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You: doing more with less. Corporate profits: Up 22 percent. The dirty secret of the jobless recovery

On a bright spring day in a wisteria-bedecked courtyard full of earnest, if half-drunk, conference attendees, we were commiserating with a fellow journalist about all the jobs we knew of that were going unfilled, being absorbed or handled "on the side." It was tough for all concerned, but necessary—you know, doing more with less.

"Ah," he said, "the speedup."

His old-school phrase gave form to something we'd been noticing with increasing apprehension—and it extended far beyond journalism. We'd hear from creative professionals in what seemed to be dream jobs who were crumbling under ever-expanding to-do lists; from bus drivers, hospital technicians, construction workers, doctors, and lawyers who shame-facedly whispered that no matter how hard they tried to keep up with the extra hours and extra tasks, they just couldn't hold it together. (And don't even ask about family time.)

Webster's defines speedup as "an employer's demand for accelerated output without increased pay," and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it.



Continued @

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06 ... urs?page=1

Some will say "Liberal Rag" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Jones_(magazine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Off to the camps with you, Mr. Scorpio! You're about to find out what it's REALLY like to be overworked.

Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the shit, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those fucks have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the shit, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those fucks have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

Uh, this whole "speed up" thing has only been going on for about 220 some years, if not even longer (I'm just going back to the Industrial Revolution, but I'm sure you can keep going back through all of man's history if you want). The more productive you can be, the more success (i.e. things) you can have. It's not like this just came about recently. It's a tough world out there, if you want to be successful you're going to have to work hard at it.

GannonFan wrote:Uh, this whole "speed up" thing has only been going on for about 220 some years, if not even longer (I'm just going back to the Industrial Revolution, but I'm sure you can keep going back through all of man's history if you want). The more productive you can be, the more success (i.e. things) you can have. It's not like this just came about recently. It's a tough world out there, if you want to be successful you're going to have to work hard at it. :thumb:

Well, fuck THAT then.

If people want their profits to go up 22% then evidently you need to start a corporation.......................oh wait that would take too much work and interfere with playing solitaire at their "work station".

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the ****, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those **** have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

I believe the term is "bankers hours", Z.

grizzaholic wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the shit, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those fucks have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

That's a good picture.

But since we're sharing anectdotes here, I know several highly skilled and highly educated friends in varied industries who have indeed experienced "speed up" to the point where it's causing marital and health related problems due to stress. These are the go-to types in their company who simply refuse to work less hard and will take up whatever slack there is. This work ethic is in their D.N.A.

Obviously none of you self reliance/work harder types know people like this.

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the shit, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those fucks have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

Asshole, the world ain't you. I bet the employees hate your fucking guts and wish for your death, like we all do here.

Fuck you Mr. Slate.

D1B wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the shit, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those fucks have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

Asshole, the world ain't you. I bet the employees hate your fucking guts and wish for your death, like we all do here.

Fuck you Mr. Slate.

No....actually that was the LAST company I dismantled. THESE folks still love me...

kalm wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:

That's a good picture.

But since we're sharing anectdotes here, I know several highly skilled and highly educated friends in varied industries who have indeed experienced "speed up" to the point where it's causing marital and health related problems due to stress. These are the go-to types in their company who simply refuse to work less hard and will take up whatever slack there is. This work ethic is in their D.N.A.

Oh, boo hoo. I have to work hard to get promoted....boo hoo....

houndawg wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:Yep...it's a regular "salt mine" here....

The company I took over in December had 185 employees (and 6 branches) a year ago. Now we have 94 employees, but still have 5 branches. Guess what? there's still time for people to shoot the ****, visit with their friends, go get a cup of coffee, read the paper, cruise the internet, etc., etc. The 185 people were effectively cramming about 3 hours of work into an 8 hour day and now (the HORROR!!) are actually expected to be gainfully employed in work-related functions for the majority of their day...

And if you've EVER worked around a union (or a bunch of unions, like I did when at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard), you KNOW those **** have MASTERED the art of working 2 hours in an 8-hour shift. VEEERY little sympathy here...

I believe the term is "bankers hours", Z.

7:30 a.m-6:30 p.m....every day, dawg. Bankers hours have gone the way of the Ford Pinto....you should really get up with current events.

AZGrizFan wrote:

kalm wrote:


That's a good picture.

But since we're sharing anectdotes here, I know several highly skilled and highly educated friends in varied industries who have indeed experienced "speed up" to the point where it's causing marital and health related problems due to stress. These are the go-to types in their company who simply refuse to work less hard and will take up whatever slack there is. This work ethic is in their D.N.A.

Oh, boo hoo. I have to work hard to get promoted....boo hoo....

Thanks Ebanezer, but they don't complain. They go about their business, and are hard working, no bullshit conks like yourself.

kalm wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:

Oh, boo hoo. I have to work hard to get promoted....boo hoo....

Thanks Ebanezer, but they don't complain. They go about their business, and are hard working, no bullshit conks like yourself.

Well, that's how you KNOW they're conks. They don't complain about hard work.

AZGrizFan wrote:

kalm wrote:
Thanks Ebanezer, but they don't complain. They go about their business, and are hard working, no bullshit conks like yourself.

Well, that's how you KNOW they're conks. They don't complain about hard work.

Oh for fuck's sake, that was tee'd up for you intentionally.

Greedy banker.

kalm wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
Well, that's how you KNOW they're conks. They don't complain about hard work.

Oh for fuck's sake, that was tee'd up for you intentionally.

Greedy banker.

And I thank you for it.