Wooooo I should be sooooooooooooo happy… I should be forever in debt to my employer. In fact, I am not worthy of being in their presence. They so gratiously and generously offered me a 2500 dollar a year raise. Wow… I am speachless. After taxes thats a whole 67 dollars a pay…. and after the taxes I am still paying on last years salary at 50 dollars a pay, its 17 dollars of disposable income every two weeks….. wait student loan repayment starts, so now pay cheque to paycheque becomes paycheque to negative paycheque every two weeks, what should I do? Get an 8th roomate? Start living off half a pack of Mr. Noodles a day? Fuck this province, its low wages its “be happy to have a job at all or we’ll fire you” attitude and the horrible horrible raping cost of living that we all bend over and take up the rear every single day.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again- someone’s going to have to accept less profit so their workers can live. that’s it.
Hedgy I agree there are great inequities of pay rates and wealth… But as long as the labour force is still actually ABLE to live, the market forces will set the rates of pay, and the owners will not pay a dime more than they have to..
Unless Canada legislates that they have to pay more. Unfortunately, Canada can’t really do that either, because we already have a tough time keeping manufacturing jobs in Canda because labour is so much cheaper elsewhere. InfoTech and other areas are probably the same.
I dont think the fed government gets involved too much in the price of labour… Even when they do legislate (rarely) its pretty much at the market rate anyway…
It’s always bothered me when bosses who don’t know how to treat their employee’s blame their business failure on the employee’s.A raise is a symbol of how much an employer appreciates the job being done. If you want your employee to feel under appreciated, give them a low raise and they will return the favour in the quality of work provided.The business legitmetly cannot afford to provide a bigger raise? Be honest, tell your employee they deserve more then you can afford to give, it’ll go a long way. And then get them involved, if your employee can find a way to save the business money, then the boss shares the savings with the employee. Win-win.And above all else, if you run a business (i.e. Coffee shop or store) where your money comes from customers, and your employees attitudes are what will determine your customers impression of the business (and their likely hood to return and spend more money). Do not belittle your employee and treat them poorly. A smart employer energizes and makes that employee feel valued. The happier they are in their job, the better job they do, the more satisfied the customer is, and the more likely they are to return. In a coffee shop environment, simply by enabling your employee to have a good attitude by showing your appreciation, they are likely to receive more and larger tips. This will offset your ability to provide a raise.Too many bosses miss the most important part of their business, the people that make it happen.
That’s a normal raise on a union scale. It blow, wha’?Thank gd I’m not in a union.
NSGEU gives 2.9% per year so that means you either got a huge raise or make shit loads of money that is seems small. 2500/0.029 = $86,000. Unless you 90k, 2500 is pretty good. Think about it annualized inflation for the month of June was 3.1% and I’m guessing this is more like 5-8% raise based on your previous salary. Stop whinning fucktard, it takes a while to move up the pay range, but at this rate you should be there in a couple of years. Some people don’t get raises or get less than 3%.
ok, I’m cringing inside but I have to agree with informat on this one. be thankful you’re in a job at all where they value you enough to even give you a token that you are appreciated and deserving of advancement.I would kill for a raise, but it’s not going to happen, even though in the last 4 months I’ve taken on hugely increased responsibility, independance, and general running-of-my-job. yeah the actual monetary value is sort of pathetic, BUT look at it this way: they’re trying to do something for you, at least. that shows they don’t want to fire you,t hey appreciate you as an employee, and you’re doing a good job. better than just a pat on the head, isn’t it?
That 2.9% is the usual increase associated with labour negotiations to adjust for cost of living increases.That is quite separate from the OTHER $2000 or $3000 annual increase that an employees gets on their “scale” for the first few years in a position.
My point being that you can’t necessarily reverse engineer his salary to be 89KBut my guess is that is another whiny nurse who think she’s ooooohhhhh so underpaid at 68K
Thank you, Informant – 2.9% is fuck all, especially with the cost of living skyrocketing. Thank you, you fat cunt, Joan Jessom, for working your lard ass off for the fucking nurses but expecting the rest of the union to accept goddamn crumbs and be grateful. I thank fuck I’m not part of that anymore but, unfortunately, my other ‘arf is.
I’ve always said to these folks that think unions are soc wonderful – careful what you wish for!I have never been unionized. I had this job not too long ago, where I asked for a raise. The girls in the office next to mine, who had pretty similar job but with less of a leadership component and thus WERE in the union, also asked for a raise.Our manager fought tooth and nail to get us everything she could.I ended up getting twice what I asked for. The girls next door got about half what they asked for, because the union wouldn’t let them change their classification lest other staff in the organization find out, even though they were doing a much harder job than their classification specified!That’s when I knew…lowest common denominator thinking is NOT the way to make a happy productive employee.
PS mine took a month, theirs took six
yeah, sometimes unions suck.but sometimes they give your raises when bosses refuse, or better yet keep you fromg etting fired when you dare to ask for one.
I agree that $2500 is a pretty good raise and, sadly, most of us are fortunate to get a raise at all. I rec’d a 3% raise this year but the cost of living has skyrocketed in the last 12 months. Bread has gone up $.60 a loaf, bananas have gone from $.49 to $.79/lb, the place where I buy coffee just raised their price from $1.20 to $1.50, NS Power is looking for a 12.1% increase and we all know how much gas has increased in the last year.All these increases are FAR more than 3%. When it’s all said and done I would argue that my purchasing power is less now than this time last year. So while I feel fortunate on some level to get a raise I also feel my employer is not providing me with a suitable wage to, at the very least, MAINTAIN my current lifestyle(or lack there of).Is it possible to agree with both sides?
The employer also has to face the reality of increased costs of doing business. Higher power bills, increased costs for maintaining vehicle fleets, higher catering costs, etc, etc. There is going to be even less profit for the business to fund the much needed increase in salaries too. Now I’m depressed.
I used to work for a non-unionized industrial company.. Nearby was a competitor which was unionized.. We were paid about 8% more than them, plus we had no union dues… They paid the price, we got the benefit…
And The Bad Guy becomes The Good Guy. I agree 100% with what you just said.The customer makes or breaks a business. A happy employee will be remembered and word will spread and business will increase. Yes, the cost of living is rediculous, and even I have found myself working 2 or 3 jobs to get shit paid, and when raise comes around, and I work my ASS off for you, be reasonable. Yes, the cost of running the business may also have gone up, and you may have to take a little less profit right now, but in the future, my happy attutide will pay off for you.Eventually, I have faith the employers will actually GET IT.
First of all, some governments do regulate wages, it’s called Communism. Second of all, be glad you have a job that gave you a fucking raise in the first place. Lastly, unless you’re going to be working in the oil fields, Alberta is NOT the supposed land of opportunity. I know because I lived in Calgary for 3 years and have had more success at my job here in Halifax. I realize that it’s tough getting started but suck it up, we all have to do it.
Oh yeah right.. I forgot Cuba is still Commie.
welcome to the real world origianl poster, we got to keep our politicians happy with money from our pockets, so congrats on the raise!
here here bad buy………I’m always amused and vaguely appalled at how quickly management forgets their own time in the trenches, dealing with douchy managers. is it somewhere in their training that that comradery and compassion for the actual workers in their buisness disapears? isn’t the point of promoting from within to end up with management that understands the pressures and stresses of the job so as to better manage the people who now have to do the work?and you’re right bad guy- the raise is two things: actual monetary value, and in thsi economy often help keep that employee solvent, and focused ont he work instead of their bank balance (it does throw you off a bit when you’re terrified how you’re going to afford groceries), but it’s also appreciation and recognition for the work and responsibility that employee has taken on, not for themselves, but for the business as a whole. it’s been implied to me at my job that although others are getting small raises, and they’re hiring more staff, and I’ve taken on more responsibility and work then my actual job description, I will not be getting a raise. this stings not just because I really really need the money, and can’t get a second job because my job demands 24/7 availability, but because it says to me that, despite the ownership and responsibility and general ulcer-inducing stress I’ve taken on to do my job well, and expand my job description even further, I am of no value to them. why should I continue busting my ass if I’m not going to get any sort of payout, at all, even if it’s a simple ‘good job’ from management? I could do far less, care far less, and still be in the exact same place at the end of the day.this bothers me as it’s this that breeds lazy workers, who then management complains about, when they could have stopped the cycle at the beginning.
Jammie, you can reverse engineer his/her salary. They did give the wage increase and the increase after taxes. With a little know-how/patience, the original salary was about 26000. So a 2500 raise gives the OP a 10% wage increase, certainly not bad for these days as the rate of inflation was less than 3% (this number is actually deflated, they don’t account for gas prices, oil prices, all energy really, so the actual inflation is much more). Now apparently is it 3.1%, but since heating oil went up 50%, gas 30%, NSP 8% so far (PST) and another 12% on the way, the real inflation is probably 10%, so be grateful with your increase.
Fred my point was that another poster couldn’t reverse engineer the salary by assuming that the $2,500 was a 2.9% cost of living increase, thereby implying a much higher salary. I didn’t attempt to reverse engineer based on the taxes – why would one bother?
misread I guess. To answer why would one bother to look at the increase: since it is fairly quick to do, it makes sense to see if this bitch is justifiable. Since this person had a 10% raise when the norm around here is 3%, there isn’t too much to bitch about other than the salary is still low (the raise is good), and this is due to another bitch entirely. Like a lot of people said, it takes time to get real money, employers don’t dish it out right away. The OP should have stated the job, then maybe the raise would be crappy, who knows…