Posted on 11/16/2009 3:45:30 AM PST by markomalley
Senate Democrats crafting a job creation bill are considering a proposal to give money to workers who cut their hours in order to avoid layoffs.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would give unemployment compensation to employees who accept a reduced work schedule to allow their companies to avert layoffs or to hire more employees. Reed's proposal for work-sharing was mentioned during the Senate Democrats' lunch Tuesday, when Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced that an initiative focusing on jobs would soon be a priority, Reed's office said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
We have layer upon layer of meddling, distortion, bad incentives, unintended consequences. Instead of admitting that they have screwed up, they keep trying to fix the mess they have made with repeated applications of stupidity . Socialist Europe has constant rates of 25% and higher unemployment. This is the model that our own Socialists are striving for - smothering job creating private enterprise with more layers of government garbage.
This does not under any circumstance seem to be a good idea to me. Employers typically provide some sort of fringe package to employees. The cost of that fringe package does not typically change significantly with the amount of pay. So the lower the amount of pay, the higher percentage fringe takes up.
For example,
Employers know this: that's why they use overtime rather than new hires.
It would be nice if politicians could figure out basic math like that.
this is a sop to the government unions, since they’re the ones who predominantly would up with ‘furlough’ days, and especially california (big electoral votes) who has the worst forlough days
I should have made millions. Where is my money?
Well, there have been a lot of people who have had to cut wages and still work the same hours..what about them?
When does this all end?
The company doesn’t have a layoff policy, I am guessing, because the State has one so they just pay their money and are done with it.
[Visualize your healthcare being done that way....]
And they should be the first to get it. They are the neediest.
If Reed's bill is passed wouldn't all employers cut employee hours and let the government pick up the tab? Would that be one of those "unintended consequences" the Democrats are so famous for?
..no, just union members
ever hear of the NYC rubberroom?...some put it as high as 700 teachers....from an article:
NYC Teachers Paid to Do Nothing?
No Related Post
When a student acts up in class, the teacher usually sends them to the Principal’s office. But what happens to a New York City teacher or school administrator when they are accused of misconduct? They get sent to so-called “rubber rooms” during the investigation. The time they spend waiting there could be weeks, months or even years.
The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.
Sounds like a holiday, but to many teachers waiting and facing accusations it’s not.
“Most people in that room are depressed,” said Jennifer Saunders, a high school teacher who was in a reassignment center from 2005 to 2008.
The New York City re-assignment centers have existed since the 1990s, but according to the Associated Press, “the number of employees assigned to them has ballooned since Bloomberg won more control over the schools in 2002.”
Because teacher’s union contracts make it difficult to fire them, teachers waiting in the rubber room collect their full salaries which, according to the Department of Education, ends up costing taxpayers $65 million a year.
It’s a battle between the city and the teacher’s unions, students and teachers. And who knows how things will turn out.
This is already the case in a handful of notoriously pro-union states, most notably Michigan. If your hours get cut from 40 to 35 you can file an unemployment claim for those 5 hrs. It’s a major reason that the cost of their Workers Comp is so high (and correspondingly, their unemployment rate)
Not even France is as bad as what we have become.
Obviously you’ve never tried to do business in France.
I think they gave up on the concept of work about the time the last guillotine shut down.
Bttt
Sounds like the UAW and their Job Banks. A “laid Off” union member gets put into a Job Bank where they draw 85% - 90% of their regular wages and keep their benefits. If they get an offer for a job in another locale they can either take it or turn it down and stay in the Job Bank. Of course, it is the employer who pays for this and by necessity they pass it on in their prices to us. As always, we are at the end of the line when it comes to paying.
More giveaways on the way.
It's sometimes worth it to a company to keep a person part time temporarily while things are slow. The alternative is to lose the employee and have to retrain a new hire later on.
Since the employers pay unemployment and any reduction in hours are a temporary remedy during hard times, this has to have an alterior motive.
Let’s see, since all the big busineeses are finding increased productivity with less workers, is this the Dums new Socialist workers bill. How much you want to bet that all of the unemployed are going to be paid by their former employers IF the companies don’t rehire them.
That way the Fed can reduce the unemployment #S and not be hindered by the expiration of benefits
Then what is the use of a company that does not layoff workers paying into unemployment? It makes little economic sense to cut workers pay in manufacturing when demand is down. It does make sense to cut hours worked because then savings in electrical costs can be realized. These people also saw there pay cut to 80% of their normal.
“This sure sounds like a stupid idea to me. Paying people not to work.Yeah that will get us out of debt.”
How about if the Bamtard issues an executive order defining all those people as farmers, and we then pay them not to grow crops?
I’m sorry to say this clown is one of my senators; the other is even worse...
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