My husband came home from work the other day and, announced with a smile, "No raises this year for managerial or exempt employees, there will be raises for hourly employees"
Why was this such good news? Companies all around have announced layoffs, thousands from Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, University of Washington. If Dennis large company is just saying "No raises", it's easy to conclude that layoffs are not currently on the table. Wow, you can certainly live on current income. You know how it works. Layoffs don't really affect you if you can keep YOUR job. But when your own or your partner's job goes, then it affects you BIG TIME.
Big article in the paper above the fold. Typical laid off work is a 55 year old college educated male. And, often, they never work again. That sounds a little too close for comfort.
In 1978, when Proposition 13, passed in California, gutting state agencies and schools, Dennis' late father was Executive Director of a large regional planning agency. Fear pervaded the work force. I remember being at his parents house when Jim, a big man, came home and said with a wry smile "We were having a big meeting about consequences from Prop 13. People were starting to talk about cutting administrative fat. That made me pretty uncomfortable, I thought I'd better leave!" He had a sharp funny wit in his prime.
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