Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[Snobdds]

Back when collective bargaining (unions) made labor more powerful in negotiating wages than an individual alone could ever be? So he could afford the middle class house, car, kids that young families long for, today?

Maybe part of the solution to labor shortage today is higher pay? I keep reading of folks who are denied a substantial raise after they become skilled, and essential, so they bail for another job that needs those skills and pays 40% more. I wonder if the employers crying No Loyalty Today!!! are recognizing this.

Unions were big when those with college degrees were low in numbers. Unions gave people the power degree's now have, to have upward mobility. People don't need a union now to raise the salary they bring in. There are no working conditions that only a union can negotiate to be better. They have largely become ambiguous in modern times.

Now, even college degrees are becoming something that does not guarantee upward mobility due to having too many degree programs. The STEM degrees are about the only degrees that provide upward mobility and they continue to play the role of Unions in modern times.

I also see a lot of young people change jobs very frequently looking for marginal increases in pay. We call them the perpetual newbies. They never get higher than entry level or middle management. They forget that changing jobs does not build intuitional knowledge, the kind of knowledge that makes you unfireable.

A girl that use to work here got all excited when she was offered a job that brought in $10 more an hour. She accepted the position as soon as it was offered. She came to me after the fact to see if it was a good move. We sat down and she saw how much more her health care contribution is, how she gave up a pension and healthcare for life, and a lower match 401k. Even making $10 more an hour, it was costing her an additional $7 to move in opportunity costs. The look on her face was complete panic. This also highlights just how clueless people are on how to analyze moves before accepting a position to see if it really is a good move.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Back when collective bargaining (unions) made labor more powerful in negotiating wages than an individual alone could ever be? So he could afford the middle class house, car, kids that young families long for, today?

Maybe part of the solution to labor shortage today is higher pay? I keep reading of folks who are denied a substantial raise after they become skilled, and essential, so they bail for another job that needs those skills and pays 40% more. I wonder if the employers crying No Loyalty Today!!! are recognizing this.

If it weren't for the high cost of insurance, we could have made on one income. We would have been pretty poor at retirement though. Today's standard of living is much higher than the 60s when I was a child. Like most here, we didn't have much when my father was supporting us on a barber/substitute mail carrier salary. But there were no cell phone, cable, high insurance premiums, the old farm house was paid for etc. People will not do without now.

 

[newbury]

They forget that changing jobs does not build intuitional knowledge,

Is that an intentional pun?

 

[goeduck]

Just like the coming SS fiasco. Even people that just want to have a discussion about SS are labeled as Nazi's. I was traveling last week in Florida and saw a tv add saying...Ron D has voted 5 times to cut SS funding, he wants to take away your SS. We all know SS has not gone down, it's just fear mongering. However, because of this fear mongering, it creates the topic as untouchable. All it does it make us slowly march towards a world where SS is gone and we just have fear mongering platitudes to throw at everyone. That world is less than 10 years away.

This is not a one sided P statement so I hope it is okay on here ......

Members from both sides of the aisle that do not engage in discussion and legislation about the future of SS are "voting" for the automatic cuts SS will undergo in ~10 years time. Those cuts are baked in. I'd rather it be discussed than ignored.

 

[JasperFrank]

I have found in my professional life that in negotiation, for higher pay, the company said, " Our Way, Our Pay or Walk," So I walk to the competitor, take a bit less pay, then get better pay, then ask for better pay, after good results, and nailing the competitor. And hear the exact same speech. And it is the exact same speech. Like is there some sort of Codification of this speech in Corp culture? "Our Way, Our Pay, or You Walk." So glad to be retired now.. and making bird houses.

 

[turbo36]

Unions were big when those with college degrees were low in numbers. Unions gave people the power degree's now have, to have upward mobility. People don't need a union now to raise the salary they bring in. There are no working conditions that only a union can negotiate to be better. They have largely become ambiguous in modern times.

Now, even college degrees are becoming something that does not guarantee upward mobility due to having too many degree programs. The STEM degrees are about the only degrees that provide upward mobility and they continue to play the role of Unions in modern times.

I also see a lot of young people change jobs very frequently looking for marginal increases in pay. We call them the perpetual newbies. They never get higher than entry level or middle management. They forget that changing jobs does not build intuitional knowledge, the kind of knowledge that makes you unfireable.

A girl that use to work here got all excited when she was offered a job that brought in $10 more an hour. She accepted the position as soon as it was offered. She came to me after the fact to see if it was a good move. We sat down and she saw how much more her health care contribution is, how she gave up a pension and healthcare for life, and a lower match 401k. Even making $10 more an hour, it was costing her an additional $7 to move in opportunity costs. The look on her face was complete panic. This also highlights just how clueless people are on how to analyze moves before accepting a position to see if it really is a good move.

The problem with the promise of a pension and health care for life is that many times over it is eliminated during a corporate takeover or a bankruptcy. I rarely lost employees over money, it was mostly timing, I did not always have the opportunity available that they were looking for at the time they wanted it. I left General Motors when I felt the need to advance and there were no positions in the foreseeable future. Interesting that right after I left the plant manager told me that I was slated to become the plant engineer but in the GM way they could not tell me that until the position became open.

 

[goeduck]

Aren't pensions in private industry about as rare as hen's teeth these days? (Excluding unions)

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

The problem with the promise of a pension and health care for life is that many times over it is eliminated during a corporate takeover or a bankruptcy. I rarely lost employees over money, it was mostly timing, I did not always have the opportunity available that they were looking for at the time they wanted it. I left General Motors when I felt the need to advance and there were no positions in the foreseeable future. Interesting that right after I left the plant manager told me that I was slated to become the plant engineer but in the GM way they could not tell me that until the position became open.

I have a pension and healthcare for life through my union, there is no corporate takeover.

 

[newbury]

As fully retired CSRS United States federal govt. employees my wife and I have pensions and health care that follow the Cost of Living (COLA) increases, although often it seems to be a diet COLA.
And if a corporate take over comes it will be a doozy.
My father (RIP) retired from IBM about 30 years ago. His retirement package, although generous when he retired did not have automatic COLA.

 

[turbo36]

I have a pension and healthcare for life through my union, there is no corporate takeover.

All the GM, Chrysler and Ford employees thought they had a guaranteed pension and healthcare also but it took a bail out from the government to rescue a percentage of what they were promised.