middle-class. No Taxes - only if you're one of the rich and sleazy elite or 'job creators'. Regarding the low and middle-class in this country - Romney and the GOP have a plan. LET THEM EAT CAKE.

Vote No how No way NO ROMNEY! And VOTE OUT all the TEA and GNOP!

Things aren't getting any better under Obama. Before he turns our country over to Mexico, I want to give Mitt a chance.

What's the worse that will happen?....the wealthy will get wealthier? LOL!!

Dennis you have never belonged to a union and that's obvious, because unions do protect workers and their rights, and yes it was the unions who set the wages in this country, but since the GOP has gotten rid of a lot unions, the wages are so low a family is having a very hard time making ends meet. Union members knew this was going to happen when the GOP started taking unions down, and we were right.

Laura as I gave example I have indeed belonged to unions and hated every minute. Unions can do anything but complain, they have no legal power and think about it ... they do not pay you so haow can you say they set wages? There was a time and place for unions, its over. Yes the Republican party has become to much free market, there is a place for regulation to prevent abuse but it is not the union that can do that. Before you complain about low wages think about it. A valuable skilled employee will be paid fair in order not to lose them. Meanwhile the low/unskilled employee can be replaced by the 5 other low/unskilled applicant waiting for an opening on the street corner doing day labor or selling oranges. You pay everyone more, great, now the price of everything has to increase to make up for that and inflation kicks in and you end up with carters economy and recession on the verge of collapse again. It was not the GOP it is basic economics. What few jobs remaining are low end what used to be entry level gateway to advancement jobs that have now become careers for excess 3rd world population imports. Unions are a joke, who cares if a janitor goes on strike? Who cares if an undereducated/underqualified affirmative action employee goes on strike? It only matters if PRODUCTION stops and that production is now done by some cheap ignorant labor in a 3rd world country.

Dennis and Iampga- at first i was like Laura and wanted to say your wrong. But after being in my union organizing position I've run across a lot of so-called unions. I'm in a construction union and our union is set up in a way that allows for change and growth. There are no seniority list, if your not worth the pay you will not keep a job. Our union also elects its reps and officials from OUR pool of roofers. If they don't do the job correct or do illegal things we VOTE THEIR ASS OUT.

I have learned over the past year that all unions are not created equal. Much like everything else in this world. Some groups seen that using the union brand would obtain them privilages that they then exploit which hurts workers. Well that's life, there's always some bad apples. There's also some unions run by the company itself and doesn't serve the interest of the workers, or you have some unions that don't elect their officials. These are not good and create a avenue for illegal activities or suppression of workers.

But the idea of unions and when set up in a good fashion have amazing results. I have worked 13 years since my graduation and have had a LIVING WAGE. I'm purchasing a nice home, own 2 normal cars, and 2 children. My father that worked 25 years in our local is now retired and is making a living wage and our local picks up our retirees health care cost. I've also been able to take my family to the doctor when ever needed due to our reps bargaining good benefits for us.

Point is not all unions are great, but instead of quiting and giving up you need to stand up and make changes in procedures in that union. Make it a great union instead of quiting. Dennis-when you say you have been through 3 unions it paints a picture of you being undecisive and maybe you should look in the mirror first. For not for the unions there would be no vacations, weekends, OT over 40, benefits, holiday pay, and much much more.

jw101, I want to give Mitt a chance. What's the worse that will happen?....AAHH, I don't want my job outsourced and my pension parked in a blind trust in Bermuda?

What's the worse that will happen?....the wealthy will get wealthier? LOL!!

Yes, while you and everyone else gets poorer. Still think it's funny?

"What's the worse that will happen?....the wealthy will get wealthier? LOL!!"

And just where do you think that money will come from?

Dennis, name the unions that you belonged to? Give us a bit of a clue or you are full of b@llsh!t.

I retired from IUOE have a great pension, my wife is a union retiree also and she has a great pension.

Unions are a membership driven organization, similar to other membership driven organizations, i.e.;

Chamber of Commerce, National Rifle Association, Republican Party, Democrat Party, National Association of Realtors, Scene Actors Guild, Boys Scouts etc, etc, etc.

My Point = if you pay to be a member of an organization, or the organization requires something from you, or is an advocate for, or against something, then you are in the same category as a union member.

And, you get out of any organization what you, as a member, puts into it.

If you're working 80 hours a week on a straight salary, you're underpaid. And yes, I have friends working those kinds of hours. Their employer can get away with it because of their exempt status.

Julie .. exempt is salary. Salary is figured on a 50 hour work week.

