Last year, we found out just before Christmas that my husband would have the whole month of January off. He works for Caterpillar Inc. They closed the plant down because of lack of orders. Because of this, we had to be very careful how we spent money for Christmas. My husband did get unemployment, but it was less than what he regularly made.
He went back to work in February, only to be told that come March, they would be going to a two week on and two week off work schedule. It didn’t end there. As the year went on, the 40 hour weeks that they were working when working, became 32 hour weeks. Just recently, they have gone back to working every week. The weeks, though, were still 32 hour weeks.
Now, we are facing a pay cut of $3 an hour. This is supposed to be an across the board pay cut. It is supposed to affect everyone. It starts in December with $1 an hour cut in pay. January and February will each see a $1 an hour pay cut. With each pay cut, we will be getting a small bonus check. Not only will this bonus check be small, but it will be heavily taxed, making it smaller. The way I look at it, I will at least be able to buy groceries with it for the month.
Needless to say, Christmas this year will be difficult. We are getting by with next to nothing, but thanks to our credit card, our basic needs are being met. I understand that the economy is hard and that companies have to make cut backs. What I don’t understand is why upper management is scheduled to get a huge bonus check when it looks like the regular employees will be losing their meager yearly bonus checks. Word has it that there is an email going around the company stating that upper management was getting a bigger bonus than usual. Is this correct? I don’t know, but it is believed to be so by employees, including middle management. Merry Christmas to Caterpillar Inc.
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