IBM riles employees with base pay cuts

[antigop]

Source: Thompson Financial delivered by Newstex

Even as IBM (NYSE:IBM) Corp. reports record profits, thousands of its U.S. employees are staring at pay cuts.

It's the result of IBM's response to a lawsuit in which the company was accused of illegally withholding overtime pay from some technical employees. IBM settled the case for $65 million in 2006 and has now decided that it needs to reclassify 7,600 technical-support workers as eligible for overtime.

But their underlying salary -- the base pay they earn for their first 40 hours of work each week -- will be cut 15 percent to compensate.



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-22463472.htm

[N4457S]

1. I'm IBM Advanced Certified...

...and have many years of experience working with AIX (IBM's flavor of unix) but I would never work for them. They have an awful reputation for politics, workplace unfairness, etc.

[russian33]

13. and people act shocked when i say i can't wait to get out

your last sentence pretty much summed it up

[SharonAnn]

38. And they used to be known for their good jobs, pay practices, and fairness.

They were a standard measure of the best employee practices. But then, those were the "olden days".

[N4457S]

45. That Was...

...before all that shit happened in the eighties with Akers nearly bankrupting the company. They don't even have their pension anymore.

Gerstner gets a lot of credit for turning the company around but he was just a hatchet man for Wall Street. IBM is a shell of its former self and everyone there knows it.

[roseBudd]

47. offtopic question, how come only unix had chmod from within FTP client?

I have a file on a 3rd party server and the admin on that account is out of town. I have username & hosting co's mandated very strong password. Is there a command prompt way for me to change the permissions without accessing the UI control panel?

[lurky]

52. The 3rd party machine is Unix/Linux?

Can you use ssh to access the server?

[roseBudd]

61. Probably not, it's an ASP server & chmod said, not supported

But when I used chmod to view the permissions, write was not checked

[lurky]

53. If the machine is running Windows,

try using CACLS from the command line. Or have you tried using remote desktop to get on the machine? That's the easiest if available.

[roseBudd]

60. It's an ASP server, I am a digital designer dipping into development so I get a thrill

from doing things outside of my domain. :) I added a 2nd function to a massive form email script, a SQL statement and I need to set permissions on an Access db. So how do I remote desktop to that machine, knowing username, & pw? IP address?

[lurky]

63. I like your adventurous spirit!

Note: Remote desktop will only work if the remote machine has been set up to accept it, and if you are allowed to by the administrator. Most Windows servers have RD set up, so it's definitely worth a try.

In the Start Menu, under Accessories, there should be an icon for "Remote Desktop Connection". Depending on your version of Windows, it could also be in the Communications folder, in Accessories.

When you run this, you will be given a little dialog box. Enter the IP address for the remote machine in the "computer" field, and enter your username and password for that machine when prompted.

Once you are connected, it will be like you are actually on the machine. If you want to disconnect, move your mouse to the top of the screen, and there is a weird looking little control bar you can use to close the session, minimize, and so on.

Anyway, good luck and have fun!
:)

[roseBudd]

64. thanks! IT helped me set up the path to my last one, & when nothing was working...

no matter what he did to the SQL statement, I said "what about file permissions?" & he did remote desktop to that inhouse server and changed the permissions & it worked.

So my first foray was a Flash form with a listbox component that uses ASP to write to an Access db. Because I allowed multiple selections I had to use an array in the actionscript for the listbox.

The IT guru said yesterday, why are you trying to use 12 year old technology? (Access) So I DLed SQL Express but it's so beyond what I need, I just want to capture all the data being sent to people's emails for historical reasons. I only need one table with 13 fields.

[Catsbrains]

59. greedy bastards.

[lapfog_1]

2. Do they even HAVE US based tech support people? - n/t

[N4457S]

4. Sure They Do...

Absolutely, but it's not for the Windows crowd. When I place a call with them, the guy or gal who takes my information is Indian or Filipino but the guy who actually does the work and solves my problem is almost always in Texas or sometimes in New York or Minnesota. Those are high priced specialized skill sets. You won't find them overseas, at least not yet. My wife is an Oracle DBA and she'll occasionally get an Indian when there's a late night issue but she'll escalate it to the next level and get someone in Colorado Springs.

