So we were thinking...
it sounds like some folks are pretty hesitant about a full fledged strike, as other folks have more hope than I do about being able to possibly reach projections and make money. What about an organized Slow Down strike? We don't make any money until we reach the absurd numbers they have given us, but they are still making money as long as we are selling posters. As individual teams, it makes sense for us to slow down and have fun on those weeks. If we arn't making any money why work any more! Instead, we could be eating well and going to bed early, or finding hot tubs, or going into the woods, or finding dance parties in random cities... or go on dates with all the strangers who are asking you out...
The next step is somehow organizing those weeks in some sort of collective statement. "We won't work hard until you make it worth it." Therefore we arn't risking loosing any more, because we arn't making money those weeks anyway... but our lovely friends at the Home Office arn't making any money either. Maybe they would listen to us if they were loosing that much money in an organized fashion.
discuss.
i dont think a slow down will do anything. most of us aren't making projections, so if we slow down or not we don't get paid more. plus it doesn't really put much pressure on btw, slowing down won't be enough of a threat for them to change anything.
ReplyDeletea lot of us aren't working hard cause there's no hope of us making projections; effectively we're already slowing down. i think an organized proposal backed with an economic threat (our feelings are last, remember), like a strike, is a much more effective tactic.
For this to work they need to know people are leaving on time and getting there on time and not working 16 hour days because they feel like the projections are out of reach. Which is what always happens on a smaller level. We've cranked down our hours from 16 to 11.5 since we were clearly not going to make the 5%. But they do negotiate with you on an individual level if you talk to them.
ReplyDeletewe firmly believe in a strike right now. morale is at a whopping ZER000 and we're making far less than minimum wage while working 10X as hard as those actually getting paid hourly. we all know our projections are inflated and basically unattainable. there is nothing in this for us right now; we're merely cutting the uppers' paychecks while we scrape the bottomest of the barrels. if we're raking in $20,000 for a 5 day sale and they cut us a $600 check to split between two people bc they're telling us we should be making double that...i'm becoming more appalled and infuriated with each disgruntled team i speak to. if we unite on this in some kind of way, even if it only precipitates down to the teams who believe in taking a stand, we don't have much to lose. the likelihood is that even if 20 teams can get together on this, they'll be more apt to appease us in some kind of way- they stand to lose too much, especially if there are a bulk of A-teams involved. we're in full support of a strike, and the sooner the better- they have truly managed to work this out in such a way that they are raping us in exchange for slave labor and we are bending over and taking it.
ReplyDeleteYou're not "Bending over and taking it" if you've cut your work time down. Also keep in mind the extra $50-80 you're getting every day in "rent" for the hotels.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it's a great deal with the projections as high as they are- but stressing out over it and demanding a revolution isn't going to do much. Just keep doing what you're doing (minus freaking out).
Work the 8 hours you're asked, make your 10.50/hr ($420/wk ÷ 40hrs), and enjoy the free traveling. It's all over in a month anyway.
For folks who are interested in organizing some sort of strike, whether an all out strike, an organized slackassin', or anything else.. how bout communicating on the google document? go to google mail, login to wallthebeyond, under "more" there is "documents."
ReplyDeleteYou're fired.
ReplyDeletePlease return your truck
-Michelle.
michele uses one l in her name..
ReplyDelete