Hertz Had Sheriffs On Hand the Day It Cut IT (computerworld.com) 301
dcblogs writes: About 300 Hertz IT employees, most located in Oklahoma City, are being impacted [by] a decision to expand its outsourcing to IBM. About 75 will be hired by IBM and those workers [are expected] to receive offers this week while others are facing layoffs. The news was a shock for IT employees. There was "anger, resentment," especially by employees who "sacrificed that work/life balance to keep things going here," said one employee. Hertz took precautions. On the day that IT employees learned that their work was shifting to IBM, employees noticed Oklahoma sheriff patrol vehicles in the building's parking lot. They believed plainclothes officers were inside the building.
"We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman. "Knowing that this was a difficult announcement, we had additional security on hand," said Masterson. "Going forward, Hertz IT resources will be focused on development of future products and services for customers," he said. The majority of services will be cloud-based. According to the Computerworld article, along with severance pay, benefits also include three months of outplacement assistance. IT employees can receive up to $4,000 toward retraining or skill certification, said Masterson. IBM India Private Limited, a IBM subsidiary, has filed paper for H-1B visa workers for Hertz Technology offices.
"We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman. "Knowing that this was a difficult announcement, we had additional security on hand," said Masterson. "Going forward, Hertz IT resources will be focused on development of future products and services for customers," he said. The majority of services will be cloud-based. According to the Computerworld article, along with severance pay, benefits also include three months of outplacement assistance. IT employees can receive up to $4,000 toward retraining or skill certification, said Masterson. IBM India Private Limited, a IBM subsidiary, has filed paper for H-1B visa workers for Hertz Technology offices.
Bad dum tish (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Bad dum tish (Score:4)
Re:Bad dum tish (Score:5, Insightful)
The 300 includes IT layoffs in other locations nationally. The 230 was for Okla. Hertz increased the number.
In case anyone was wondering where all those Trump voters are coming from, it's from scenes like this.
Re:Bad dum tish (Score:5, Funny)
pierced2x,
You're joke didn't resonate with this crowd.
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At only 300 Hertz this doesn't seem to be happening with high frequency.
That could easily become a meme –earning Hertz a pernicious slam that pops up every time another company pulls this.
Go post it on FARK! Now, or as soon as this news is posted there (and it will be). Someone might even come up with another layer of pun, or even Photoshop a graphical meme.
Or use a photo + text "Meme generator" site and slap that sucker up on FARK, and especially FB (just make the post totally public, not just friends).
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At only 300 Hertz this doesn't seem to be happening with high frequency.
Lol, for most people this will be a "whoosh", but props for trying. :) If I had mod points they'd be yours.
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So it's too late to mention Adolf Hitler?
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To be honest, I entirely unconcerned about Trump's ancestry but very concerned about the parallel between his rise and that of NSDAP in the last century.
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You might want to look into those free speech zones. They were first used by the Democrats at the DNC in New York in 1988. So, while you still might remember Bush's, you might want to remember where they originated and realize that the Republicans aren't the only ones nor the originators.
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"They're cousins, aren't they?"
Somehow, yes, they are. These calls to populism certainly resemble quite too much to 1930's fascism under new robes.
We know the first iteration didn't end up so happily. Wanna bet about current's one output?
Outsource to IBM? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. So they fire US workers summarily. Then they outsource to a company which has taken 275,000 US-based jobs in the mid-1980s to having a tiny footprint in the US and ever outsourcing more and more jobs out of country. IBM is gutting US workers. The sad thing is nobody gets an offer for a pay cut to keep the jobs. If its about money and competition at least offer those being summarily shot a way out. This kind of behavior is really discouraging. I also must say that all the free trade and bank deregulation has lead to a severe decrease in standard of living here.
Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, but it has led to an increase in standard of living elsewhere, and really, the disparity was not going to be sustainable in the long haul. It had to start to even out, and we're starting to see that happen now. When you have a tiny fraction few % of the world's population living high on the hog compared to the rest, that isn't going to last. Enjoy it while you had it, but don't think that's how you get to live forever.
Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:4, Interesting)
Why do you think that profitable businesses do this? It isn't to spread the wealth and any spread is incidental to ensuring that the shareholders make more per share. The goal of these moves is to make the shareholder richer and increase the gap between rich and poor. The US is working hard to move back to the age of the robber barons. Look it up if you don't know what that was...make sure you look up the concept of the "company store" while you're at it numbnuts.
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"It isn't to spread the wealth and any spread is incidental to ensuring that the shareholders make more per share. The goal of these moves is to make the shareholder richer and increase the gap between rich and poor. "
You started OK but then missed the mark. The goal is to make the shareholder richer -full stop. The gap between rich and poor is an unlooked-for side-effect too.
But, then, what did you expect from a system that calls itself "Capitalism"!? You have two obvious positions: reject Capitalism as
Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, but it has led to an increase in standard of living elsewhere, and really, the disparity was not going to be sustainable in the long haul. It had to start to even out, and we're starting to see that happen now. When you have a tiny fraction few % of the world's population living high on the hog compared to the rest, that isn't going to last. Enjoy it while you had it, but don't think that's how you get to live forever.
Is IBM in business to increase the standard of living elsewhere? No. Is it US government policy to increase the standard of living elsewhere, while lowering it here? No. This is being done to increase the standard of living of the few at the top of the organizational food chain. But don't worry, it will self-correct. Eventually, when most Americans can no longer afford to purchase goods and services from these American companies, they will go out of business. Of course, by then, the US won't be a leader in anything other than poverty.
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"Eventually, when most Americans can no longer afford to purchase goods and services from these American companies, they will go out of business."
No they won't. They'll sell products to Chinese and Indian Middle Class... What's that?
"No middle class in India?"/"The Chinese won't allow a foreign corporation a level playing field with domestic/stated owned corporations?"
Ok: you win. They WILL go out of business, but not before being cannibalized for the personal profit of shareholders.
The formula is simple:
St
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Most corporations that go out of business end up paying little or nothing to the shareholders.
The money is all going to go to the thugs at the top, followed by creditors. In theory, the other way around, but the actual divvying up of the corpse doesn't begin until after the corporation is legally defunct, whereas the directors and C-levels can plunder it via stock options, golden parachutes, consulting fees and other stuff before saying "whoops!"
Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but it has led to an increase in standard of living elsewhere, and really, the disparity was not going to be sustainable in the long haul. It had to start to even out, and we're starting to see that happen now. When you have a tiny fraction few % of the world's population living high on the hog compared to the rest, that isn't going to last. Enjoy it while you had it, but don't think that's how you get to live forever.
Last time I could find numbers (about 5 years ago), $30k/year put you in the top 1% worldwide. That's probably what US politicians mean when they talk about raising taxes on the 1%. (At least Bernie is honest about his plan to tax basically everyone with a job.)
Seriously, though, it's not an "even-ing out" because it's not a zero-sum game! Concentration of wealth and income produces less demand over all, and thus a weaker economy overall, than more even distribution (all other things being equal, which they rarely are of course). I don't want to see US standard of living fall either, of course, but if the rate of job flow offshore is low, then new demand from new places helps everyone and we sustain.
It's the same thing for immigration, H1-B or otherwise: if the rate is controlled, immigration is great. A growing economy and everyone benefits. OTOH, if we just have "open borders", the system gets swamped by immigrants arriving faster then job creation due to new demand from successful immigrants, and everyone suffers.
There's a rate as which immigration is good. There's a rate at which easily-replaceable jobs moving to lower-cost areas is good. That rate is not 0, and it's not "unbounded" either, but those seem to be the only option politicians discuss.
Re:Outsource to IBM? (Score:4, Informative)
Obama? A man so powerful he took office in 2009 but reached back through time to bail the banks out in 2008?
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The sad thing about the accounting standards is that they fail to consider the bigger picture.
Which accountant ever calculated that HE was the one to be booted out? With the whole US workforce on welfare, who will be "the market" to buy all the crap made for "less" money?
Every generation has to figure out how to deal with new realities, the challenges our grandparents were facing are very different, in many cases.
A shrinking economy (the US) will have all sorts of bad shit happening, cost savings is a no-b
But, but, but.... (Score:2)
But, but, but, they're job creators! You can't tax, regulate or do anything because they are what's good for America.
