Circuit City fires 3400 overpaid employees

Eeastcoasthandle

Does this remotely make sense to anyone? How do you fire people who have put their time into a company and earned the wage they have? How do you promote salary increases then take it back? No matter how this pans out that alone is an ethical issue.

DailyTech - Circuit City Fires 3,400 "Overpaid" Employees

DudeBoyz

It makes SENSE from an Evil Publicly Traded Corporation standpoint, but I think it STINKS!

I'm stuned they are being so blatent about it - like they don't even care what the public thinks.

I honestly believe what they are doing is WRONG morally and perhaps ethically.

But I also think it is a STUPID thing to do given that they are launching that FIRE DOG program. Why would anybody want to invest a dime in that service when you know flat out that they canned their most experienced and capable people because they didn't want to actually pay them what they deserved to get paid?

With publicly traded companies, is it all about the shareholder and no longer about the customers?

I don't see myself ever shopping at Circuit City again after hearing this. I mean, I understand business is business, but this just seems way too over the line. How are you supposed to raise a family when companies like this are canning good people to keep wages down?

I'm not much of a Union person, but with cases like this, I can see why people have supported Unions in the past and why some are calling for more workers to Unionize.

kris23

circuit city was trash to me anyway....... the products on shelves were in beat up boxes, selection is VERY poor compared to lets say....Fry's, they're overpriced and so on and it just goes on and on


im not going there again

The_Neon_Cowboy

kmart did this last year... chopping off long timers that where "grand Fathered" aka
they get like 6 weeks of vacation time each year, they get paid double time on Sundays
and holidays.

vs time and 1/2 , vs 1 week of vacation each year you work the newer people get
not to mention they can hire 2/3 full timers or 5-6 part timers for the same of that
one employee...

one woman has worked there for 30+ yeasr and was 1 year short of a full kmart
retirment. So ashe gets a fraction of what she would had gotten. given a life time
to a company just to get dicked in the end. just b to be further insulted by being offerd
thier jobs back, with none of thier benfits, and a fraction of the pay.....

DudeBoyz

We need a union.

SFOSOK

F*ck Unions, the job security from one keeps moronic workers on and skilled ones out.

This does suck but if you have your life goal to retire through a retail chain then you better save your pennies.

DudeBoyz

You're really a disagreeable sort. Not so fun to converse with most times.

SFOSOK

If I were to agree with everyone I talked to then they would their opinion as absolute because no one challanged it.

Its not that my actually opinion is different than everyone else's but that the flaws in the opinions of others can and should be exploited to make for a stronger arguement and better learning experience.



If everyone was in agreement and there was no conflict, there would be no progress and no need for it.

Maddogg6

Id have to agree here.... (dont have a heart attack SFO lolz)

Unions reward mediocrity, add an additional layer of politics and is greatly the motivation for outsourcing to avoid inflated union wages - not to mention dues that end up squandered on everything BUT employees.

Unions *used* to be about the workers and were needed - now they're just about $$$$$ and greed.

If the company sucks and you are actually worth something - go some where else that does appreciate skilled hard work - but if your a slacker with no skills - no union is gonna save your ass like they have for others in the past. That gravy train has left the station.

Besides - the auto industry is proof a union is powerless if the company cant pay the demands and still survive. Plenty more (10's of thousands in MI alone) have been laid off from assembly. The city of Flint was completely destroyed by a couple of closed plants alone. (re: Micheal Moores 'Roger and Me' movie) 3,400 nationwide is a drop in the bucket compared.

But its curious why they are using the word 'fired' in the article - can you say 'spin' or 'manipulation'??

edit: if they are 'fired' - I would seriously look into a class action suit.

Dowaco

Most of the time in forums like this I see people trashing CC employees as worthless dummies and saying if you don't buy online then you are paying too much.

Personally, I cannot say I have ever been impressed with Best Buy or Circuit City or Compusa employees for their vast knowledge of the technology they sell. Of course that is not to say that they are all overpaid, some are undoubtedly very good. What happened here is that the company had a plan with respect to employee salaries compared to competitors that failed to deliver the desired effect of improving market share of the markets they were in.

In a chain store like this, selling is what is important, not actually knowing anything about the product. If it was a case of continuing down the road they were traveling, paying folks too much to do a sales job, and going under, or reducing payroll and modifying the business plan, the choice must have been clear. This is a cut in jobs for 8% of the staff who were making more than they were worth.

The stockholders love it because it saves money. Customers think they can now get lower prices. The only people who don't like it are Circuit City employees. If the laid off workers are sad enough to go back there then they deserve what they get. The ones who stay have no incentive to perform because they will reach the salary cap more quickly. What should have happened is the executive who allowed salary to get out of control should have been fired. Morale there must be extremely low.

DudeBoyz

Unions with limited rights, including collective bargaining and job protection could be a very good thing. It could be different than the past, in that you could fire employees on a case by case basis for cause.

Something to protect good workers from mass firings like this, where the only intention of Circuit City is to dump them and hire cheaper replacements for the same jobs.

Wage protection should be another item considered. They should not be able to force employees to accept pay cuts, for example. A union could help prevent that being unilaterally implemented.

