February 1, 2009

• Recently, one of the talk radio shows I listen to brought up this question, "with the bad economy the way it is, will you be willing to take a 35% pay cut if it guarantees you keeping your job, or will you fight against a pay cut even if it means you might lose your job?" That's a question I might have to answer in the near future. I'm under a union at work, and contract negotiations with the company I work for have been underway. I know bad timing for that right? From what I've been hearing, negotiations have been pretty bad, and my union negotiators have walked away from the table from not being able to find an agreement with the company. You see, the company is looking to give everybody a pay cut, and in my case it really would look something like a 35% pay cut. My monthly budget would be really really really strained if that happens, and I am a little bit concerned. I could survive in that condition, but it will be rough. I could look for another job, but with the market conditions, you can imagine how tough that might be.

  To think that months ago, the union was actually optimistic about asking for more things on our benefit. I remember asking "are they nuts, how is that going to happen, when we already lost a lot on the current contract we are working under now?" Sure enough, that's the reality, and talks about going on strike have been passed around. The company has that blanket excuse of saying "the economy is bad," so us going on strike is going to look a little petty to the public. To think that I'm now hoping we just extend our current contract is kinda sad, because it wasn't that great to begin with. It's just a lose-lose situation.

  • 6:13 am
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