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

[Seekingcreativity]

Originally Posted by UKyank

So UPMC (or all employers for that matter) should take into account everyone's personal life situation before deciding what they should pay them?

If $27,000 cannot support her she needs to change her life situation asap rather then spend the past 9 years and her current time b*tching about it.
She isnt being chained to a desk & being made to work at UPMC and if she cannot posssibly find work elsewhere thats not UPMCs fault that she is low in the skills department.

There's lots of guessing as to this lady's life going on here when no information was given - i'm merely going by the facts that she is being paid X amount of dollars for what UPMC deems her service is worth & she apparently deems that too low but is doing nothing to prove otherwise.

How do you know she isn't doing anything about it? Ok say she is applying for jobs and she gets a call back for an interview. She will have to miss work in order to go to that interview, and she can get hired or she won't be able to get hired, so she is out of that days pay because she went for an interview hoping to be hired some place else. Usually, if a person has a few years at a company, the company rewards these people with raises, which she could have thought she was going to get for being a loyal employee, and so if she got hired elsewhere, she's back to square one most likely. Also, have you heard of black balling? We don't know if this company is telling possible employers that call in to ask about her employment history negative things. We just don't know, we don't know if she's being lazy, or if she's being treated unfairly by the company. We just know by this story that the company is way off base when handling the plight of their employee

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by sparrowmint

Well, aside from there being long term trends towards falling wages in America, that being a national trend, not individual failings. Everyone is replaceable and job security, let alone any kind of loyalty towards hard workers, doesn't exist. The cliches of the past should stay in the past. The just world fallacy is exactly what it says it is.

There is no loyality, never was. I worked at US Steel back in the day, what a joke. Saw the end coming in the mid-70's, moved on and started my own biz. The days of putting in 40 hours for 35 years and getting a pension is over, unless you work for the govt.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Seekingcreativity

How do you know she isn't doing anything about it?

Because she's still there

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by Seekingcreativity

Also, have you heard of black balling? We don't know if this company is telling possible employers that call in to ask about her employment history negative things.

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.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

so you (obviously) work for PNC and spend some of your time there peeping at people's spending habits and passing judgment on them*? looking forward to all the "bootstraps" advice people give you when you're on here soon whining about being unemployed.

edit- *in a public forum on the internet

It's not a matter of "peeping at people's spending habits" as much as it is being aghast at how little personal financial responsibilty people are willing to assume for their own overspending. If you earn more than I do and have the audacity to proclaim you can't afford food in order to rally people against your employer then yes I will judge you. You can always rent out a spare bedroom (or your own bedroom while you crash on the couch), pick up a second job, and curtail expenditures to survive. I've done all of the above instead of demanding my employer give me a raise for unskilled work.

Other than demonizing UPMC for being a tax-exempt non-profit I still see no reason why there is so much outrage over their pay scales for unskilled workers vs. the pay scales for unskilled workers at other large employers that pay less than UPMC. I WILL pass judgment on anyone who has the nerve to berate me for their own poor spending habits and inability to budget to make life work. Working two jobs sucks, but if many employees of PNC and many other low-paying employers do it to survive then why can't those who are causing such an uproar within UPMC do the same?

Originally Posted by Neckbeard89

Don't bank guys get paid commission? If you are underpaid it is your fault. I have been in this city for a very short while and have already climbed to an assistant manager position at a very well known electronic store. Start working as hard as us southerners do and maybe you'll achieve enough that you don't have to whine on the internet about it, jerk.

Commission? Yes. A paltry one relative to revenue generated. I earned more commissions working in retail. With that being said I can make my life work for me given what I do earn and am only flipping out because I don't understand why those who make more than me for less skilled work are garnering so much sympathy on this forum other than people on this forum largely espousing unrelated negative opinions of UPMC to begin with. Also, I wasn't aware the terms of service permitted name-calling. Nice way to introduce yourself to the forum as a class act.

Originally Posted by Copanut

I always felt if I wasn't making the money I thought I was worth, the problem must be me. Quit complaining and work harder, or get more education, or whatever, life ain't fair, as Mr. Cope used to say n'at.

Why is everyone attacking ME for basically saying this same thing to employees of UPMC?

Originally Posted by mangmang

For me the problem isn't necessarily that S.C.R. is complaining about his salary (I mean, I do the same thing). He's isn't complaining about his paycheck directly. Instead he's making CHARACTER JUDGEMENTS about people who make more than him. ._.

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.

If we're going to force UPMC to pay higher wages to its front-lime employees then why not do the same for Wal-Mart, PNC, the University of Pittsburgh, and other large employers with a large local presence who are notorious for low hourly wages for relatively unskilled employees? It still doesn't make sense to me why such a witch hunt against UPMC exists.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by UKyank

Because she's still there

Exactly. If UPMC's working conditions were as awful as are being portrayed (and being echoed by the anti-UPMC clique on this sub-forum), then why has she continued to work there for years?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Exactly. If UPMC's working conditions were as awful as are being portrayed (and being echoed by the anti-UPMC clique on this sub-forum), then why has she continued to work there for years?

And you seem to be leading the anti-PNC clique...

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

And you seem to be leading the anti-PNC clique...

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Contrary to what people may have gleaned from this thread, though, I absolutely love PNC. They really could stand to pay slightly higher salaries to help retain talented front-line workers instead of shrugging their shoulders nonchalantly at high turnover, but I feel fortunate to work for one of the world's "greenest" corporations that also has invested millions to improve the lives of children as well as those who live in less fortunate areas. My benefits aren't as good as what UPMC offers, but at least I have benefits, which I feel blessed for. My partner's employer pays him so little he can't even afford health insurance. Ditto many of our friends, which should be alarming to those who champion Pittsburgh for having an excellent job market.

Very astute of you.

[Copanut]

SSR,

Not attacking you, merely questioning. You seem to be highly educated but seem content to take a low paying job. Right or wrong?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Copanut

SSR,

Not attacking you, merely questioning. You seem to be highly educated but seem content to take a low paying job. Right or wrong?

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". I feel like these workers would be garnering half as much sympathy from people on this sub-forum if people on here didn't already harbor such disdain for UPMC to begin with. It's as if these employees are just riding the coattails of UPMC hatred in an attempt to get raises instead of taking the advice of someone like you, me, or UKYank and trying to better themselves the old-fashioned way. It just really infuriates me to see people trying to "cop-out" like this while garnering so much support on here.