"Speedup;" Work More for Same Pay

Just recently, I sat at the library reading – as I do, and I came across a new term from Mother Jones. It was ‘speedup’. The idea has been a way of life for me for longer than I’d like to remember, but the word itself is new to me. Speedup is an
employer’s demand for an accelerated output without increased pay. It seems to
be just another ‘American Way’. Our economy is not working and our job market
seems slim. And with situations such as this speedup, how does one keep ones
head up and aspire to success? Mother Jones says the first step to recovery is to admit there is a problem.

Okay, so here it is. There is a problem of pandemic proportions. And even though, just a month ago, ABC said there are only 4 applicants per job and the Dow is up, I still see people struggling to keep their jobs and others who are struggling to get one.

In the past, I was a victim of this ‘speedup’ – not currently. So, are you a victim? Most 99%ers are victims. The real question is: once we admit the problem, then what? Just how do we insist that employers pay more attention to their employees needs? Profits are up, executive bonuses are up, employee jobs are down, employee pay is down, employee benefits are down; yet employer expectations are up.

So, it seems while the rest of us run around with our heads cut off, corporations continually prosper. The only way we can get this to change is by electing one of ‘us’ – or a lot of ‘us’. Our Senators and Representatives should depict the real population. So, technically the distribution is way off; but to be fair, I say it should be 50/50 (in the House and in the Senate –half rich/half poor). The way I see it, the middle class has dwindled and all that’s left is the rich and the poor – us and them. So, in order for our voice to be heard, we need to truly be represented – where it counts.

Are you poor and feeling unappreciated? Are you working and feel like you are doing three jobs on a one job salary? Do you own a small business and feel like the regulations are made to benefit only larger companies? Do you go to work every day and feel like you have to sacrifice yourself just to keep your job? These are all common worries. And it reminds me of something I saw on the television recently.

In an episode of Law and Order, Lt. Anita Van Buren was telling Det. Green to fight for his job, and he told her that he was too tired.

“How do you do it?” Green asked.

“One foot in front of the other for thirty years,” the Lt. told him.

The writers of that show know as much as I do about the struggle. So many people are living with less these days. And I believe that our families and relationships are suffering. With all the extra we have to do to survive, there leaves little room to take Little Billy to the zoo, or maybe he’d  like mommy to take a day off from work and come to one of his soccer games. As I always say, “the people you meet in your travels of life are most important.” Working 12 hour days, checking your email while having dinner and writing business reports on your weekends does not spell productivity to me. So, are we doing more with less or just doing less? Remember the days when you got pay increases as the cost of living increased?

I sometimes feel that my efforts to stay afloat – financially – go unrewarded; by this I mean to say that I feel as if I eat my Wheaties, pay the piper, sleep 8 hours a day, drink 6-8 glasses of water a day, yet I’m still coming in last in the big road race. Somehow the playing field has been changing right under our noses. And where does this leave us? Is there value to having identified the problem? Is there comfort in knowing we are not alone and we are not imagining things when it feels like we are in quicksand?

To say that I have learned to live with less would be an understatement. While I was growing up, my mother and an aunt did a more than adequate job of providing for my needs and desires.  Yet, as an adult I have struggled from the
moment that I was on my own. Having said that, sometimes I wake up and wonder what I am doing. But, then I go to bed, wake up and keep trying anyway. What does that mean? I’m not sure, but tomorrow I’ll get up and see what happens. If I am doing more to stand still, then at least I can hope that I like where I am standing.

“As long as I am here, I will be of use.” Maya Angelou