Symantec bought Veritas and they've pushed a lot of things to Australia. They're very sharp and stupid funny.

The initial development of logical partitioning in open systems and clustering and AIX was always in Austin and that's where much of their AIX support workforce is today. The Tivoli people are down there, also.

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. I used to work for a US tech support company...

We worked our butts off trying to get IBM's business - to no avail.

The company is now, for all practical purposes, out of business.

[L0oniX]

3. Well the Chinese division slave labor is getting more expensive so they need to cut the pay here.

LENOVO
Big Blue: Now made in China
The Chinese PC maker gears up to take on the fastest growing market in the Asia-Pacific.

http://www.businessworldindia.com/MAY2305/indepth03.asp

[N4457S]

5. I've Had...

...Thinkpads issued to me off and on for most of my career, and the quality is nowhere near what it was even five years ago. That being said, the build quality and ability to withstand the occasional bump going through airport security is still better with a Thinkpad than with a Dell or HP or any other brand that immediately comes to mind. They still have stainless steel hinges and they still have good strong keyboards on them...

...for now. When they don't, I'll start looking for something else.

I bought a Sony Vaio when I began consulting five years ago. It's Chinese and I've been very, very unhappy with it since the day I took it home. It should have been a better product for what I paid for it.

[CatholicEdHead]

36. True, the Lenovo Thinkpads are pretty durable

I picked up a R-series this past fall. It is still pretty durable and one of the last with "IBM" on it, the new ones have only Thinkpad on them. I expect it to give me 6+yrs of use (at least until the power inverter for the back light fails). It is still better made than most other laptops on the market. By 2010 Lenovo will be totally on their own with the ThinkPad line, we will see where it goes from there. Through 2007 they were still designed by IBM but produced by Lenovo.

[N4457S]

37. When I Saw...

...your message, I went to the HP site just out of curiosity. They still have a business laptop line but they're very expensive and the Thinkpad still wins that competition.

[Greyhound]

58. Trust me, you want to keep far, far away from HP. Top to bottom

a terrible product for the price and the some of the worst customer service around. :hi:

[customerserviceguy]

54. Thinkpads are pretty good laptops

even if they aren't as sturdy as they used to be in the 1990's. But I cannot think of another thing that IBM has made or done worthwhile since the first PCs back in 1981.

[JCMach1]

57. New ('Lenovo' Thinkpads are crap)

And yes I have one of the ones that still says IBM. It couldn't even go into sleep mode properly without an update which came about 6months later.

Compaq, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, even Acer beat out Lenovo these days...

I didn't even mention a battery replacement and keys that fall off (all within the first year).

[politicaholic]

6. I have a strict "No buying from douche-bags" policy...

I welcome IBM to that list.

[N4457S]

8. I Know...

...that at one time HP had a professional line of notebooks to match the Thinkpad. They were really stout: had the old fashioned heavy keyboard from their server line, etc. It was good shit!

I don't know if they do anymore or not.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Unless you're buying a mainframe or an AIX system, there's nothing left for an individual to buy

from IBM. All of the PC business was sold off, as was the small printers. Typewriters have been gone for decades.

[N4457S]

16. But...

...AIX and mainframes (especially mainframe software) are still big business for them.

MVS still earns several billion dollars a year in profit for IBM. Open systems people like myself still make fun of the pocket protector crowd but the simple fact is that MVS doesn't go down. Some of those machines stay up for years. I've seen AIX boxes stay up for a year and a half but that's all. I know guys who reboot their AIX servers every thirty days. Geez, why not just go to Windows or Linux?