What do you mean "for no reason" who do you think is paying for the tax breaks corporations enjoy? Or how about those tax-exempt churches who want to muddle in our politics? Or the bloated military budget? Or the bailouts for banks?

How can you say businesses are being taxed heavily when there are some that no only pay ZERO taxes but also get grants from the government?

Dennis - exempt is 40 hour work week based; at least tthat is how most work weeks are defined. There are limited cases where exempt people can be required to work huge hours (try 12 hrs a day 7 days a week for months on end) yet get paid for 40, no overtime. That is where the non-exempts out-earn the exempts; it happens.

Dennis, when the exempt category was first set up, the idea was that a well-educated, highly-skilled worker could take the occasional hit when there was extra work to do (say, a deadline crunch) because they were also well paid. Now some employers act like it's all crunch time, all the time. A highly motivated employee is willing to put in extra hours to be sure the job is done right.

Studies have also shown that knowledge workers (programmers, accountants, folks in IT, etc.) start to lose productivity after eight hours in a day. So when employers insist on working those folks 60+ hours a week on an ongoing basis, they're not getting good productivity out of them. They'd probably be better off hiring a few more people, but some companies are too focused on the short-term bottom line and stock price rather than long-term growth and stability.

Who can live off $10.00 an hour? I make $32.00 an hour (and get paid time and a half for any O.T. worked), and that only makes me "middle" class.

Is there a definitive range today on the income range of the middle class?

One would think, after seeing the increase in income at the top and the increase in the number of people at the top over the last 30 years along with the stagnation at the middle-income level, that middle-income starts at around $75K - $100K a year. Remember, the GOP is pushing that $250K in income is the bottom end of small business income.

Vote for an increase in the minimum wage, vote to keep the tax breaks for those below $250K, vote to save Soc. Sec. and Medicare, vote to protect the middle-class. VOTE OBAMA-BIDEN, and say NO way NO how to Romney!

depends on what you can do and what the local market will bear as far as wages. So to base a minimum wage on federal standards is what will drive the actual hourly value lower again depending upon skill level required on the job.

Compensation then will be based upon raises and performance/skill and again the local economy.

Because with the current job situation they'll fill your old position in 15 minutes.

WTF ???????

Bauer wants to pay $16 for his Big Mac..... what an obtuse idiot....

Big Mac has special sause on a sesemi seed bun........remember!

HAHAHAHA!, Fed Up can't read the sarcasm in bauer's comment... epic fail.

And bauer, just as an FYI, the $10 figure people are using comes out of the minimum wage 40 years ago, when adjusted for inflation it comes out to a little above $10.

You could argue that it's an unfair comparison given that 1967 is the point at which the minimum wage was at it's highest value ever. However, it does point to a troubling general trend that wages have been getting smaller for the last 40 years.

They should just pin it to a value, have it adjust for inflation and call it a day. But that would be too simple.

You are so full of it. ALL politicians are crooked. OK. maybe 99%. To blame ONE side and not the other for everything is ignorant.

Hi fellow Americans, this is exactly why we must vote 100% STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC! The corrupt Republican corporates SNEAKILY STOLE our pensions and gave us their INSURANCE POLICY 401k, that says if they fail, THEY DON'T OWE US A DAMN THING! They STOLE our homes and put them in foreclosure and they STOLE our American way of life and their MONARCHY has MADE SLAVES OF US! And look at their PREVIOUS 8 YEARS of corrupt Republican rule! They have brought on our ECONOMIC COLLAPSE & GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE!

Let's rid our selves of their corruption ONCE & FOREVER! The lives you save WILL be YOURS & your CHILDREN! BELIEVE IT, IT'S TRUE! This may be our last chance to take our country back!

Wow...You got all the Democratic talling points lies in one comment.

The truth is no one stole anything from you, You are just too lazy to go out and earn what you think someone else owes you, I pay my own way and I am tired of paying for yours too.

Funny Democrats have nothing to do with the problems this country faces if you believe that @!$%# we are already doomed!

The right's exclusive contribution to the creeping enslavement of Americans: stuffing the SCOTUS with a 5-4 majority which almost always votes against the private citizen- and in favor of corporate citizen.

One need look only to the Citizens United decision for the source of corruption- and the creation of a Banana Republic where wealth, not ethics , prevail.

Look to Montana for a cure- Montana, which is even now engaged in an epic battle to overturn that Citizens United within it's own borders- against companies fighting fang, tooth, and nail against even allowing it to be voted on by the public citizenry- lest it catch on and spread to other states.

Freedom is, after all, contagious- but they've forgotten that what is not allowed at the polls may yet be won by revolution.

