joreth | Divide & Conquer - Don't Talk About Your Salary (Reply)

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/when-the-boss-says-dont-tell-your-coworkers-how-much-you-get-paid/374467/

"Under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA), all workers have the right to engage “concerted activity for mutual aid or protection” and “organize a union to negotiate with [their] employer concerning [their] wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” ... the law "means that you and your co-workers get to talk together about things that matter to you at work." Even "a nudge from the boss saying 'we don't do that around here' ... is also unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act," Estlund added."

I see this all the time in my freelance industry. Contractors and employees are told not to discuss pay. The more honest-seeming of employers will explain that the reason is because *you* are being paid at a higher rate than everyone else, and it would make everyone else feel bad and demand higher pay when they aren't qualified for the higher pay like *you* are. Backhanded flattery is a good way to get people to comply with shady instructions.

So what happens is that we have a handful of people making a shit-ton of money because they figured out how to leverage their experience into a good negotiation session, the majority of people making decent money but probably below what they're worth compared to the high rollers, and a good portion of newbs who don't know any better taking shit pay and thinking they should be grateful for it but who are actually driving down wages for everyone else.

Why would an employer pay me my regular day rate when they can hire some Full Sail kid at half my rate? Doesn't matter that I'm better, this is a transient kind of industry. By the time someone figures out that the newb sucks, the gig is halfway over and they can't afford to replace him. Then, he has that gig to pad his resume with and he can get the next gig now with more experience but still lower pay, and, again, by the time anyone figures out that he's not as good as me, it's too late to hire me.

So, those of us in the majority middle range lower our rates because we're not in the high demand category of the guys making 3 times what we are for the same work, so we can't afford to just work less and only take the high offers that come around. We have to work *more*, which means working for *less*.

So I talk about rates. I tell the newbies what to expect, and if someone reveals that they're getting paid more than me or more than someone else with more experience or seniority, I say so. I know that I don't make as much as some of my coworkers. But thanks to the union losing its teeth here, I haven't had any luck correcting that yet.

So, I work more hours for less pay, and I make a shocking amount "per hour" and I have a minimum wage retail job on the side and yet still live below the poverty line in a little wooden house literally on the "wrong side of the tracks", with no car payment, no smart phone, the lowest bandwidth internet service possible, no cable, and no expenses other than the necessities - rent, utilities, insurance, gas, food. Cost of living has gone up, but I make the same day rate that I have for 10 years and I make the same income per year that I did when I was fresh out of high school and accepting my first full-time job as a secretary 20 years ago. There was a time when that would have been a decent income. Like, when my mom got her first secretarial job 40 years ago.

Because poverty is a trap and the system is designed to keep us here - the system that includes a million large and tiny things like not discussing wages with coworkers so that no one knows that they're not being paid fairly or what their rights are about that, so that no one can demand a higher wage and possibly pull themselves out of the trap.