off the clock

jesus the press
 is alive with low wage abuse 
by big cap companies

shit
 the washing post
and 
the manhattan timeless
are duelin each other
for top rooster here

and are they diggin

even off the clock 
snides are now fair game 
for large spread exposes

================================

imagine

the use of sweatin whippers
at the unit level
has been discovered 
by the knights of the press 

the simon lagree's 
of the large chain 
              service companies

where findin' a way
to cut  job comp  
 gets you  paid 
a piece of the squeeze

no need to say 
this goes down 
from the tower 
to the broom closet 
in ten seconds

"do it 
just do it 
do it any way  
any how any who
 and we'll give ya 
a taste of the gains"

how wide spread ?

well who knows
officially

no one at the labor department 
has seened fit
to commision  a study......


but hey

how bout that big time press ?

first they start jackin off 
that lovely ivy league 
  union maid  purple-andy  

next their wrestlin 
with the corporate pension ponzi

and 
now thiz stuff

where will it all  end citizens ?

what's next ?

formal endorsement 
  of the klass struggle
 by the washington post 


------------------
this from the gray lady :

off the clock?

"It is prevalent," said Alfred Robinson,
 director of the wage and hour division 
of the Labor Department. 
"It is one of the more common violations 
of the Fair Labor Standards Act."

Though there have been no formal studies
 of the practice 
or of its overall cost 
to employees, "

----big caps facing lawsuits include ---

" A&P, J. P. Morgan Chase,
 Pep Boys, 
Ryan's Family Steakhouses,
 TGF Precision HairCutters 
and SmartStyle,. .....

---uncle ---
" has grown more aggressive
 after plaintiffs' lawyers filed scores 
of off-the-clock lawsuits, 
some resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements
 with prominent companies,
 including Radio Shack and Starbucks. "

" among many others
the labor department's enforcement agency
 found that  Hanna Steel Corporation 
forced 522 employees 
 for months to begin work
 five minutes before 
their regular shifts started.

Last November, the Labor Department announced
 a $4.8 million back-wages settlement
 with T-Mobile, the wireless telephone company,
 after finding that it had forced 20,500 call-center employees
 to work off the clock 
by making them show up 10 to 15 minutes 
before their scheduled clock-in time."


"dudes you got a choice 
Show Up Early or Stay Late"

--------------------------------

more gray lady...

" Off-the-clock work can take many forms.
 Employees are sometimes told 
that it is the way people advance in a company,
 and other times they are forced 
to show up early or stay late 
under threat of losing their jobs."


"Many people
 who study business practices 
say 
off-the-clock work has become
 more prevalent 
because middle managers 
face greater pressure 
to lower labor costs 
and because the managers' bonuses
 may even be tied to cutting those costs. 
Off-the-clock work 
is most often found, 
they say, at workplaces 
that employ many immigrants, 
like farms and poultry-processing plants,
 but the phenomenon has spread, 
especially among low-wage companies 
in the service sector. "


"There's more of this stuff going on
 than 10 and 20 and especially 30 and 40 years ago," 


"There are a lot of incentives 
to engage in these kinds of practices,
 because they result in higher profits
 for the company and they can lead
 to higher bonuses for local managers."

 

Unlike factory workers,
 many hourly employees work 
where there are no time clocks
 and the situation is somewhat fluid.
 For example, an employee might work 
two hours past the end of a normal shift
 without putting in 
for overtime pay one night
, but arrive two hours late on another morning 
because of a parent-teacher conference.
 In such settings,
 employers may easily wring out 
extra hours from their workers. 



" Executives at many companies acknowledge
 that their policies encourage store managers
 to cut costs,"



" Some managers receive bigger bonuses
 for cutting labor costs deeply
 or are threatened with dismissal 
if they exceed payroll targets."

  " many companies pushed for such unpaid work 
  because it is an easy way to bolster profits. "

Working for the Bottom Line

"Corporate profits are derived 
from efficiency,
 and every extra minute 
off the clock 
they can squeeze out 
of a worker 
generates profits 
to the bottom line," 

"some companies have even
 institutionalized 
the notion 
that preshift and postshift 
work doesn't
            have to be compensated."




 " more people work off the clock
 because 
job insecurity makes 
them increasingly eager to please management". 

"One big reason for off-the-clock work 
is people are really worried about their jobs,"  

" Managers often persuade their subordinates 
to work off the clock 
by promising promotions 
and other rewards 
or by threatening 
those who refuse with demotions
 or fewer paid hours,"

" Employees and managers 
at many call centers 
say off-the-clock work is endemic."


 managers at callcenters
, run by TeleTech Holding,
 ordered everyone to arrive early
 to start their computers 
and software
so they could begin taking calls 
the second their shift began.


  "That's the way it's going to be."

Firing Those Who Complain



 SmartStyle,  company policy 
is
" order stylists off the clock when business is  slow"

The stylists were supposed to be paid 
the higher of their commissions-
 about 45 percent of their receipts -
 or the hourly wages due them. 
But if the commissions were lower 
than the sum of their weekly wages,
 managers told them to go off the clock 
to reduce their pay. 

 

 

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