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I'm not arguing that increasing taxes or changing regulations is the solution. I am simply pointing out the old mantra that you can't tax (or do anything) to business because they are the jobs creators is false. That is the formula for corporatism which is the politically correct term for fascism.
The reality is that it is the middle class that demands goods and services which creates jobs. Off-shoring middle class jobs actually has a negative impact to the economy (something Germany and Japan learned long
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H-1B? (Score:5, Insightful)
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There was a paper filed for H-1B? More domestic employees being replaced by a program that is only supposed to be used if there are no domestic employees available?
The article refers to this. http://www.myvisajobs.com/H1B-Visa/SearchLCA.aspx?Y=2015&E=ibm&O1=Employer&O2=JobTitle [myvisajobs.com]
Out of the 25 LCA petitions, 1 has been withdrawn. About12 of them are in IT. There rest seem to be in immigration case management and a bunch of ones that started last year.
I can't tell if all the 24 are for the Hertz building.
There is a chance that the new H1Bs are for projects that they could not find local talent for. Obviously, the petitions are fewer than the jobs outsour
Re:H-1B? (Score:4, Insightful)
You really missed the loophole. If they were to directly replace them with H1-B that would be illegal. But they contracted a third party to now do the IT work, so those positions no longer exist, and the company gets away with it. Since Hertz is not hiring for those positions.
This is the main problem with H1-B is that there is this large loophole they can all run through.
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Their whole purpose in the system is to fill gaps
No, the purpose is to make some people richer.
Re:H-1B? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Don't be silly, he is playing the game by the rules that exist.
That is like suggesting that he should pay more taxes than he has to, just because he is rich. That is not logical or sensible.
If he doesn't use H-1Bs, then his competition will. He is playing the game. Don't like the rules, change them. But don't hate the player for following the rules.
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The end of Hertz? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm guessing that the CEO of Hertz has no technical knowledge, and no interest in knowing anything about technology. So, to him, someone who supports Hertz technology is just a rent-a-car, just an appliance. Don't think! Get the cheapest!
I doubt he understands the long-term social and technical effects. It seems that his actions make Hertz a place of hurts.
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Maybe use Uber or Lyft instead of renting a Hertz car?
Nah. You rent a car rather than hire a taxi because you are going to making many stops along the along while putting some serious mileage on the thing.
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Maybe use Uber or Lyft instead of renting a Hertz car?
Nah. You rent a car rather than hire a taxi because you are going to making many stops along the along while putting some serious mileage on the thing.
Plenty of alternatives to Hertz though.
I've never used them because they were always the most expensive option. Keeping all your good deals for "members only" means that non members go to your competition. Last time I was in LA, I got upgraded from a base model compact to a 4 series for $22 just by asking nicely.
That being said, I find it hilarious that people would suggest using Uber because Hertz is scummy. Uber has pretty much become the king of scummy companies.
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Maybe use Uber or Lyft instead of renting a Hertz car?
Different markets, different purposes. Hertz will survive for a long time yet as a corporate preferred vendor for many international companies who need travel arrangements. Hell I certainly wouldn't chose them if someone else weren't paying for it. The desk next to any Hertz at an airport can usually give you a better price.
Re:The end of Hertz? (Score:5, Interesting)
Contrast this with, say, sales. When you do your job right, a new contract is signed and the company gets millions in additional revenue which can be attributed directly to you. When you do your job wrong, nothing happens.
I've been trying to come up with some sort of algorithm which corrects for this, and correctly quantifies a worker's contribution regardless of how easy or difficult it is to see. Without such a correction, you tend to see the former type of employees as less productive than they really are, and the latter type as more productive than they really are. (I leave management out because that's mostly take credit when those under you do stuff right, blame those under you when they do stuff wrong. To correct that, you need to get feedback from the people they're managing.)
(Another more complicated example is HR. While it seems like their good or bad hiring decisions can be attributed back to them, that's not actually true. Only half of their decisions can be attributed back to them. If they fail to hire a great applicant or decline to hire a terrible applicant, nothing happens and they get no blame/credit for it. Your "stellar" hiring manager who's hired some of your best employees may in fact be costing you money because he's using irrelevant criteria to thin out the applicant stack to reduce his workload, resulting in him turning away other skilled applicants who might've been even better employees.)
