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I read it the same way Ron did. That the hourly rate was $70 and they wanted to cut it back, and cut benefits, so I did not think that the pay rate was including benefits. If they are rolling the cost of company nurse, etc... in then I can see where a $14 cut can be more of a cut than before.
Please also keep in mind that even if your competitors are in a foreign country, they are still your competitors. If you charge more for the same product, your product really has to be superior in every way, and there is still a limit. I work in the telecommunications industry (cell phones), and our competitors are all either completely foreign or (as we are) a foreign company with a US company as a subsidiary to handle US operations, with the exception of Motorola. Motorola now is for sale. They are folding. Qualcomm did the same when I worked for them, they sold to Kyocera. The reality is the US company has to compete with the foreign company. In our case, they use top quality materials, but the manufacturing (based in Korea) costs are very low due to very low labor costs. This keeps the Top Tier phones priced in the same range as Motorola's Mid Tier phones. Hard to compete with that, when your labor costs are 3 times your competitor.
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