Same here. My friends in big firm earn over $150K working 80 hrs/wk. I make
a little over 60K working for the G, but I work maybe 37 hrs/week. --jks
>From: Margaret Coleman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: [PEN-L:8620] Re: White collar sweatshops
>Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 19:39:29 -0600
>
>About 7-8 years ago, a friend of mine and I sat down and compared real
>hourly
>rates. I was a unionized blue collar phone co. technician and she was a
>digit
>head working on wall street writing software for different exchange markets
>(mainly commodities). On paper I earned about $20,000 less than she did
>during
>the preceding year. On an hourly rate, I earned more. maggie coleman
>
>Louis Proyect wrote:
>
> > Salon.com
> > The age of overwork
> >
> > The author of "White-Collar Sweatshop" says that toiling in the new
> > economy is no way to live.
> > - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > By Katharine Mieszkowski
> >
> > March 1, 2001 | There are the sweatshops that make khakis, and then
>there
> > are the sweatshops where the people who wear khakis work.
> >
> > Jill Andresky Fraser, author of "White-Collar Sweatshop: The
>Deterioration
> > of Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America," charges so-called
> > new-economy companies like America Online and Intel (and some old-line
> > stalwarts like IBM) with grinding their huge stock market gains out of
> > their employees' so-called lives.
> >
> > And guess what? With the economy and stock market flagging, she
>contends,
> > it's likely to get worse. An editor for Inc. magazine and Bloomberg
> > Personal Finance, Fraser revolts against how our new 24/7 work habits
>are
> > ruining our lives.
> >
> > It's hard to feel sympathy for the plight of people who sit in front of
> > computers, talk on the phone and send e-mail for a living. How bad are
> > these "sweatshops" really?
> >
> > To me, what the sweatshop image conveys is very long hours of work,
>unfair
> > compensation, a lack of control over one's work life and a feeling of
> > tremendous insecurity. And I think that all of those characteristics are
> > very powerfully true in a lot of people's lives.
> >
> > There are 25 million of us who are putting in more than 10 hours each
>day
> > at the office. And for many people that is the beginning and not the end
>of
> > their workday. They're the ones who are working during their commutes,
> > after they put their kids to bed at night, on weekends and while they're
> > vacationing. They feel that their jobs can never be done. The workloads
> > have gotten so enormous that they're inescapable.
> >
> > Although we thought technology would make our work lives easier and more
> > creative, the real impact of our laptops, our Palm Pilots, our e-mail
>and
> > our cellphones is that we can't ever not work. There's no justification.
> >
> > A lot of these people are not earning six-figure salaries. They're
>earning
> > $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000. For all of those people out there
>who
> > are living the 24/7 lifestyle because overwork seems so macho and
>romantic,
> > many more are doing this because they can't figure out a way out.
> >
> > How has the stock market boom of the past few years contributed to
>making
> > our work lives worse?
> >
> > During the '90s, many people explicitly believed that there couldn't be
> > anything wrong with this system because the stock market was so
>incredibly
> > strong. They bought into the idea that rising stock prices would more
>than
> > compensate them for a whole range of different job-related sacrifices
>and
> > tradeoffs, through stock options -- if you were lucky enough to have
>them
> > -- or through your stock portfolio or your 401K plan. Somehow you were
> > going to share in the goodies.
> >
> > People made what they thought of as short-term sacrifices, which became
> > accepted as the way American business has to be in order to be
>competitive
> > in the global marketplace. And then we didn't have any choice anymore.
> >
> > Weekend getaways are replacing two-week vacations and Fed Ex now
>delivers
> > on Sunday. How did we lose the idea of private time vs. work time?
> >
> > As recently as the '70s, people really did believe that new technology
> > would help us all actually work less. We would put in fewer hours at the
> > office, maybe even fewer days each week. Conceivably, we could all
>retire
> > when we're 45 or take three-month summer vacations every year.
> >
> > But in the '80s, when layoffs started happening, people were very
>willing
> > to work longer and harder. They accepted doing the jobs of two or three
> > people with the thought that we would get past this crisis, and yet
>again
> > things were going to get better for all of us. But that didn't really
> > happen because through the '90s, when times were really increasingly
>good,
> > whose health insurance didn't consistently get worse year after year
>after
> > year? For most of the '90s, salaries didn't keep up with inflation
>(until
> > the very end of the decade), even though companies were doing great for
>years.
> >
> > Full article at www.salon.com
> >
> > Louis Proyect
> > Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