A lot of the action is in migrating large enterprises from mainframe to AIX because the performance gap is shrinking to the point where it doesn't make sense for many companies to keep their big iron around anymore. I had a contract with a cruise line that still had zSeries but there will come a day when they get rid of it, too.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Sure mainframes are around and the software makes money. We're looking at just the

opposite, moving some things running on SUN's to the zSeries. IBM is porting Solaris to run on them. The problem with even clustered UNIX, is that every time the software is upgraded, they have to do the hardware as well (in our case, at least). We have plenty of unused MIPS and unused DASD on the mainframe.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. As a retired IBMer, I wonder how I missed the law suit. In the last 3 years I worked for them, I was

a salaried employee who was expected to work a minimum of 45 hours a week.

[russian33]

12. yep, gotta love that 'mandatory' over-time

i don't remember when was last time i did work 45 hours though...always something

[russian33]

10. yep, this has been around the "water cooler" for a few days

i'm waiting when they will strike...with every year, i feel more and more "appreciated" by my company....anyone out there looking for an IT guy? ;)

[TommyO]

14. I work for another company and have gone through the same thing

my base pay was cut, though by a very small amount, when I was reclassified as an overtime eligible tech support worker.

[sdfernando]

15. Company I worked for did this too

I worked for a financial services company that did the same thing. Reclassified a bunch of staff to hourly from salary and based their rate on 45hr as opposed to 40. I raised hell about it and managed to not get reclassed. I think others could have done the same, but didn't complain, at least not to management. Luckily they valued my services so it worked out for me. So, at least speak up and try to keep your salary as opposed to just accepting it and being unhappy.

[russian33]

17. what if I'm already unhappy?

:)
but that's good advice, thanks...i will keep it in mind

[Acadia Blue]

18. They are creating their Mexican, Only Rich and Poor society, and

we are just sitting here schocked and dazed and doing nothing.

[antigop]

19. for cryin' out loud, people --- JOIN A UNION! If you don't, it will probably just get worse. n/t

[OKthatsIT]

44. I think they'd rather whine...

[MessiahRp]

20. This must be what all that "ideating" came up with.

IBM is so clever. :eyes:

Rp

[guitar man]

22. they should walk out

all of them, just get up and walk out. Put up a picket line and organize the damn place. It's the only way these fuckheads making record profits while pulling these stunts are ever going to get it......:(

[antigop]

23. I'm not sure they can realistically do that..they need a union in place first. n/t

[guitar man]

24. well then

join the union first if need be, and fast. Enough is enough of this kind of crap. the big corps have had a heyday of a payday for the last 27 or so years, ever since Reagan decided it was good public policy to suck corporate cock, we have slid downhill as a working middle class. Enough already. :mad:

[antigop]

26. I agree. I do NOT understand why they won't unionize. n/t

[guitar man]

27. It's been a long time

since I've been involved in the movement, but as I remember, it took guts, determination and perseverence to organize. Maybe the bastards have finally just kicked all the fight out of us as a workforce?

[antigop]

29. How much guts does it take to sign a union card? (Not attacking you...just asking the question.)

From the article, it looks as though a unionizing drive is in place...

Most of the affected workers make less than $100,000, according to Lee Conrad, national coordinator for the Alliance at IBM, a Communications Workers of America union local that represents a small percentage of IBM employees. The group is considering pickets at IBM sites to protest.

And it looks like there is a website
http://allianceibm.org/

So all the employees have to do is sign a union card, right?

[guitar man]

31. I remember when I signed mine

I was pretty vocal and outspoken about it too, young and rambunctious as I was back then. They sent some goons around to threaten me. I didn't respond very well to threats :evilgrin:

[antigop]

32. but you don't have to be vocal about it...you just sign it and send it in, right?

So why don't they do that?

[guitar man]

33. pretty much

but voting a union into a workplace takes an election, so somebody has to be vocal about it, support the effort and sell the employees on the idea of going union or it's not likely to succeed. Somebody has to put their ass on the line to make it happen. It is a struggle to be sure, the companies certainly don't just roll over for it.