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People in sales are usually held to targets. Don't make your target = no bonus. Don't make your target twice = get packing.
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More like use Enterprise or Budget. Certainly they seem a much better deal for personal rentals (like when my own car is in the shop, or I'm flying somewhere). Hertz is typically the most expensive, I'll only go with them if somebody else is booking the car and paying for it (eg company travel).
It's not like the cars are really any different from one rental company to the next.
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The last time I rented from Hertz, I felt ripped-off.
Ripoff 1: I asked for an extra driver. They added the driver without telling me that there would be a charge for this.
Ripoff 2: Despite the fact that I declined the navigation system, they billed me for it. I did get this removed from the bill, but I should not have had to waste my time doing this.
I always thought that Hertz was more expensive but provided better service. Now I know that it's just more expensive.
Too big to jail. Once again. (Score:5, Insightful)
Company A fires one IT worker and hire a H1B, it is illegal. And the company can be prosecuted. Company fires *all* its workers and outsources the department to Company B, it is legal business decision.
Corporations are people! But all it takes is some 100$ filing fee and you have a brand new people with all the rights and privileges from freedom of thought, expression and religion. It is nearly impossible for an real Indian people to get work permit to work in the USA. All that H1B lottery and paper work, and work permits... But it takes no effort for a corporate Indian people to work in the USA!
So company A creates a not-really-companyA in India and brings real Indian people employed by corporate Indian people to serve corporate American people. Real American people get royally screwed. Real Indian people get some bones. Corporate Indian people get a huge slice of the pie because the profits are parked abroad to skirt taxes. Corporate American people get a slice just big enough to pay the CEOs and the cronies large bonuses and pay.
OK, OK go ahead and vote for more tax cuts for the rich, to vote for more abortion restrictions, vote for unlimited mining on public lands, vote to relax envrionmental laws, and then sit in a corner and wonder why the American government always screws you.
Re:Too big to jail. Once again. (Score:5, Informative)
It has always been like this. Steal 100$ from a grocery store, you get 10 years in jail. They bank steals 100K from the grocery store by collusion with ATM networks to convert 25 cent transaction fee debit cards to 2% transaction fee creditcards, they walk away scot free!
Company A fires one IT worker and hire a H1B, it is illegal. And the company can be prosecuted. Company fires *all* its workers and outsources the department to Company B, it is legal business decision.
Corporations are people! But all it takes is some 100$ filing fee and you have a brand new people with all the rights and privileges from freedom of thought, expression and religion. It is nearly impossible for an real Indian people to get work permit to work in the USA. All that H1B lottery and paper work, and work permits... But it takes no effort for a corporate Indian people to work in the USA!
So company A creates a not-really-companyA in India and brings real Indian people employed by corporate Indian people to serve corporate American people. Real American people get royally screwed. Real Indian people get some bones. Corporate Indian people get a huge slice of the pie because the profits are parked abroad to skirt taxes. Corporate American people get a slice just big enough to pay the CEOs and the cronies large bonuses and pay.
OK, OK go ahead and vote for more tax cuts for the rich, to vote for more abortion restrictions, vote for unlimited mining on public lands, vote to relax envrionmental laws, and then sit in a corner and wonder why the American government always screws you.
Donald Trump supports a 40% tax on all H1B1 jobs and is a Republican. Just giving a heads up as he is the only one I see who actually cares?! His other stuff ... sigh. Yeah that is a problem. But in his plan for a doctor or senior consulting architect the corps still get them from India. But as a cost cutting measure? Hertz would fine it cheaper to keep their employees. True some could still be managed in India but you need physical people there still
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Re:Too big to jail. Once again. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Trump is a businessman through and through...
More of a salesman.
He was born rich, and hasn't actually done well in increasing his personal wealth. He just buys big to show off. Any actual increase in wealth, or prevention of decrease, would be due to a wealth management team who handles his actual investments.
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Not ALL of them. We have the chance, this year, to elect what may be the one honest politician of our lifetimes. Don't let that opportunity go to waste.
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You're right about one thing... It has always been like this.
It has always been the case that when you strip away all nuance and context, and reduce a complex situation down to a one-sentence slogan, any difference seems unfair.
Couldn't find any local IT workers (Score:3, Funny)
It sucks it had 0 IT workers at all who were qualified and could do the job whatsoever. Man we need more h1b1 ASAP!
After all it is illegal to use it as a cost cutting measure right?
The Law's changed (Score:4, Interesting)
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they no longer need to show there are no qualified Americans. The law was very quietly changed to allow them to replace American workers. ...
Can you provide a source for that?
I know the cap increased. What were the other changes?
I'd like to read the actual rule changes, or better an analysis of it by someone who is a Lawyer.
The Justice Department has already said (Score:3)
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You can't stop economic forces like that any more than you can stop the tide from coming in by passing a law against that.
Actually, you can stop economic forces like that. The next time executives of a company outsource people like that, shoot the executives. Future executives will factor that non-economic factor into their decision-making process quite rapidly.
Ever wonder why seemingly nice, peaceful countries devolve into harsh, authoritarian hellholes? Well, you're watching it in real time.
Outsourcing danger (Score:3)
Maybe Hertz didn't consider the dangers of outsourcing completely. It's usually ending up in a situation where things takes longer to perform and becomes a lot more expensive.
If employees are working IT then they also fix stuff that aren't on a trouble ticket but just on a passing event. When it's outsourced everything needs a trouble ticket.
I just wait for the day where someone in an organization has put in a dead mans grip that blows the data as soon as there's a hostile outsourcing. "If X hasn't logged in in 30 days then execute script ZZ that will run", and then have an encryption on the backup with no back-up of the key.
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Maybe Hertz didn't consider the dangers of outsourcing completely. It's usually ending up in a situation where things takes longer to perform and becomes a lot more expensive.
If employees are working IT then they also fix stuff that aren't on a trouble ticket but just on a passing event. When it's outsourced everything needs a trouble ticket.
I just wait for the day where someone in an organization has put in a dead mans grip that blows the data as soon as there's a hostile outsourcing. "If X hasn't logged in in 30 days then execute script ZZ that will run", and then have an encryption on the backup with no back-up of the key.
They won't care. They got their bonuses for being so smart and eliminating that nasty cost center who provides no business value at the end of the day. Who cares about the company
Re:Outsourcing danger (Score:4, Insightful)
I do work for an outsourcing company, won't say which, but your I don't think you comments about dangers of outsourcing quality are accurate right now.
Not IBM, but some outsourcing companies have learned to provide very good quality services, and do anything, from providing more staff, to taking over all IT from a company.
I wouldn't outsource my core business IT if I were a CIO/CEO, but I know why old fashioned companies would do it. You may pay less, but you can at the same time get way better results. Outsourcing companies scale up and down a lot more easily, they bring experience from other industries, you get some free consulting, and you even get to "fire" employees for any reason, no question asked, no sheriffs to call.
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It doesn't matter what Hertz thinks. I've seen this movie before. It ends when workers actually get shot by law enforcement or private security forces by daring to not like it when they have careers ended just because some dumbass in management has a stupid idea. The problem is that IT types tend to be special libertarian snowflakes who think their massive skills and personal bargaining power is all they need--until it isn't. You've all bought into the no worker protections of any kind conservative and
In B4 the union blaming (Score:2, Flamebait)
Just so you all know, Oklahoma is a "right to work" state, having implemented such laws in 2001 via a constitutional amendment.
And, it's fucking Oklahoma you know? I'm surprised that there are actually any people still living there. The fact that Hertz would have their headquarters in Oklahoma is proof that they don't care about their employees.
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Even California is right to work and majority of all states. If we have Cruz as our next president it will be law of the whole land soon as part of a minimum wage increase bill probably.
Corporations will cut whenever and whomever at will and all levels of government brown nose their asses because they bring in jobs and tax revenue or sometimes no tax revenue at all as a favor. That is just how it works regardless of where a company is located.
Since when did government represent the people?
You can't stop the
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No it isn't.
Only as of a couple of weeks ago, when West Virginia because the 26th right-to-work state. So it's pretty evenly divided.
