Posted: 2009-09-17 13:32:50
I just got back from a nice long walk, and while I was out and about I saw some construction workers on strike. I didn't really read their signs, I just walked through them. But it got me wondering about numbers.
Now I know that there are more reasons to strike than just higher pay, for instance better benefits or shorter work days. But for the sake of my thinking, I'm going with higher pay.
So, let's say we have a worker who makes $22/hour. Not a bad wage for construction (I think). He decides that he isn't happy with this and goes on strike for two weeks before the higher-ups cave in and raise his pay.
Now, with those two unpaid weeks he's accumulated from striking, how much more per hour would he have to be given to break even on the year?
Assuming he works a standard 40 hour work week, $22/hour equates to $45,760 a year (I'm not taking taxes and other pay deductions into account here. Net or gross, the idea is the same). Now, with those two weeks unpaid because of the strike, he's down to $44,000. He loses $1,760 because of his unrest.
Let's say he gets a measly $1/hour raise, up to $23/hour. I may not seem like much, but that works out to $46,000 if we deduct those two weeks unpaid. That's already $240 more than he would have made that year if he didn't go on strike!
I'll be honest, when I started thinking about this, I was actually thinking they would have to get a more substantial raise to break even (or come out ahead). But it turns out that even just $1/hour at the rate is a 4.5% raise, and this years 'cost of living' raise was only 2.2%. In theory, they're asking for double what their normal raise would be.
So what's the end result here? Maybe a typical strike would last longer (thus requiring a larger pay increase to provide benefit), or maybe an employer would scoff at a 4.5% raise when 2.2% is what they were expecting. I'm no economist, I just get bored when there's no work to do.
Have your own thoughts about my stupid mathematical ramblings? Let me know in the comments.
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Posted: 2009-09-16 10:31:05
Hello Dear Reader. My but it's been a while. Almost a full month! Part of it has just been me being lazy, but I've also been really busy. But let's not point fingers here. The point is, now you're getting updated on my life, which is all you ever really wanted. Right?
Few weeks back Amber and I drove out to Cincinnati to visit Valhallodin Jeff and Leesa. I lucked out and got to sleep through most of the boring part of the drive, then took over the wheel once we were out of cornfields. Cincinnati is surprisingly pretty in late summer with lush green hills and thick forests. Granted it's also really close to Kentucky. Ugh.
We got to hang out at the posh Cricket Lounge and Leesa got us some special deserts which looked awesome and tasted even better. We also got a tour of the kitchen which was pretty cool. I felt like I was on Top Chef.
Over Labor Day, Amber, Ethan and I drove out to New York. No, not NY, NY. Just plain old NY. Like, you might as well have been in Pennsylvania. Amber's brother has a little trailer out in Chautauqua (read: middle of nowhere) on an old Lutheran summer camp. It reminded me a bit of my days up at Sugar Creek. Yea, I know, me at a Bible camp... weird.
It was nice to finally get to meet the rest of Amber's family, and I think everything went quite well. There was lots of keeping the kids entertained, drinking started around 3:30, and we had a campfire every night. Not the typical vacation, but fun none the less.
The past few days I've had a wicked head cold, producing more mucus than any human should be capable of. I'm finally on the mend, which is good because The Van Goghs have a show this Friday night at Silvie's. I highly recommend you attend. We are awesome.
I updated the Twitter code on this site so if it can't seem to get my tweets for whatever reason, the whole site no longer crashes. Hooray! Hopefully I'll have some time to add a few more enhancements over the next couple weeks. Like, oh, I dunno, finally getting some music or pictures up here! Yea, I'll think about it.
B
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Posted: 2009-08-16 13:18:22
Let me get this out in the open right from the get-go: I don't do art. I've been to dozens of art museums all over the place. From Chicago to Rome, Paris to London, I've walked through way more art museums than I'd like to admit. And the thing is, I don't really like them.
