How big was your pay raise last year ?

[oldandslow]

I'm on SS so no raise last year or the coming year. I'm doing OK, not great but OK, so I can live with that without too much stress. That doesn't bother me nearly as much as a government agency telling me there was no increase in the cost of living in the last two years and expecting me to believe it. I don't know what fairy land they are living in but they need to get out in the real world and check prices of everything it takes to live, not just their little list of "necessities".

I just read where the White House staff received a 9% raise for this year. 

[MGMorden]

We got 1.5% this year.  Previous 2 years we effectively took a pay cut.  Not in name, but realistically what they did is give us 3 or 4 extra "unpaid holidays" and then reduced our pay across the year to compensate.  3 or 4 days across the whole year isn't much, but it's certainly not the direction I like to see the paycheck go.

We also are in a state of stringent hiring analysis.  No new positions unless you can demonstrate a great need for it, and any person that leaves or retires, their position is heavily evaluated and will not be rehired unless you absolutely can't make do without them.

Prior to the whole economic fiasco we were getting merit raises (determined by supervisor) where I was averaging around 5.5% per year.

[jhm]

     Being retired my pay is dependent on how agressive I am towards making a living ( wait ) that is exactly how it was when I was working, well I guess I cant complain too much.   Jim

[DDZ]

Prior to the whole economic fiasco we were getting merit raises (determined by supervisor) where I was averaging around 5.5% per year.

5.5% on average, you must not be under union rule. Being merit raises I assume it was based on good work, attendance, being on time etc.. One of the problem with unions is when it comes to pay, no one is better than the worst employee, and no one is worse than the best. Doesn't really make sense, but that is no different than what socialism is. 

[jimster]

5.5% on average, you must not be under union rule. Being merit raises I assume it was based on good work, attendance, being on time etc.. One of the problem with unions is when it comes to pay, no one is better than the worst employee, and no one is worse than the best. Doesn't really make sense, but that is no different than what socialism is. 

This does seem to be one of the problems I've been hearing about. No union where I work. Pay differs greatly for people there, and if your a weight around the neck of the company, your just gone.  They recognize individualism where I work, it has worked out for many people, and has not worked out for a few.  A few hourly people got to stay regardless of the layoffs, they made a "few" exceptions for a few outstanding people...this did not sit well with a few people, but it shows everyone that if you try hard it sometimes pays off.  If everyone got treated the same way no matter how hard they worked or did not work, I doubt as many people would strive to get better and push ahead.  Not all companies are the same I suppose.  I work for a good non union place.
For the ones that are not so good, there are state laws and labor laws that keep them from getting too far off the path, and if they choose not to pay very well, they get the type of help that wage brings in, which will reflect in a companies quality as well.

Everyone wants a bite out of a company, the feds with regulations and taxes, the state, the people that work there, maybe a union wants a bite of their money too...I'm just saying in hard times it's not easy for a lot of companies to have everyone taking a bite out of them.  In the end, everyone involved needs to be worried about the company running in the red or making a good profit...or there won't be a company for anyone to take a bite out off.
 

[Cheesehead]

I work in a union shop. Underperformers are,

1. Written up

2. Given days off with out pay

3. Fired, in this order.

If this is not done, management is to blame.

Cheese

[DDZ]

The company I work for has unionized workers, and I have not seen anyone fired for poor work performance in the 25 years I've been there. Let me assure you we have quite a few poor performers. The reason is they know they can't be fired. Sure some are written up, but what does that accomplish? Its like a parent that just yells at their child for misbehavior. Soon the child catches on that there are really no real repercussions for being bad, so they continue to do what they always do.
We have had a few that have got time off because of being late consistently, but never for being lazy. I have seen one person get fired, and that was because he got caught stealing gasoline. The union still tried to save his hide. One employee wrecked a company truck while driving drunk. The union saved his job. So the mentality remains. Do whatever I want and I can't be fired.   
We have had three different supervisors that have tried to get the poor performers to work and they have all been sent to anger management classes. While come contract time the union holds the company hostage for higher and higher wages and more benefits. No matter what the companies profit has been. I have been around unions long enough to know that its always managements fault, and union workers never do anything wrong. 
My biggest complaint is that the union does not allow companies to benefit good workers with more pay. So what is the good worker to do? Join the ranks of the poor performers, knowing he could never be fired for not doing his job, or remain a good employee and continue to do his job at the best of his ability. Its human nature. If there are no consequences for being lazy, people will be lazy, unless its on there heart to go to work and do a good job.
When I first started with this company some of my fellow employees criticized me for doing to much, or going to fast. You see, they wanted everyone to stoop to their level of performance. Their idea was that jobs would leave if workers worked hard and actually gave 8 hours of labor for 8 hours of pay.
All of the poor performers I work with are the biggest union supporters. I wonder why? Also all you guys that are always supporting and backing unions, look at the kind of people that they support. Does this not tell you anything?     

[Lon371]

 That is not a raise. IT'S A BRIBE to put with what ever comes their way

 Must not been enough though. How many has baled in recent months


Lonny

[torpedoman]

I'm retired Federal Civil Service and don't even recall that we got a raise last year. The bad thing is I've been retired for 15 years now and it seems that my health insurance along goes up more each year than whatever small raise I get in my retirement pension.

Hey if you got to vote yourself a raise like Congress does you'd get a nice one each year also.

Bill, congress got ashamed and embarrassed at voting themselves raises every year. They fixed it by making their raise AUTOMATIC, no more embarrassing votes when everyone else is unemployed and the economy is tanking.

[3006softpoint]

We didn't get enough to pay are union dues, Or insurance increase,or the inflation of food & gas and everthing thats going up! Remember first cheap money to borrow then a time of expensive money! Its INFLATION PRINT BABY PRINT!

[MGMorden]

Bill, congress got ashamed and embarrassed at voting themselves raises every year. They fixed it by making their raise AUTOMATIC, no more embarrassing votes when everyone else is unemployed and the economy is tanking.

That is one thing I can honestly give props to our elected officials on here at the office.  Most of us here in the office are hired in standard fashion, but at lot of the upper level people are elected officials.  You can't make policy from an HR position that applies to the pay of an elected official, so they wouldn't have been subject to those "unpaid holidays" that I mentioned.  All of the them in our office though voluntarily took the same pay cuts/holidays as everyone else did.  It was a good gesture at least. 

[1marty]

They gave 2% to me however, jobs have been moving to India and layoffs are accelerating. The bosses said they all will freeze their pay however, they gave each other new titles and took big bonuses. I'm going on 67 and have tried everything to get laid off and get a package but they lay everyone off but me. I was hoping to get layed off before deer season and get my 99 weeks of unemployment along with my pension but nothing works.

[The Hermit]

Most pay raises including Social Security are based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).This little "tool" is used by the Bureau of Labor Satistics to calculate inflation. In theory, the higher the rate, the higher the pay rate would be. The median household income in 1975 was $11,800. Today calculated the CPI method it would be $49,777. Once you calculate honestly, removing geometric weighting and hedonics (fraud), the median should be $154,000, TO HAVE THE SAME PURCHASING POWER. The government logic behind this is simple: If the price of steak is too high, you will buy hamburger, thus there is no change in your budget. Neat, huh? Please notice that the Federal employees are getting the "REAL" rate of inflation, while the rest of us aren't. Our standard of living is decreasing.
Magooch and others are right, watch for rapid price inflation soon. Thanks to Bernake and company, agriculture commodities are rising by 12 to 60%. This $600 BILLION (QE 2)in new dollars will see to that.
Heather, I'm happy for you being able to increase your share of dollars, especially in a healthy way.

The Hermit