There are families to feed and bills to pay. Workers making a decent living wage not only have the ability to support themselves and their families, but they spend more money in the economy, which helps other workers.

I think what Circuit City is doing is short-sighted, cruel and unfair.

Dowaco

Most big companies have what is called an "at will" relationship with employees. That means the employee can quit at any time they choose and not give any reason for doing so. At the same time, employers can let an employee go, also without giving a reason. As long as there is no discrimination, the practice of terminating any employee is legal. Having a job is not a right and companies are not obligated to pay citizens wages just because they have a family or a sick mother or because the economy might benefit. Companies are in business to make money, not to provide jobs.

If you had 100 people working for you and you were losing money, you might need to let some of them go. How do you choose? Well, if they all have the same job description, then obviously the ones who do the same job for less money are more valuable to you. So you take the 8 with the highest salary and terminate them. You cannot pick and choose who to let go, because then you are open to discrimination lawsuits. Maybe in 6 months or so you can rehire 8 more people at a lower salary and you are not barring the folks you let go from reapplying.
If you were making $16 an hour and your co-worker was making $20/hr and you both did the exact same job, then wouldn't you want the company to do something about that? If they paid you $20 as well, then the company goes bankrupt and everyone loses their job.

DudeBoyz

I have a different perspective now then when I was younger. I'm much more skeptical of public corporations and more supportive of workers. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but that's how I feel.

Eeastcoasthandle

With age comes experience it's nothing to be ashame about. The issue is simple there was a complete failure to abide by the salary structure and instead of holding those responsible (empolyees cannot give themselves a salary increase) they get rid of the people affected by those decisions.

Also, "at will" is also a term used when:
-you sell your CC stock
-refuse to buy CC stock
-refuse to buy CC merchandise
-etc.

"At will" is a 2 way street, be careful not to cross the double yellow line

Zelig

Someone has to work retail, should those people be screwed?

That's how capitalism works best.

Maddogg6

Of course not... but what about ANYONE who gets screwed.
IT pros whos jobs got shipped over seas - ya know who spent $$$ on their education.. What $$$ for education was spent to get a retail sales job...
So imo - there are far worse examples of how people get screwed - legally.

These people must have known they were paid above the wage cap - but they ignored the signs and now its biting them in the ass... sorry bout their bad foresightedness.

I'll add - its the ONLY way a free country CAN work. Corporation owners are not exempt from freedom. Nor should they be.

Bottom line - any of those 3400 people, if they are *not* lazy dumb ass' are most likely better off in the long run. Good help is hard to find, so theres IS a market for good help, and always will be.

It may sting at first, sure - but I'll guarantee - over time - the 'good workers' will say 'It was the best thing that happened to me'.

The slackers will still be bitching about it in 10 years - or - stop being slackers. So even then - it may be the best thing for them as well - if it motivates some lazy ass to earn their keep.

'It aint fair' - well I'll respond with what I was told when I was much younger..
'Life aint fair - get used to that idea - make your self worth something to others and life will be *more* fair to you - but never completely fair.'

DudeBoyz

Hey, nobody forced Circuit City to pay those workers increased wages. They did so because their workers gained knowledge, experience and expertise, and deserved the raises.

Why they would be willing to invest in all of that training and then simply throw it out the window is beyond me. Don't you WANT to have a well trained, hard working group of employees? Especially if you are trying to sell those abilities as a packaged Fire Dog service?

Dowaco

I doubt that raises were based on knowledge or expertise. More likely they were cost of living increases. Companies pay people what they can get away with, not what they are worth. I see a scenario where four years ago some exec said "we are losing people to Best Buy and Staples, lets increase pay". This lead to a decrease in attrition and allowed some dead wood to hang around.

Eeastcoasthandle

This is incorrect. In order to get above the salery structure of $15.50, in upwards of $17-$18 an hour they had to do something to show their worth to the company. That is how the salary structure works. The probelm is that those in charge failed to stick to the salary cap of $15.50 regardless of the reason. They cannot pay you what they do not have to pay you so COLA beomes mute. That is not the employee's fault. You cannot get COLA if it goes beyond the salary cap. Also, if it was COLA EVERYONE (let me repeat that EVERYONE) would have gotten it and would have affected a lot more then just 3400 people. I am sure there are more then 3400 people that work for CC that have more then 5 years with the company who are reaching or near the salary cap.

Zelig

I don't really have a big problem with outsourcing. IT pros here are free to move to India if they think they can get better jobs there.

And it isn't as if people in India (or wherever else) aren't intelligent, well-educated people. They also pay $$$ for education in order to get a job.

SFOSOK

Not screwed but the retail industry is not concrete. The job security is always fluctuating and its not just about working hard.

If you aspire to have a career in retail you should prepare for it to f*ck you, because in the end thats what it will do. Its business and money.

ronnn

Join a union!! I did and don't need to worry about trying to live on $18 an hour.

SFOSOK

Sorry, I prefer to earn my job security instead of having to pay someone extra just so I don't lose my job. I've worked for a Union before and needless to say, I hated it.

DudeBoyz

When you are working to support yourself and raise a family, Job Security can be more important than ever. I hope that the union serves you we