[antigop]

34. but it looks like, according to the article, someone has already "put their ass on the line"

Someone started a unionizing campaign...all the employees have to do is sign a card, right?

[guitar man]

35. since I have been out of it for so long

I don't know what all it entails these days. I do know the laws have changed and it makes organizing more difficult than it used to be. Maybe someone who is up to speed on what's going on in the movement these days will come along and enlighten us. My knowledge of such things is from about 25 years ago so there may be some differences now. I do know that the workers have to vote for it before they become a union shop.

[LiberalFighter]

43. There may be others that sign also but are not for the union

and will become part of the in-plant organizing committee in order to defeat it.

[antigop]

48. So what? You sign a card...you get enough cards..You get to vote for a union..

Yes, I know the company will fight every step of the way, but in this case, imo, the workers have absolutely nothing to lose.

As I said upthread, people have already put their "asses" on the line by starting up an organizing campaign. How much guts does it take to sign a frikkin' card?

[SharonAnn]

39. Umm, no. Big companies make it very, very difficult tojoin a union even if they have one in another

department or division.

The will spend lots of money fighting a union. And, if they lose, then they'll just off-shore the jobs.

[antigop]

40. There is an organizing campaign already in place...much of the difficult work

(getting a campaign started) has already begun.

If the workers don't stand up for themselves, then they can expect more takeaways. It's that simple.

<edit to add> Workers have a right to organize and form a union and get a collective bargaining contract. They haven't taken that right away (yet).

<second edit to add> The only way they will have a place at the table and have some say regarding pay and benefits is to unionize. They can then enter into a collective bargaining agreement. IMHO.

[antigop]

41. From that website mentioned above....allianceibm.org

http://allianceibm.org/QandA.html#wait

There will never be a vote if a strong majority of employees does not demonstrate support for the union by signing CWA's Authorization petition. The National Labor Relations Board will only bother to schedule a vote if there is significant "show-of-interest". However, even a "show-of-interest" isn't enough. If a solid majority of us aren't willing to sign up for the union, then we know we'll lose the election. What's the point in holding an election that we're guaranteed to lose? Instead, we're going to wait

Employees need to sign the frikkin' CWA authorization petition, imo.

[LiberalFighter]

42. Some people believe they are professionals and therefore should not belong to a union.

[N4457S]

46. My Wife...

...has a management classification in her Civil Service job and she's union.

[antigop]

49. The airline pilots have a union...I guess they're not "professionals". n/t

[LiberalFighter]

56. I didn't say that professionals don't belong to a union

I am saying that some people believe that there are some who believe if they are professional they have no business belonging to a union or they are too good to belong to one.

[antigop]

62. and if that's the case...they are getting what they deserve, imo.

This was the same company (IBM) that screwed the workers on their pensions by switching to a cash balance plan, wasn't it? How much more of this nonsense are the employees going to take?

[russian33]

28. i work out of my house....

...my parents prohibited me from picketing in the driveway :)

[antigop]

25. so why aren't they unionizing? They'd rather lose benefits and pay rather than join a union?

With a union, they would at least have a contract.

GEEZ, I do not understand....

[Trajan]

30. The intentional suppression of wages ...

lies behind the current economic difficulties in the populace .....

If you dont have money, you cannot buy big ticket items, nor pay an ARM mortgage reset ....

After decades of pitifully small wage increases, big business has reaped what it has sown ....

[OhioChick]

50. What Assholes. n/t

[dapper]

51. IBM Helpdesk

A company I worked for outsourced to IBM (I believe in St Johns Canada), IBM wasn't making enough money so they Outsourced to India.

Atleast 60 of us lost our jobs. Other departments were outsourced to India as well.

It's always about the company (or ceo) making money but at the same time, they want to pay you less.

Personally, I think once a year, people should "strike" just to say "Fuck You" to their company.

Dap

[HCE SuiGeneris]

55. Invest in the corporate stock market, let the board of directors slit your throat

Raise the dividend, destroy the producer. WTF is wrong with this picture? :mad: