In commemoration of Labor Day, Republican Presidential front runner, Donald Trump released a statement today that he supports American workers and that in order to protect their jobs and grow more jobs, he is proposing a federal maximum wage law.
Trump’s maximum wage law would create a ceiling on the wages an employee could be paid based on their position and profession.
“See, this way you get rid of the stress employees have to deal with, getting up the courage to ask for raises and companies don’t have to deal with rising costs of labor. It’s a win-win!” Trump declared. He went on to explain that lower pay for employees means employers would have more money to create more low paying jobs. Trump also pointed out that most Americans wouldn’t see a difference since wages have stagnated for decades anyway. “This just takes the unpredictability out of things for businesses,” Trump smiled.
Trump’s example included a maximum wage of $7.50 for all minimum wage jobs, the federal minimum wage now being $7.25. “That’ll give ’em room to grow without making too big of a dent in corporate profits,” Trump exclaimed.
Asked about applying a maximum wage to high level executives and CEOs, Trump bristled at the idea. “That’s just a stupid thing to say! This is America, if an exec is good at what he does, he should be rewarded for it! You’re not going to encourage them to do their best if they’re not paid for it,” Trump insisted.
Trump predicted that after the success of the first stage of his plan, he would then set the maximum wage to be tied to inflation and decrease by that amount annually. “I told you I had a plan to take back our jobs from the Chinese, when we get to where our wages are lower than theirs thanks to my declining maximum wage program, that’s all gonna happen and it’s gonna be huge!”
Brilliant as usual Ad! I suppose that Donald Trump would also agree with the obscene amount of money that Jeff Smisek,CEO of United Airlines, will get even after his resignation due to charges of corruption! He will immediately pocket nearly $4.9 million in cash, plus nearly 61,000 shares of stock worth about $3.5 million.
The separation agreement also allows Smisek to keep the company car, United flight benefits and his parking privileges. He and his dependents will also keep their health care benefits until Smisek, 61, is eligible for Medicare.
To tell you that this makes me sick to the core is an understatement. My start date with United Airlines in San Francisco was September 11, 1968, starting as a Res. Agent and promoted to a Tour Rep a few years later. In 1978 I was asked to go to Sydney to help open their offline office. The following year I was credited with making $5 million dollars for United Airlines (yes, I have it in writing!). In 1986 when United acquired the Pacific Division of Pan Am, there was a promise made that no United Airlines employee would be disadvantaged by the acquisition of Pan Am. WRONG! What followed was a concerted effort to get rid of any of the 5 United employees (4 for whom were Australian , I was the only non-Australian). Life was made intolerable through lies, deceit and generally making it impossible to continue. I kept going for as long as possible. We had a mortgage to pay and those days in Australia you couldn’t just pick up another job if you were over 40! But after 24 years with United Airlines,an impeccable record, I just couldn’t go on. One morning just broke down in the shower getting ready and that was it. BUT, I on the other hand received NO pension, NO continued health insurance, NO travel benefits, NOTHING! There was nothing that I could do. It was an American Company operating in Australia and there were no laws to cover me. It’s a long nasty story, but these are the basic facts.
When I just read your great parody about Trump and reading about Jeff Smisek, I went into overdrive and felt the need to write a LITTLE about what happens to the rest of us. Sorry to say that I’ve never gotten over it. It changed our lives for ever. It’s OK to be a crook and get taken care of for life, despite being corrupt, but if you do nothing wrong and only get praised for your professionalism and how much you have done for the company you get sweet FA!
Maybe, I should have put this in TO/OT! Sorry, it got my juices going here!
Disgraceful treatment, Fergie1. No wonder your blood’s boiling. Mine is as well, as I was screwed by CSC, an American Outsourcing Company who didn’t want me to get to my 15th Anniversary and get a bonus. They also made life intolerable, while the big bosses pocketed their millions. I also got nothing, except my unpaid Vacation pay. It is time for IT workers to Unionize!
This is an amazing story Fergie. It is too sad to say it happens all the time, but it does. I’m sorry to hear you were caught up in the shenanigans of the U.S. corporate elite. Something really needs to be done. It is for this reason I can’t believe some of the middle class and poor republicans are backing Donald Trump for President. We really have an education problem when it comes to the electorate here.
Thank you monicaangela. I appreciate you taking the time to read and for your solidarity. You are a kind soul 🙂
Fergie, it is a travesty, what you went through after contributing so much to that corporation which meanwhile showers wealth upon the criminal who was their CEO. As for him, I hope that the story yesterday that the DoJ would aggressively pursue white collar crime is legit and they put this slimy crook in prison.
As for the cowardly and nasty treatment UA unleashed on you and the other employees, being so greedy as to force you out through abusive treatment, it’s just disgusting.
In the old days, when substantially cutting jobs, companies would offer employees a buyout, treating them like human beings and showing a modicum of respect for the years they worked and contributed to the success of the company. Nowadays, being so greedy and almost psychotically insisting that only execs and stockholders are entitled to benefiting from their profits, it isn’t uncommon for companies to intentionally use abuse to drive employees out so they don’t have to pay unemployment or any type of compensation.
What you point out is our modern day Tale of Two Cities, where executives like Smisek and Carly Fiorina who damage a company are paid millions for doing so and upon their departure because they are in the “upper class” but for example, the tens of thousands of employees Fiorina terminated, who were there making the company a success until she arrived, are tossed away like garbage.
And UA is as disgusting. They did not have to pay Smisek his golden parachute since he violated the terms of his contract when he committed criminal acts. But he’s an upper class exec, immune to being treated as he deserves to be (none of these CEOs deserve the obscene amount of money they’re paid).
You describe a career of true accomplishment and success, it is a shame that UA disrespected that. It doesn’t assuage the hardship they unfairly caused you but at the same time, companies don’t have the power to define who we really are and what we truly accomplish in our lives. In fact, they often seem more ignorant about it than not.
Your achievements are real and reflective of who you are, their disrespect of you and them is reflective of who they are.
Thank you for your wholehearted support and for your wise words. It is difficult to expand on the complete story without sounding like I’m blowing my own trumpet. I am proud of my achievements, but it would blow your socks off if you heard the WHOLE story. One day, a book maybe…..however,I don’t know if, in the US, the truth is a defence against defamation or libel!! (60 Minutes Australia wanted me to dish just a little part of the complete story, but I was still hoping to be able to cope and get justice within the company).
That sucks Ferg! When folks say but it’s ok….when he closes one door and opens another….just doesn’t quite cut it does it? No sooner you think you over the humiliation and abuse, something happens to open those wounds up again. Being a non-believer, I can’t say for sure what doors are open or closed for that matter, but one thing for sure, having read numerous posts from you Fergie, the experience didn’t make you any less of a caring, compassionate human being and I don’t come across many these days!! 🙂
Well, said, VB. I feel the same, but you’ve said it much better than I could have.
VB, thank you so much for your very kind words and insightful thoughts. And wow are you insightful! No,that “one door closing, another one opens” thing, doesn’t quite cut it. It’s so true that deep wounds often get reopened when you think you have managed to put it aside and move on.
Thank you again VB. To me, you are the kind and compassionate one. 🙂
AdLib, I know you’ve said it before: the GOP is getting to be more and more difficult to parody, because real life always catches up and today’s parody becomes tomorrow’s headline.
Well, you’ve done it again. American wages are now so low that the Chinese are outsourcing their textile manufacturing to South Carolina!
http://qz.com/470358/chinese-textile-manufacturers-found-a-cheap-new-place-for-outsourcing-the-us/
[img]file:///home/chronos/u-3e5b3acd1273d52c472e85b7ad415ddd4834367b/Downloads/US%20jobs%20from%20Chinese-owned%20companies.mhtml[/img]
Kes, now that is the case of reality being more ridiculous (or outrageous) than fiction. China outsourcing to the US? That is exactly the Trump plan for the future of America.
