How Much Is Wage Theft Costing The Wage Slave?

[dolgoruky]

Today, me and some of the guys here in Germany worked out that wage theft is costing the German wage slave about €36 billion. That seems a lot of f*****g money. Anyone know what the figure is for the US?

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Could you clarify?

What, exactly, is "wage theft"?

If it's usually called "outsourcing", I agree; 36 billion Euros is about 42 billion Dollars. In the USA, I think that just about covers the loss for Visual Basic programmers alone.

Outsourcing has become huge for the American wage slave, and the jobs won't be coming back any time soon. I personally went from making over $50k per year to absolute poverty in two years -- and this was after busting my ass for 3 years to retrain for a career in computer programming.

Europe has been dabbling with a little self-mutilation, but America is committing economic suicide.

--bkl

[dolgoruky]

2. definition

Wage theft is the extra hours wage slaves work but don't get paid for. For example, you work late a couple of evenings a week, but receive no extra pay: that's wage theft.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. OK. I've done that, too

In America, we call that "Being Salaried".

The Official Terminology -- Wages are paid by the hour; Salary is a set fee for a week's work. A week's work is nominally 40 hours; in reality, it is more like 50 hours.

I suspect in Germany, the corresponding numbers are 35 and 42.5, but I could be wrong, especially since all the business journalists here are forever praising Germany's "work ethic".

By the way, do you guys still get 4 weeks' vacation per year?

When I worked the overnight shift in a hospital in 1995, I was making $15.56 per hour for 40 hours a week. I was actually working four 13-hour shifts per week, which brought my real wages down to $11.97 per hour. The official explanation was that I was an "exempt" employee. Probably close to 80% of the non-blue-collar jobs here are "exempt".

In America, it's not called wage theft; it's called Having A Good Work Ethic.

But take heart -- at least you live in a civilized nation, one that provides for the infirmity and old age of its citizens. Here in the God-fearin', flag-wavin', SUV-drivin' US of A, we're getting boned like a dead chicken.

--bkl
Please, Sir ... can I have more?

[dolgoruky]

4. Holidays

Here in Germany everybody gets six weeks paid holiday (30 days).

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Oooh!

But thats ... that's ... that's Socialism!

You lucky, lucky bahstid!

--bkl

[OldEurope]

7. No. You can get 30 days if you´re over the age of 40 and if you

have a collective labor agreement that says so. There are agreements with less than 30 days, and most agreements make relation between the age and the number of holidays.

edited for wrong words

[dolgoruky]

8. unionised workplaces

You're right. I work in a work in a unionised workplace, with a betriebsrat (maybe I spelled that wrong). I'm 32 and I get 6 weeks.

Hooray for unionised workplaces, then!

[TreasonousBastard]

6. 'tain't easy...

to do here. Didn't find a recent, useful specific study, but did goggle up a boatload of class action suits.

Could look further, or could estimate it myself, but methinks no one actually wants to know. First problem is actually estimating the amount of unpaid OT put in by exempt employees. Lotsa BLS numbers, but parsing them is a bit of a problem. Believing them is another problem. Most of this stuff comes from surveys.

Anecdotally, it seems programmers have been putting in up to 30% or more of their time for free. Lots of others in the same boat-- salaried managers, sales types, researchers...

And, how do you figure cab drivers, medical interns, waiters, contract employees, owner-operator truckers, free-lancers, small entrepreneurs and others who traditionally put in monstrously long hours? Someone started to compare the US to Germany, but the laws are so different no real comparison could be made.

Next, we have the hourly employees being screwed. Back when I was in the timeclock business, a "feature" was the automatic deduction of break time, and a few other cute ways to screw a minimum wage schlub out of 5 bucks a week. Aside from news stories about Wally-Mart, Petsmart and a few other places shafting their valued hourly associates, it's really tough to get a good feel for how much of this is really going on. It is illegal, after all and it's never easy to get info on illegal practices.

I'd do it the easy way-- take the aggregate personal income and add 20% to exempt employees and 10% to hourlies.

Comes out to a lot of money, and probably wouldn't be far off.

If we all got paid what we were owed, we wouldn't need that damn tax break.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Sampling

With a fairly large sample of people in well-selected industries, it wouldn't be hard to figure out. This is one of the reasons why Conservatives are so dead-set against statistical sampling. They want the Census to undercount the underclass, and they want to hide the gray-market plantation system they've worked so hard to establish.

And of course, they have the easiest public relations program in the world. After seventy years, we are so well-trained, all they have to do is say "Socialism!" and they get immediate obedience.

Since pain causes "extinction"of conditioned reflexes, I have a feeling that's one scenario that's going to change in a very short period of time.

--bkl