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You seem to not know anything about it.
only 26 states are right to work and California is not. California is actually one of the most worker friendly states as no compete clauses are 100% toilet paper in that state and you do not have to abide by them in any way.
Re:In B4 the union blaming (Score:4, Informative)
At-will. The law you're looking for is at-will, and that's the one the vast majority of states in the union have on the books. Far fewer states are right-to-work states.
Right-to-work means you cannot be required to join a union as a condition of employment.
At-will employment means that the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason.
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The Hertz action is actually good marketing for the unions regardless of the law.
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When unions were ubiquitous, there was no place for companies like Hertz to hide. If the electricians struck a company in Chicago, the teamsters would strike them in Pennsylvania. And so on.
Globalization and the concerted union-busting efforts have left American workers to dangle.
Choices have consequences (Score:4, Interesting)
Routine except for the one thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
...that comment about "work/life balance" sacrificed. There was a great article recently about how one-sided the employee/corporate relationship really is. One side of the relationship has emotions; the other's basically a machine, a mechanism devised by stockholders to increase their investment - when it screws up and has an emotion because one of the parts (your boss) has one, that is corrected ASAP. So it's this relationship between human and machine that *cannot* give anything back, emotionally.
On the human side, people have the emotion of pride; virtually everybody is proud of their "work ethic" and most people describe themselves as "giving 100%" or "giving 110%", that extra ten percent coming out of your personal life, the time you owe to family, friends, and yourself. You have emotions where people become attached to "the team" and don't want to "let down the side" and again, make personal sacrifices not compensated for by pay, because it "just feels good" to help out a team member with a sick kid or de-stress your boss at "crunch time".
NONE of this spirit of teamwork and sacrifice applies to the other side of the relationship. All those emotional, devoted-to-work, sacrificing employees are sacrificed for in turn when their utility falls below zero.
It all represents an ongoing wage theft, in effect: employers routinely profit from the emotional investment, pride, and devotion of employees but don't return it, the way that somebody sacrificing for a primitive tribe would be taken care of in turn by that tribe if they fell sick. Smaller businesses run by owners can react like a normal human group, with a two-way emotional bond. But a modern corporation with absentee owners and professional managers is just a machine that automatically wins these situations because it is never there for the employees that were there for it.
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Yes, one-way relationships are bad: personal, business, etc.
As many 20-somethings tell me: Never work for a place where your boss cannot influence the company's direction.
The whole "corporations should not be people" effort isn't enough. We need laws that are pro-small-business (America's real corporate tax base), and anti-big-business.
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...that comment about "work/life balance" sacrificed. There was a great article recently about how one-sided the employee/corporate relationship really is. One side of the relationship has emotions; the others' basically a machine, a mechanism devised by stockholders to increase their investment - when it screws up and has an emotion because one of the parts (your boss) has one, that is corrected ASAP. ... ...
NONE of this spirit of teamwork and sacrifice applies to the other side of the relationship. All those emotional, devoted-to-work, sacrificing employees are sacrificed for in turn when their utility falls below zero.
Just don't mention this sentiment to your boss when s/he uses it to twist your arm into giving up a weekend.
At least, unless you have an offer in your back pocket.
Actually, that would be a great way to depart from a bad boss – if you could time it right. Better yet, do it in a meeting where such BS is thrown at you. Raise the issue right there and then, in front of all of your co-workers. Don't let him defer the conversation. That will really embarrass the boss, and perhaps get him incensed and em
Work life balance (Score:5, Insightful)
especially by employees who "sacrificed that work/life balance to keep things going here,"
That's why you never, ever do that - especially not for a salary. Let some other sucker work there and ruin his life.
[are expected] (Score:4, Informative)
About 75 will be hired by IBM and those workers [are expected] to receive offers this week while others are facing layoffs
What's with the angle brackets? The whole sentence has been rewritten from the article (which says "IBM is hiring about 75 and those workers are expecting to receive offers today"), and in any case those words are attributed to the submitter, so why have two words been picked out for this special treatment?
Sometimes I think Slashdot just does things like this at random because it's seen the grown-up newspapers do it, but isn't quite sure why.
