Sunday, February 19, 2012

Is your boss five times the worker that you are?

We all labor for our daily bread, but some who breathe the air which is shared equally recieve more than their fair share of the loaf.  According to a number of sources, there are supervisors in this world that recieve five times the salary as their subordinates.  In the corporate world this is quite commonplace and strangely it is accepted by most to be, "just another part of life."  The word "most" was used as it is not something I am willing to accept for a variety of reasons.

1. I have had many supervisors that made as much as three times as much as I was taking in, yet most of their work consisted of sitting in the office going over paperwork.  While they had their duties, I was running almost non-stop trying to keep the customers happy and the product flowing out the door.  By days end, the supervisor, even if he had worked in the office the entire day, would have absolutely no sympathy for employees caught taking a breather while on the clock.  In fact, I once witnessed an employee being terminated for sitting down for five minutes after a very busy hour-long rush of customers, this after the supervisor stepped outside for a cigarette.    

2. Some supervisors are hired directly into their posts.  Some with only college and no work experience.  Thus, a person that has never endured the hardship of the lower rungs of the staircase, rides the elevator to the next level.  In the past I have witnessed corporate officers fresh out of college fire hourly employees for the smallest of infractions.  When one asks them about why it was done, an answer of "he wasn't living up to my expectations," is given.  How can someone like this, who has no experience but wields such power, make so much more than those that have been breaking their backs to keep the company afloat?

3.  Some supervisors justify their pay by saying that, "they deserve the pay for their expeience and education." 

So, those are but three reasons why I cannot accept the status quo of the world.  Never have I met a supervisor or corporate officer that was indeed worth what they brought home.  I truly doubt I will ever meet anyone that is worth a multiple of another in any workplace.  Thus, the notion of equality enters the mind.

At Zebulon Poe Photography and "The Liberal Signal," I have written a constitution which outlines how the company will grow and evolve.  On the top of the list is the notion that all employees will be given equal respect, an equal voice, and absolutely equal pay.  The five rules by which this company will live are:

1. All employees are equals in all areas.  Pay-  Payroll account will be divided equally among all employees. Voice- All employees are given an equal voice.  Any major decision which affects the whole must be voted on by every employee.  Respect- There is no ruling class or board of directors.

2. If one employee recieves a benefit, all employees recieve the same benefit.

3. No Background Check or Drug Test will be conducted on prospective employees.  Instead, an applicant must be interviewed by all employees and if 75% of employees are impressed, the person will be hired. (To hire an individual, the whole must take a pay cut in order to supply the equal share to the applicant).

4.  Absolutely no discrimination based on ANY variable will be accepted.  If a person breathes the common air, they have a chance to be employed here.  

5. The company will NEVER go public as ownership will always remain with those that work to keep it alive, which is every employee.  Without shareholders, there is not a pressure to bring up profits by stomping on those at the bottom.  Also, every employee is responsible for their own pay, for if they fail, the company fails, and if the company fails, we all fail together.  Here there will never be a CEO that is able to live the good life while the bottom rung suffers the ills of poverty.

This is how my business model works:
By paying all employees equally means there is far more income per person.  These people with their large paychecks (when compared to the usual company), flood the local economy by buying up goods and services.  The well cared for employees will likely spread the word about either our company, or our products.  More interest means more sales and more $ for the payroll account, which translates into higher pay.

Actual Company in Azle, Texas:
20 employees, 18 regular employees, 2 supervisors     $1,000,000 payroll for year.
18 employees share $450,000 over the year, or avg $25,000 each...  Both supervisors drive Mercedes and live in the best part of town...the both of them share $550,000 from payroll..

My company if same # of employees:
20 employees, 20 equal employees, 0 supervisors  $1,000,000 payroll for year
20 employees share $1,000,000 over the year, or avg $50,000 each..  That's an extra $25,000 per year for regular joe's. 

So...does anyone out there like the idea of absolute equality?  This isn't to say it would work for everyone in every occupation, and I am not for a communist future, just an equal workplace that breeds goodwill instead of jealousy.

Friday, February 17, 2012

To all those that hear this Liberal Signal..

It is a dark day for all when the common man finds that his voice is destined to be unheard; as, most already know, the masses only listen to those that speak the most accepted "truths."  When a bold soul unleashes a torrent which could contain a strict adherence to the facts, if that person does not bend some of his message so that the uneducated can relate, it is said to be liberal rantings.  Sometimes those with no interests in the common man take an interest in them to further their own goals.  Unfortunately, for the younger liberal and those of the "Occupy" movement, few of those that have taken an interest have really contributed in any tangible way.  It is going to take someone who has lived on the bottom and tasted what such a life can do, to lead this movement.  Despite fitting the description, I am not volunteering for this post, but I am interested in helping the movement find some traction in the one place where it could make a difference, in Congress.  To protest a rather harsh bill Congress was considering, a number of prominent websites spanning the globe blackened their main screens or prevented access to their files.  What needs to happen is for the common man to stand up for what is right and protest the very system which keeps him hovering above the poverty line by attacking those at the top the only way that is possible, by halting all production, thus dropping the stock price almost instantly.  Instead of having separate organizations spread out loosely among the various cities that support the movement, a single unifying message needs to be sent out to unify all those that stand for change.  With the strength of the media, it should not be a difficult task to devise a single site with a single message daily that could be as simple as a countdown.


Tick Tock the Clock does go, for all those that hear this liberal signal, let the future hold that I will never go quiet in this most unsettling of times.  I am one who has tasted the power of this government, as I have been struck down by it, whipped into submission, tortured by poverty, stripped of honor by the banner of the law, but still I gladly offer my sincere words, "I stand with everyone!"   


Now that you know my stand, I must confess, I would love to see a countdown begin for a day of action or inaction.  Take your pick, if you choose action, I would hope that you would select an activity that gives protest towards a common goal, albeit in a peaceful way; or, two, you choose to inactive, thus you contribute far more than those that travel down the first route.  By being inactive, you halt all production within your company, thus forcing a shutdown of operations, which works to cripple the stock prices.  The only way such a tactic could work is if this countdown begins a "black-cat" effect.  Once the countdown reaches 0, a string of companies experience the effects of the movement.  A day of normalcy passes, then another wave of shutdowns occur.  Then, another day passes, followed by a day of uncertainty within all markets.  This needs to draw people from every major entity in order to work correctly.  


As great as all this sounds, there is a reason for doing it.  This is to shock the corporate system into dividing their payroll accounts a little more evenly and focusing on the employees rather than the shareholders.  If the shareholders pull out of a company, it dies.  If the employees pull out of a company, the shareholders take the greatest hit, and still, the company dies.  If the markets nationwide were hit all at once, with a trickle down effect around the world, then no investor, or shareholder would be safe.  The employee, those that keep the gears turning through their backbreaking work for those standing above them, will become the most important aspect of the company oncemore, or in some instances, for the first time ever.


Again, this has been the liberal signal, and there will be much more to come!