in response to charges that workers can't make ends meet, upmc opens employee food pantry (Pittsburgh: lawyers, layoffs)

[tazzled]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'm not "anti-UPMC employees". I'm just more than a bit skeptical as to why they've worked at UPMC for so many years supposedly unhappily and then conveniently waited until now that their employer is vilified in the media and public for its tax-exempt status to speak up and say "we want more money!" It just seems very conveniently timed.

You're not supposed to stay in low-paying positions like the ones the individuals in question possess for a career. They're meant to be entry-level stepping stones to bigger and better things in the future. Right now my salary at PNC is abysmal; however, I'm confident that I'll rise to my desired $40,000 salary range within a few years. I've already gained one promotion to earn $25,000 vs. $20,000. If you're earning a $25,000 salary long-term then why have you never tried to apply elsewhere within the organization to better yourself?

UPMC employees have always asked for living wages, only to be denied. I will never forget, back in 2008, getting a letter that said some crap about how UPMC strives to continually pay competitive wages, only for the end of the letter to tell me that I was getting a 3 cent raise. 3 cents.

The reason UPMC employees stay is out of sheer hopelessness and lack of options. After my first three years with the company, my morale was so beaten that I was applying for literally any and everything just to get out of the system. When they did mass lay-offs (but still kept CEO raises), a number of us volunteered to be laid off, only for them to renege on the offer and deny us that opportunity. Then, I got transferred to a new department which I have been in for another three years. Did I intend/want to stay with UPMC for 6 years after graduating college? Not at all. But what other options are there, really?

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by tazzled

UPMC employees have always asked for living wages, only to be denied. I will never forget, back in 2008, getting a letter that said some crap about how UPMC strives to continually pay competitive wages, only for the end of the letter to tell me that I was getting a 3 cent raise. 3 cents.

The reason UPMC employees stay is out of sheer hopelessness and lack of options. After my first three years with the company, my morale was so beaten that I was applying for literally any and everything just to get out of the system. When they did mass lay-offs (but still kept CEO raises), a number of us volunteered to be laid off, only for them to renege on the offer and deny us that opportunity. Then, I got transferred to a new department which I have been in for another three years. Did I intend/want to stay with UPMC for 6 years after graduating college? Not at all. But what other options are there, really?

I'm sorry but I just can't buy this stuff that UPMC has a hold on people. I can't even fathom staying at an organization for six years that I clearly do not like, and do not feel pays me well. I'd do whatever I could to market myself and get out of what I perceived as a cancerous employment choice.

Disclaimer: I work for UPMC, and the day I come to detest the organization or feel the salary I am paid does not coincide with what I feel I can get elsewhere, I will use my network, my skills and talent, and get the hell out of there. I'm not making excuses for UPMC, I'm not saying they pay everyone well, and I'm not justifying the tax exemptions they benefit from financially.

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by heartchya

They do exist. I have quite a few friends in Pittsburgh with degrees in accounting. They are all my age between 26-28 years old. They all got entry level positions in their field. Most make above 35k a year. Some of them have gone on to further their degrees and are working on their CPA exam. I do know they have had trouble moving up. My best friend has gone on so many interviews trying to advance but she is at least in a position that requires her degree. But there are for sure much better paying jobs out there than 25k for people with accounting degrees. I don't know what SCR's goal is for his career so I won't make suggestions but I do know a few companies where my friends have been able to get in.

I have to agree with this, someone with an accounting degree in their late 20's/early 30's should not be making 25k. There are better paying jobs out there...it might take some time and some patience, and may require more commitment (hours, intent to take CPA exam, etc).

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by jmn3

I can't even fathom staying at an organization for six years that I clearly do not like, and do not feel pays me well.

Everybody working at Arby's lacks your level of emotional maturity.

[tazzled]

Originally Posted by jmn3

I'm sorry but I just can't buy this stuff that UPMC has a hold on people. I can't even fathom staying at an organization for six years that I clearly do not like, and do not feel pays me well. I'd do whatever I could to market myself and get out of what I perceived as a cancerous employment choice.

Disclaimer: I work for UPMC, and the day I come to detest the organization or feel the salary I am paid does not coincide with what I feel I can get elsewhere, I will use my network, my skills and talent, and get the hell out of there. I'm not making excuses for UPMC, I'm not saying they pay everyone well, and I'm not justifying the tax exemptions they benefit from financially.

I have managed to successfully do that, now. And it took an incredibly long time and hard work to do. People's lives are not so black and white, and it's not so easy to just hop from job to job, especially when you're trying to form a solid career trajectory that makes you a desirable employee.

[groar]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'm making character judgments about these people who make more than I do because I know for a fact that if I can scape by on less then they, too, should be able to, and I also don't understand why someone who already makes more than I do for doing work that is no more skilled than I do should be garnering such widespread support for complaining about their pay while I garner malaise.

you still don't understand that not everyone's life situation is the same as yours.

you've mentioned that you want children - try raising some for a few years then come back and read this post and realize how super wrong you are.

by the way, if pnc tellers (or whatever you do) tried to organize i would support that too. i think it's important for workers to band together to equalize the power imbalance between employer and employee. your labor is valuable to your employer and you should be compensated fairly for it, not just given the bare minimum that can retain people with what's considered an acceptable level of turnover.

also, i don't think you know what malaise means. and the only reason people are ragging on you for complaining about your pay is because you are being a massive hypocrite.

[mhen]

Originally Posted by tazzled

UPMC employees have always asked for living wages, only to be denied. I will never forget, back in 2008, getting a letter that said some crap about how UPMC strives to continually pay competitive wages, only for the end of the letter to tell me that I was getting a 3 cent raise. 3 cents.

I got a $0.01 raise (probably around that same time -- beat ya!) and my supervisor laughed when she gave me the letter. Ha. B****!

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Right. I'm working a low-paying job now for an organization I highly respect and admire with the aspiration of eventually rising into a mid-level position. Unlike the UPMC employees in question I wouldn't languish year after year after year going nowhere and then raise a ruckus saying "pay me more for my relatively unskilled position because I'm struggling".

You "won't languish year after year going nowhere" and you won't "raise a ruckus about pay me more money"? Hope not, but we'll see. Boasting about expectations doesn't carry much credence--especially when you've had a long history of bragging about expectations that don't materialize. So until you actually have this expected career progression, don't be so quick to judge. For all you know, you might find yourself languishing just as much as these people--and raising an even bigger ruckus than any of them.

[sealie]

Some of us folks are college-degreed professionals and have been around the block a few times. Including a bad economy. Living on the left coast in IT work when the bottom fell out of the dotcoms was not my idea of a good time. I saw many, many people refuse to leave a company due to "loyalty" who got downsized without so much as a thank-you. I saw people -many - at the "right" company in the wrong position, waiting on someone to notice their hard work and put them where they belonged. Didn't happen. I'm not whistling in the dark here, I know what I'm talking about. If for every 10 people on the front line, 1 person gets promoted to team lead and for every 10 leads one gets promoted to department manager, you've got 99 losers for every winner, and probably half of them thought they were going to be the one. Every year you go down this road it is going to get harder to redirect your career to where you want it to be. That is a fact.

[Seekingcreativity]

Originally Posted by jmn3

This is just ridiculous - this is illegal and if someone is caught doing it, a lawyer would have a field day! No reputable organization (including the highly detested UPMC) is doing that on reference calls even if they wanted to.

Ok that's if they are caught doing it (key word: caught). How can they be caught? Who will take on the case if she is let go for something that they came up with? How can she afford to fight the company? Don't say it's ridiculous when it happens all of the time.