This is par for the course (Score:2, Interesting)
Said it before, say it again: Vote Left. Vote for the most left leaning candidate you can get your hands on. Bernie. Trump. Hilary if you have to ( not that she's Left,
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what's really fun is when the Sheriff is used to intimidate the employees into signing their rights away. I saw a lot of that when the outsourcing started and companies didn't want to pay unemployment. You'd be put in a room with two mean looking guys with guns and not allowed to leave until you signed a paper saying you voluntarily quit.
Said it before, say it again: Vote Left. Vote for the most left leaning candidate you can get your hands on. Bernie. Trump. Hilary if you have to ( not that she's Left, but she's not Cruz/Rubio/Jeb). Join a Union. Start a Union. Vote in your State elections.
That is a crime – kidnapping. You should have gone straight to the Police (to file a report, but don't expect them to do anything). Then lawyer-up.
Install your State ACLU's iPhone or Android app that records all audio (&/or video), but leaves the screen blank. These apps, if anyone tries to operate the phone, immediately upload the whole recording to ACLU servers for safe-keeping. keep it in your shirt-pocket to capture good audio – especially the audio where the goons tells you to turn
Only idiots sacrifice themselves for a company. (Score:2)
Your company has ZERO loyalty to you and will fuck you over if it will mean any increased profits.
If you have even a drop of loyalty to your company you are a fool. But then the american worker is generally too stupid to realize that most are getting fucked on pay to begin with and try to make up excuses for the company that they can't afford to pay honest wages while the CEO gets 8 figures yearly.
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A bit of math = a lot of critism (Score:3)
I would like to know what savings the company is expected to award themselves on a quarterly basis through outsourcing. If they are bothering to do it at all, if they are bothering to hurt (really no pun intended) so many people, I'm willing to bet that amount of money is equivalent to pissing and shitting all over those 225 people. $4,000 per person for "re-training or skill certification"? If your looking at investing that into a learning institution, $4,000 is laughable, only in a very sad way. If you have kids, a car payment (or two) and a mortgage, that won't last a month just to support your household, "training" aside. This isn't just corporate greed, it's corporate psychopathy. We really do need laws to ensure that laid off workers receive fair compensation. The training, with employee options on where, what, how to be trained should be paid for by the company within limitations. The actual severance should be much higher. I got laid off by a similar sized company ten or so years ago over the same outsourcing bullshit. They gave me three-months salary and continued my health insurance for six-months along with a whole lot of other people. I checked their financials a year later. They still made out like bandits.
Oh, and the best part? That's "up to" $4,000. I shutter at what that may actually mean.
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so.... (Score:2)
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Should buy the book (Score:2)
Just shows... (Score:2)
Just shows that they new from the start that this was a controversial and unethical move they were making.
Translation (Score:2)
"We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman.
Translation:
"We wanna make sure no one hunts us down and blows our fucking heads off when they find out we've outsourced all their jobs," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman.
Management feeling the fear and hatred (Score:3)
What's interesting about this is that management actually senses the fear and hatred and potential for violence enough to bring in the state security apparatus.
It'd be kind of interesting to be a fly on the wall during the meetings where they decided to bring in the cops and if even one of them had the nerve to acknowledge the whole reason they might need them is how badly they were fucking over their employees.
I also wonder how many of their senior management had paid goons staking out their houses at night or who decided that day would have been a great one for the family to vacation in Florida.
I seem to remember during the financial meltdown in 2007/2008 reading a quote in the NY Times that high level Wall Street types were going nuts for gun permits and armed security.
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"Outplacement Assistance" (Score:3)
... Is the biggest fscking scam/joke of any layoff process. That's about as useful as getting a free year of "Credit monitoring" when yet another company is sloppy with your credit card data.
Definition (Score:2)
noun: Gleichschaltung -- The standardization of political, economic, and social institutions as carried out in authoritarian states.
Re:If they actually cared about the safety (Score:5, Insightful)
H-1B workers (Score:2)
the new H-1B workers will not know how the systems works and the us workers should just tell your own your own and tell there boss to fuck off.
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the new H-1B workers will not know how the systems works and the us workers should just tell your own your own and tell there boss to fuck off.
They can do that, but then they don't get severance.
Often the workers being replaced are paid several months pay in exchange for training their replacements.
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