Trump appears to be just like all politicians in this article, and I dare to say like many Americans are becoming. Forgetful. What ever happened to “UNIONS” if I remember correctly, they worked for employees so the employee did not have to sweat over asking for a raise. They labored to try to get a fair deal for all employees through collective bargaining. We must never forget this, not even in jest. This is the reason executives and CEO’s are getting higher and higher salaries while employees at lower levels are seeing their wages stagnate.
Maybe we do need a President Trump, that way the citizens of this nation just might take notice at how far away from reasonable our government has drifted, maybe that way, we will no longer stand for politicians and those who control the resources in this nation turning a blind eye when employee representatives…the union…are being systematically dismantled right before our eyes.. Good ole D. Trump, an eye opener. Thanks for this wonderful article AdLib, it made my blood boil. 🙂
aHH, finally we can have the complete death of that pesky middle class, who needs them right?? The rich will take care of us all with the ‘Thumper’ in charge, he says he will be the best ‘jobs president god has ever produced and by golly we just have to believe in ‘HIM’,( he really is god in disguise by the way)!!
Yep, sounds like someone saying if only I could get rid of my stomach and my intestines I could stop eating. That is what will happen when we get rid of that pesky middle class. A head and a tail but no middle. A body without the proper organs can and will not continue to exist. I wonder if Trump and the rest of those eager to please the wealthy republicans have thought about this. 🙂
I believe the rich are under the misconception that they are taking care of us all now. Nothing could be further from the truth, without the rest of us there could be no comparison, the rich would have to devour each other trying to exhibit their wealth and superiority over each other.
You know your last sentence makes a lot of sense, maybe the Thumper does believe he is God in disguise. That would explain his actions…good one gyp46. 🙂
Hey monicaangela, so true about the many profound rights American workers gained from unions then as forgetful as they are, instead look at unions as archaic.
Well, as the gains of vacation days, sick days, weekends off, decent working conditions and fair wages fall away along with the strength of unions, maybe it’s time for people to wake up to how unions are even more needed today. Perhaps a big PR campaign during the election season would help?
And though I too flirt with the ignorant supporting Trump,learning just how disastrous and betraying his Presidency would be, I think the primary and/or GE will be instructive enough and a Dem winning the WH will be best all the way around.
If Trump got to replace a SCOTUS judge from the left with…Sarah Palin for example, it would be a disaster that lasts far into the future.
He can’t win a GE in any case but even imagining Trump in the WH is disaster enough for me.
Heaven forbid Trump, his ideas, or his mob connected negotiation skims ever get anywhere near becoming President of the U.S. We have some dumbed down citizens in this nation, but I still have hope that the sane outnumber the insane. 🙂
Ad, I have often thought that there should be a maximum wage on executives. Not the other way around though.
Your Trump is not far from the real Trump. “That’s just a stupid thing to say! This is America, if an exec is good at what he does, he should be rewarded for it! You’re not going to encourage them to do their best if they’re not paid for it”.
How many times have we heard that from the Greedy One Percenters?
Nirek, yes, that is a bit ironic but I too believe that corporate boards should establish a maximum income for their execs. If enough did that, it would be inescapable and save them as a whole, billions in wasted revenue.
I don’t think the government should set a maximum wage though, seems a bit out of their authority but what they can and should do is raise the tax rate on income above, maybe, $10 million/yr to 90%. That way, it’s a virtual maximum wage limit but the obscene amount of income that would continue to flow would instead be re-routed to paying for the necessities of society and the 99% (instead of buying more Rolls Royces, mansions on the Riviera and a fleet of yachts).
Nice to see the troll has been dispatched. 😉
Pissed off the wrong admin.
They have no idea!
LOL!
🙂
Ad, funny. And a whole quarter, think of how many years they can hold off on giving a raise.
Thanks slm. Yep, them whiny 99%ers can’t complain they didn’t get a raise!