That being said, the new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the worst art museums I've been to. It was a free night to get in, so I went with a few friends to check it out. Not only was I underwhelmed, but I was actually angry at the place for making me look at such stupid stuff. Let's start at the beginning.
Some dude decided that if he made his paintings really big, people might think they were better. So there is a room filled with full wall-sized paintings of 'peonies'. They are basically large colored circles with lots and lots of paint drips under them. Really? You give me some watery paint and I could do that.
In the photography room, there were two 'photos' side by side, one numbered #22 and one numbered #24. Both of these photos were silver and reflective, not unlike a blurry mirror. There were identical, without any sort of actual photograph in them. And they were probably 'priceless'. Pathetic.
Then there was the room that was covered entirely in wallpaper that depicted a lynching. It had an empty wedding dress in the middle of the room, and sporadically placed around where bags of cat litter. The note in the room said the artist was trying to demonstrate the strife of racial inequality with the lynching wall paper, the struggle of women with the empty wedding dress, and tied everything together with cat litter, which is both a repository for shit but also keeps things clean. Rubbish.
So there-in lies my beef with modern art. It's like artists realized that Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Picasso all did it better than they ever could, so they just try to do something else and call it art. The problem with modern art is that it isn't about looking good (what I think art is supposed to be about) but rather about what it is expressing.
Now, I'm more of a musical person, but I don't listen to songs because of what the songwriter is trying to express. I listen to it because it has a catchy melody, a cool drum part, or a sick guitar solo. I don't want to look at art that has some deep meaning behind it (most of which makes me want to punch the artist for being a pansy). I want to look at art that looks cool. It's a visual medium, so make it enjoyable.
Perhaps if I had taken a few art history classes, or was a painter myself, I would appreciate the stuff more. But as it stands, I really wish I had those two hours back. I'd use them to look up copies of The Last Supper (with dogs) on Google instead.
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Posted: 2009-08-05 11:25:03
So, Leo Burnett (and Arc World Wide) were established 74 years ago today. In order to celebrate, there is all sorts of crazy stuff going on in the office today.
First of all, TONS of free food down in the lobby. Granted most as 'continental breakfast' style, a la Holiday Inn, but it was still free food.
There are also 74 cans of High Life hidden all over the 20th floor. One of those cans is the 'anniversary can' and if you find that one they'll give you the other 73 cans! That's a lot of High Life. If you follow my tweets (and you should), you'll recall a comment about the plentiful beer in this office. I like their style here.
Also, if you happen to watch my facebook statuses like a hawk (and you should), you'll recall my mention of the apples available to all on every floor here. Well, turns out it's a little piece of Leo Burnett history. Back when he started the company, in the wake of the depression, a newspaper writer said of Burnett (and I'm paraphrasing) "He'll never make it. He'll be out on the street selling apples!" So Burnett started giving away apples to all employees and guests just to spite that writer.
Well, this morning, there was an orange on everyone's desk. I can only assume this is some "ha ha it's an orange not an apple thing." Almost like an inside joke, but not.
Moral of the story, this place is pretty cool.
Also, there's a ping pong tournament on my floor!
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Posted: 2009-08-03 20:43:37
Sweet Christ on a cracker, it's been way too long since I've written in this thing. I know some people (Mom) are really starting to go through withdrawal. So I'm not sure what I'm gonna go for here: either a full update, or a ramble with updates interspersed between my current lofty thoughts.
Few weeks back, I said 'sayonara' to ye old Sandstorm Design. Fact of the matter is, I did not like it there for a myriad of reasons, so I left. But lo and behold, the 'Bryan you are awesome' bell rang just that very day.
Arc World Wide gave me a ring and, after failing to successfully complete a phone interview, offered me a month long contractor job. Let's just say I was a little reluctant to go back to working for a large corporation, but a one month contract job seemed like a win-win situation. I get to check it out, test the waters so-to-speak, and I get to make some good money working on cool projects.
Well, we're now staring the 3rd week at Arc and I gotta say, it's really freakin cool. The office is right down on Wacker Dr. and I get to feel like a real Chicagoan, taking the L to work, looking out my window at the Chicago river, and ignoring the same 12 bums every day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a full time placement there or even just an extended contract.
Here's my thoughts on the current pop-culture death phenomenon. Used to be good, used to be hot, used to be loud, used to be ... um, news? Oh yea, and then this guy. Aside from having a hilarious name, he was also 111!!!! That's freakin old! But the moral of the story is that death is sad, no matter who dies. But our stupid culture gets so freaking hung up on celebrity death it's disgusting. I want to punch myself every time I turn on the TV because there is inevitably something on about one of them (probably MJ). And I don't even have cable!
In band news, The Van Goghs have been playing some shows around and have been sounding awesome (adoring fan's words, not mine). We've got a few more coming up, so check out the facebook and/or myspace page and come see us! We also just released a 4 son demo that we recorded over at Gravity Studios and it sounds great! I urge you to check myspace or facebook to take a listen, or just check back here as I should have it available for download sooner or later.
So, as not to drone on and on and on. I think I shall stop here, and maybe just try to update a little more regularly. Peace out.
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Posted: 2009-07-19 12:01:23
Amber flew out to Denver this past Thursday to spend the weekend with one of her best friends for her baby shower. This left me all alone in the house with the cats to fend for myself. Turns out, I'm a pretty boring person.
Friday I spent most of the day playing video games, reading, and messing around with Flash. Nothing much productive came out of it, except maybe a slightly better understanding of flash. Hopefully I'll be able to put it to work soon.
Saturday I had my scooter class which was actually pretty fun and went really well. I'm all set to take the M class license test next Friday, but I don't think I'll be investing in a larger scoot until next summer. All I really want is one that I don't hit my knees on in sharp turns. Oh the joys of being 6'4".
Today I will be venturing out to Island Lake to see Dane and Emily's new house. From the pictures, they live on a mansion with a lakefront view, so I'm excited. Then it's time to head to the airport to pick up Amber, and then I'm hoping to watch Bill Maher's Religulous.
Certainly not the crazy weekend I had anticipated, but not so bad. Hope everyone else had a good weekend!
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Mike said:
I'm not sure exactly how union pay rates work, but I'd assume they get to keep that raise for the following years, as well. If they get an extra $1/hour, that's an extra $2,080 every year. Even if it takes a month or two, over the course of a career, it'll pay off. That's, of course, assuming that the employer has unlimited resources and doesn't have to lay anyone off to compensate for raises for the entire workforce.
Doug said:
In the strict parameters you have outlined, you may be correct that striking is not optimal for the construction force. However, there are other factors to consider.
If a worker doesn't strike, and continues to get paid the $22/hr, eventually his pay will be lessened by inflation. Which is why union contracts have cost-of-living increases stipulated.
Also, striking demonstrates the solidarity of the workers against the owners. In general, ownership has the power and the money. Labor has only their collective man-power. If they are unable to stick together, they will be swallowed up by ownership who does not have their best interests at heart (usually).
Without a solid labor union, companies can lower wages whenever they feel like, reduce benefits or refuse to give them at all. 40-hour workweek? Hell no, you're coming in on Sunday if you like being employed. Child labor, don't mind if I do? Chaining the doors of the factory to keep workers productive? Yep. All these things were done before the advent of the modern labor movement.
Some say that labor unions have outlived their usefulness since we have gone past the evils of child labor and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory (look it up, hundreds of women died because the owners chained the doors and place caught fire.) I say that the people with the money will try to screw the workers whenever possible, because they didn't get rich by giving their money away. Therefore, in order to earn a living wage in exchange for their labor, the working man should join a union and, if necessary, strike.
panda sneezes said:
what doug said.