Are you laid off, hours cut, or shift cancelled during this recession.

Our company has massive restructure, with part-time employees hours further cut to 5 1/2 hours/day, and weekend shift slashed. In most cases, 40 hour work week becomes a 32 hours work week for unionized employees.

Management and professionals salaries are freezed and no new hire except front-end workers.

However, many of the cut are not across the board and some still gets paid over-time up to working 9 hours a day and others only works 5 1/2 hours.

Day shift may work 8 hours but afternoon shift varies from 8 to 5 hours and night shift cut back to 5 1/2 hours for part-time employees. Full-time employees keep their 8 hours. However, the company may start "forced" time-off on Friday without pay.

Are you laid off, hours cut, shift cancelled?

I really have a lot of doubt about Obama's stimulus package. We are into a Major Depression worse than 1930's !

P.S. I have predicted way back in the summer 6 months ago the worse is yet to come but I could not forseen this such major recession.

lovejoy said:

I really have a lot of doubt about Obama's stimulus package. We are into a Major Depression worse than 1930's !

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Depression? I don't think we are even close.

nearlyinvisible said:

Depression? I don't think we are even close.

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I dont think we are that far YET but we are heading that way. Its getting fucking ridiculous

People are just over-reacting to this "financial crisis" because the media is scaring everyone into thinking that our country is on the verge of collapsing. We're fine and people need to stop acting like we have it so bad.

BigHurt35 said:

People are just over-reacting to this "financial crisis" because the media is scaring everyone into thinking that our country is on the verge of collapsing. We're fine and people need to stop acting like we have it so bad.

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Say that now but wait until you lose your job or you watch your friends lose their house that they have been paying on for 14 years

SimplexDesign said:

Say that now but wait until you loose your job or you watch your friends loose their house that they have been paying on for 14 years

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"loose" their house or "lose" their house?

nearlyinvisible said:

"loose" their house or "lose" their house?

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Lose*

No hours cut, but it is tax season now. We're busy as fuck and severely understaffed. Yet they tell us "no overtime" I laugh in their face when they say that shit! So I get fucked hard for 3 straight days then they kick me to the curb come friday. And give what should be my overtime to some part time hack!

SimplexDesign said:

I dont think we are that far YET but we are heading that way. Its getting fucking ridiculous

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Again, we are not even close! Our current unemployment rate is around 6-7%. During the Great Depression it was 25% and wages were down 42%.

I truly believe there are many people struggling now. However, I also truly believe the "crisis" is overhyped. Wall Street has overreacted big time, just like they overreacted last summer over gas prices. There was never a supply issue with oil last summer, but they sure had us believing there was.

BTW, a report came out today that consumer spending was UP last month and that unemployment claims were down. Some positive news.

i don't agree with the stimulus plan as i do not think it will stimulate much expect the deficit. spending more and cutting taxes is a recipe for long-term disaster, but then, what the hell do i know about macro economics. :dunno:

but i am working more than ever. our little company is hanging in there okay.:nanner:

SimplexDesign said:

Say that now but wait until you lose your job or you watch your friends lose their house that they have been paying on for 14 years

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People are losing their jobs because companies are over-reacting and firing people, thinking it's a cure-all to their problems. It's a cycle that will repeat itself until someone on TV says "everything is ok". People are just scared because Mr. News Anchor says that they should be scared.

All of these companies that are firing people are doing it because nobody is spending money on their products or services. Well, if you fire a bunch of people around the country, that does nothing but leave LESS people to buy products and services, rendering the whole process of firing people to be completely pointless as a solution.

Oh, and I do have friends that have been laid off or have had their hours cut back. We all do.

My previously cut hours are coming back... not to pre-crisis levels but way more than enough to pay bills and eat. *WHEW*. My tax refund should be deposited within the next week and for once.. I'm actually relaxing instead of worrying.

BigHurt35 said:

People are losing their jobs because companies are over-reacting and firing people, thinking it's a cure-all to their problems. It's a cycle that will repeat itself until someone on TV says "everything is ok". People are just scared because Mr. News Anchor says that they should be scared.

All of these companies that are firing people are doing it because nobody is spending money on their products or services. Well, if you fire a bunch of people around the country, that does nothing but leave LESS people to buy products and services, rendering the whole process of firing people to be completely pointless as a solution.

Oh, and I do have friends that have been laid off or have had their hours cut back. We all do.