People need to begin to move away from BOTH major politcal parties - they are both corrupt and just play to different special interests and their own greed. We need an independent-based, statesman-based leadership to put the needs of our people first; not the governments needs, or corporate America. The banking and political insitutions are working together to destroy our liberties and our children's opportunities. We better WAKE UP to the reality around us; our kids are are struggling mightily to have similar opportunities that previous generations have had. Everything is working against us and them - we need REAL change.

The right's exclusive contribution to the creeping enslavement of Americans: stuffing the SCOTUS with a 5-4 majority which almost always votes against the private citizen- and in favor of corporate citizen.

LOL...I guess you would think it was ok though if all of the SCOTUS were left leaning, And considering the most recent rulings coming out of the SCOTUS your argument is proven to be bogus.

This is exactly what the corporations want. They want you to think "I've got mine", and to live in fear of losing your job, so you won't stand up and fight when they take away raises, benefits, and eventually, force everyone to take a pay-cut.

They love high unemployment, because it stacks the bargaining chips in their favor, and they can get away with more barely-legal, highly-unethical practices, which border on indentured servitude for many of their employees.

I remember trying to live on minimum wage back in '96. I was able to do it, barely, by living in a 1-room efficiency, eating the cheapest food available, relying on public transit, shopping at thrift stores, and had no luxuries like cable or going out with friends.

Almost twenty years later, and prices for basic housing, food, and clothing have more than doubled, yet minimum wage has increased only 50%, and wages overall have increased even less. Considering how hard it was to live back then on minimum wage, it is damn near impossible to do that now with prices everywhere rising so fast.

Businesses provide the jobs which allow the middle class to exist. As long as you and your anti-business, tax/borrow/squander crowd continue to tax and regulate businesses out of existence (see Detroit), your future will be right where you are guiding it... into the toilet...

Supply side economics made this country great... it wasn't until looters like yourself, FDR, Johnson, Carter, and Obama came along that the model was corrupted, the economic engine was smothered in taxes and regulation, and the work ethic that built the country was undermined to the point where success if vilified and lazy deadbeats are held up as role models....

Businesses provide the jobs which allow the middle class to exist.

The middle class provides the labor that allows the businesses to exist. It goes both ways, that's why companies pay workers. They get something in return. If they could get away without paying people, they most certainly would. Businesses exist to make money, not provide jobs.

Supply side economics made this country great...

Yeah we were way better off when the elderly lived with their adult children. It was great when parents would send their young children off to work in dangerous conditions where they could be maimed or killed for very little money. Supply side economics necessitated the unions as a counter-balance. So why would it work better now? What horrible thing will be created as a counter-balance?

Yes please come see us here. And actually talk to a few of those millions of auto workers that still have a job.

You need to read some actual history rather than your Ayn Rand/Ronnie Ray-Gun BS. Because if you actually did rather than spew your talking points you'd see that it was "Supply Side" that wrecked this country. Oh...and you forgot someone on your list. Eisenhower....he of the 91% top marginal rate, government spending on infrastructure, war hero, and Republican.

Tom, that's a "Most idiotic comment of the day" candidate right there.

Ooooooo, they might have to pay an extra 2% .... on their already inflated income! Horrors! How ever will they survive?

If I had more than $250k/year, I wouldn't be worrying that 2% extra taxes would impact my ability to pay for food, fuel, medicine, and heat. If I'm living paycheck to paycheck on $25k, 2% means I would have to cut back on those four things I mentioned.

Tom, you mean the top bracket that is supposed to pay more than the next bracket down, but in reality pays less as a percentage of income?

Oh come on, that rhetoric is getting irritating. Your trickle down is the only thing that does work, it stabilised the economy after the disaster and near collapse of carter disaster, IF the trickle down is to the U.S. worker and not some ignorant 3rd world citizen, which the government has not only approved but provided incentives under clintons "new economy" to meet the U.N.s mandate to redistribute the wealth from developed world to 3rd world in order to 'end world poverty". As with all such left agendas all that happens is you end up with universal poverty and economic collapse. Your right, the U.S. work force has been the most productive in the world for well over 40 years, that is why the government provided the tax incentives in order to achieve the U.N. mandate. No there is little tax cheating, you are confusing that with tax avoidance which is legal and if I still had a job and still had money in the bank I would do as well. A citizens responsibility is to pay every penny required and not one cent more. As for that mythical 1% the left likes to base its class warfare on? Well currently it provides 36% of all tax revenue, heck the not so rich 25% provide over 86% of all revenue collected. Is your complaint that they do not pay enough tax or that they still have money after they taxes ..... that sounds like class warfare and that does not have a good record for anything constructive. Meanwhile after the tax reform during the Bush administration tax revenue from the higher tax brackets increased while tax rates for the lower decreased, which of those outcomes would you like to see reversed? Currently 2/3s of the national deficit is the result of federal mandatory spending social welfare programs and 50 percent of the tax base pay less than 3% and 45% of that group zero. How is that sustainable. We have heard it all before and the result does not have a good track record.

"We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions." Adolph Hitler

RE: That Hitler quote:

Hitler also said: "I absolutely insist on protecting private property... we must encourage private initiative".

And he said "I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator."

And "Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction."

And "It matters not whether these weapons of ours are humane: if they gain us our freedom, they are justified before our conscience and before our God."

And "Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice."

And he stated that a woman's "entire world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home."

Those sure sound like the words of a committed socialist, right? Oh, wait a minute, actually they don't.

The moral is, trying to prove too much using the quotes of a mercurial, psychopathic madman is a fool's errand. Congratulations on your own shallow attempt at it.

In the out-of-context quote you so blithely bandy about, Hitler cynically used the word "socialism" to try and fool the German working class into supporting his fascist and imperialist ideology.

But actions always ... ALWAYS speak louder than words.

The truth of the matter is that the Nazis were initially heavily supported by industry and big business. One of their biggest priorities when they rose to power was destroying the labor movement, among others whom they felt might oppose them. They banned all trade unions. They banned the communist party. They jailed communists, resisting unionists, socialists, Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and basically anyone else they wanted out of the way.

Not exactly the model of socialist behavior.

Try mixing in a study of actual history instead of cherry picking quotes, mmmkay?

Wow...amazing. Every single BS excuse ever given by people for why they should be ruled by their betters. Because after all your noble lords and betters will always be benevolent and spread the wealth around. It's been proven the last 30 years right?

Reaganomics failed. Or does debt and deficit really not matter?

Dennis, your post makes it's own case against your view. It can be summed up to:

Reagan institutes his trickle down economics, the upper class grow their incomes, now the rich pay most of the taxes while the lowest earners pays little or none.

Based on that, it is obvious that the trickle effect didn't happen, otherwise the lowest earners would be paying more.

In some cases, the employees are either too ignorant or too cowed by management to really care. In others, it's a case of being nickel-and-dimed, with hopes that no one will really see it.

Where I used to work, a company called Convergys, nearly everyone wound up doing a little bit of OT because of the nature of the job, which usually precluded leaving the moment your timed shift was up. What corporate management was doing was systematically not paying very small amounts of overtime (maybe 15-30 minutes) on each paycheck. Probably not enough to notice on your pay stub every two weeks, but when you add it up over the course of time, it turns into something.

About a year after being canned (Convergys shipped my job and 1500 others to the Philippines), I got a check in the mail for almost $600. It was attached to a form that I had to fill out and return to the Department of Labor stating that I'd received the overtime pay they owed me from the two years I worked there.

1500 workers at $300 per year = $450,000 per year. Who knows how many years they got away with it before getting caught.

Americans need to make sure they know those labor laws by rote. How can you protect yourself from unscrupulous employers if you don't know your rights? One employer pulled this stunt once and only once...he was warned the next time, he'd end up in court for violation of the state's very strict labor laws. I'd rather see an employer sit in jail then lose my home and everything I work for. It matters not to me if he wants a visit to the Graybar hotel.

This isn't rocket science folks...when an employer rips off his employees, he's ripping them off twice...your tax dollars pay for the tax cuts he gets, the loopholes he thinks he is entitled to and the tax subsidies your tax dollars pay for. So...what has to happen is an end to all of these taxpayer benefits employers get even when they break the laws. Cut 'em off for a few years as the penalty...they'll get the message about the straight and narrow pretty quick.

That my dear friend reportable as down right fraud..

Easily fixable with a call to HR unless you're a complete moron. Businesses know that they can't take out deductions and not report them....

And if its just the bosses wife doing the W-2's, you've just hit a wall. Thanks to a past (Repub) administration, the Labor Dept no longer performs any investigative or enforcment functions - so said the form letter I got back from the Atlanta regional office.

So instead, send all the paperwork nicely copied to the IRS in Kansas City where the 'entity' and business desks are, and tell them - "I paid my taxes, and this is where the theives are who took them out of YOUR hands. Go get 'em guys!" Also doesn't hurt to ask you cousin the shyster lawyer, if he has a friend who is a tax lawyer (the poorer and greedier the better) and would write a supporting letter for you. That way he might get a cut.

My daughter was working as an airline flight attendant working ten to fifteen hour days and getting paid for as little as four hours. She is now working grave yard shift in a different position with no additional pay. They are getting away with murder and the government knows it and doesn't care.