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Oh I definitely agree with that.. people will always follow what the media says. I personally hate the employers who see this as nothing but and excuse to cut peoples wages even though they havent been making less money

Anybody that just thinks that this is just an illusion created by panic and the media is fooling themselves. Anybody that thinks that it was just caused by the trouble with financial institutions or the housing market is fooling themselves also. It's a lot deeper than that and that was just the most convenient thing to blame everything on, although it did have a big part. It's a culmination of a lot of what was economically wrong in this country coming to a breaking point it was headed towards sooner or later. We're not at Great Depression levels, yet, but this is looking to be the worse things since then and it's not looking to get better any time soon...There is also no gigantic world war around the corner to boost the economy, leave us relatively unscathed unlike all the other powers because of geography and circumstance, make a bunch of those other countries beholden to us, leave us as on of two superpowers and eventually the only superpower in the entire world, and be the main driving force that really got us out of the depression like there was last time either.

In the state I live in the official unemployment rate is now double digits. Of course the way they tally unemployment today generally sucks and it has a lot of flaws it. I bet if they went to every person and took some sort of employment census we could very well be between 15%-20% by now. I would hate to think what would happen if it gets worse than that. I image a lot of other places are in similar situations. A lot of people have been shuffled out of the system and haven't been counted for years now. Of course I could also mention that unlike in the past most of the people that do still have jobs have jobs that suck and don't pay that well, or their hours are slashed, or they are working part time jobs, or they don't have health insurance now, or they don't have good health insurance, or their retirement/pensions have been tampered with or are a lot less than before or virtually gone, or they are now living in even more than a two income household to get by, or they are doing illegal things to make money like selling drugs, ect or some combination of the above... Those types of things unemployment figures don't take into account either.

All I know is that I started off working a nice 40hrs a week, then after Christmas my hours were HACKED down to 10 hours a week!!! How am I supposed to pay my bills and rent???? This is bullshit. The corporation I work for has sales through the ROOF and yet they keep telling everybody that its the economies fault and that some of us may be let go. The store I work for just yesterday had sales in excess of $60,000 - JUST ONE DAY!

....and yet they can't afford to give us the hours! I declare BULLSHIT!!!

Okay, my rant is now done. Thank you for listening.

That is true, but many years ago, in France, when unemployment was rife, a lot of men simply started their onw businesses. Even in Africa, when times get tough, people find a way around it. It is when we sit on our fat asses and expect 'somebody' to do 'something' that basically nothing will happen. I think today we have a technology will find a way expectation. Yes, new technologies will appear, but more often than not they take jobs away.
America needs to pull itself together. Fuck the big businesses. They did start closing down out of what seems like arrogance. Maybe it was panic, but the recession had hardly started when people were automatically laid off, because there's "an economic downturn." It's like saying, Oh shite, I left the bathroom tap on!!! Let's run out of the house before we drown in the inevitable flood. The rich simply cordon themselves in. It is up to us to now find something. I was in another job skills class today, where some young redhead girl, none too attractive but so what - plus she has a limp - makes her own jewellery by crotcheting fine copper and other wire. Amazing. The fine work is stunning. She is intelligent, articulate. She lost her job due to Katrina, then moved to Portland.

stampede2873 said:

All I know is that I started off working a nice 40hrs a week, then after Christmas my hours were HACKED down to 10 hours a week!!! How am I supposed to pay my bills and rent???? This is bullshit. The corporation I work for has sales through the ROOF and yet they keep telling everybody that its the economies fault and that some of us may be let go. The store I work for just yesterday had sales in excess of $60,000 - JUST ONE DAY!

....and yet they can't afford to give us the hours! I declare BULLSHIT!!!

Okay, my rant is now done. Thank you for listening.

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Exfuckingzatly.

Legzman said:

No hours cut, but it is tax season now. We're busy as fuck and severely understaffed. Yet they tell us "no overtime" I laugh in their face when they say that shit! So I get fucked hard for 3 straight days then they kick me to the curb come friday. And give what should be my overtime to some part time hack!

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businesses usually hire part time employees because they dont have to pay them benefits, and all that stuff

i have been lucky in the fact that i have been working forty hour weeks, in the slowest time of the year for my work

Its exactly the same in the UK. I've only had my overtime stopped and now work a 40hr week, although we've no less work than last year! I think the media is causing an over-reaction to the situation. Everyday on the news we hear about companies going into administration, and the latest unemployed job totals! It can't inspire confidence, everyone is hanging on to the money they've got as they all expect it to get worse. The big problem I see for the UK is that not only are we exposed to our own debt, but world debt as well. I read about RBS having to write off a 2.5billion loan they'd made to a Russian businessman 1orglaugh) who's gone bust. When everythings said and done, the average taxpayer is gonna get screwed paying all this debt back off. Anyway to quote Jim Morrison, I'm gonna get my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames!