Interpreters, I am happy to inform you that our complaints did not go unnoticed. Today I received a call from Winnie Heh, the Vice President of Global Operations. It was exactly the opportunity we wanted to express our grievances to a person that could actually change something. I cannot say that our conversation was all that fruitful. I was fed a lot of BS about how the company is under pressure from its clients to cut their rates, how clients cannot afford to pay more because of the overall condition of the economy nowadays and so on and so forth. I expressed my doubts (which I believe everyone shares with me) that its very difficult to believe because of the recent purchases of other companies, the extravagant salaries of the Excutive team for LLS which can be seen in the previous post, the increase in call volume, and the excutive team's own statements in news publications that our company is becoming more profitable.
Although I dont feel that the points made in the conversation by the Vice President were very realistic or represented an accurate picture of the situation, I do commend and appreciate her willingness to take time out of her day to at least aknowledge our greviances. This shows that the management is willing to listen and although it does not solve any of our issues, it is personally gratifying to know that we are at least being heard.
On the bright side she inquired what suggestions I might have OTHER than raises for interpreters. I suggested that :
1. Interpretors that have been faithful to the company for a decent amount of time should be given raises at least occasionally in order to reward accumulated years of service.
2. If they are only able to reward a few interpreters and not all of us, they should do so on the basis of our quarterly evaluations so that workers can have an incentive to strivde (meaning if an interpreter excels consistently for several quarters). Either by raise or increase of their quarterly bonus to the point that it is worth talking about.
3. Or at the very least, they could award good interpreters with extra vacation days for good performance.
Although it is uncertain whether there will be any fruits from the conversation with the VP, I am pleased that the management is atleast willing to listen to our grievances. Because of this I encourage everyone, even those who has no beef with LLS, to send me their email addresses or post them on the site so we can support each other and get our point through to the executive team.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Interpreters unite!
Hello, my fellow interpreters! I am setting up this blog, because it seems like the company we are working for is absolutely clueless as to who is making the money for them. I have not been employed in the company for nearly as long as some others, however, I have already encountered numerous counts of injustice. We are constantly reminded by our SLSs how we must be professional and self-improve every day to keep the clients satisfied. For what? So the company can make more money, and so we can get a thank you at the next team meeting.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I take pride in my skill, and this is the exact reason why I think we should be rewarded for our hard work. I am sick of thank yous!
As you all know, LLS keeps buying out other interpretation companies, such as Teleinterpreters recently, making more and more, while we get the overflow calls. So now we have to work three times as hard as we used to, but get paid the same. I heard from the older emploees of the company that there has not been a raise since 1994, and per minute employees actually have gotten their rates cut in the past! And noone is getting any extra vacatuon days either! This is ridiculous! We are the product this company markets, without us they are nothing and they should treat us accordingly.
I have posted a very similar statement on LLS forum about a week ago, there was also the same poll I have on this site. Guess what people: they took it down! Last time I checked this was supposed to be a free speech country, but apparently too many interpreters voiced their complaints and they could not take it. The response to my poll was - 96 percent yes, we feel overworked and underpaid!
By the way here is the piece of information that I think got my post deleted. Check out this link http://sec.edgar-online.com/2005/04/15/0001193125-05-077537/Section17.asp It was provided by one of the interpreters. What it is is an annual corporate report. It shows the salaries of our higher management and the president. $327000 salary and yet $200000 worth of bonuses, and he cuts our wages! And if you look in the right hand corner of the intranet site, you will see a little red sign. If you click on it, you will see that it is security settings, and you can clearly see that this link was blocked! They don't want us to know how greedy the company is, oh no! Is this outrageous or what?!
I invite you all to post your complaints on this site or even send them to my email pukalces@uc.edu. I will be accumulating them all for the next few months and then will try to directly contact the president, so I can speak on behalf of all of us!
For those of you concerned about company's retaliation - deleting by post was despeakable, but this is the best they can do. This already borders on breaking the Labor Law. I consulted with my attormey on this. I will send a copy of a brochure that describes our rights as employees under Federal Law to anyone who is in doubt.
If we rally we can get our benefits, join me, talk to me, spread the word to others! The company has been successfully keeping us separated from each other so we cannot even talk. For God's sake, we do not even know the email of people who we are on the same team with. In order to get for our voice to be heard we need as much response as possible. So, people, do me and yourself a favor, tell about this blog to every interpreter whose contact information you have, even you do not know them. Next time you have a meeting - tell them about our campaign, this is the only way to get the word out. The company does not want us to talk, because they know - united we are worth a whole lot of trouble for them and they CANNOT retiliate! JOIN ME!
P.S. Note to any person who might be snooping around on this blog with the purpose of keeping an eye on what I have to say. I am not doing anything illegal here, I am exercising my right to organize workers, which is protected by the US Federal Law. I am just hoping tha the company does not do anything illegal either, because if I notice that my work environment changed to the worse as the result of this little campaign, I will not hesitate to start a lawsuit.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I take pride in my skill, and this is the exact reason why I think we should be rewarded for our hard work. I am sick of thank yous!
As you all know, LLS keeps buying out other interpretation companies, such as Teleinterpreters recently, making more and more, while we get the overflow calls. So now we have to work three times as hard as we used to, but get paid the same. I heard from the older emploees of the company that there has not been a raise since 1994, and per minute employees actually have gotten their rates cut in the past! And noone is getting any extra vacatuon days either! This is ridiculous! We are the product this company markets, without us they are nothing and they should treat us accordingly.
I have posted a very similar statement on LLS forum about a week ago, there was also the same poll I have on this site. Guess what people: they took it down! Last time I checked this was supposed to be a free speech country, but apparently too many interpreters voiced their complaints and they could not take it. The response to my poll was - 96 percent yes, we feel overworked and underpaid!
By the way here is the piece of information that I think got my post deleted. Check out this link http://sec.edgar-online.com/2005/04/15/0001193125-05-077537/Section17.asp It was provided by one of the interpreters. What it is is an annual corporate report. It shows the salaries of our higher management and the president. $327000 salary and yet $200000 worth of bonuses, and he cuts our wages! And if you look in the right hand corner of the intranet site, you will see a little red sign. If you click on it, you will see that it is security settings, and you can clearly see that this link was blocked! They don't want us to know how greedy the company is, oh no! Is this outrageous or what?!
I invite you all to post your complaints on this site or even send them to my email pukalces@uc.edu. I will be accumulating them all for the next few months and then will try to directly contact the president, so I can speak on behalf of all of us!
For those of you concerned about company's retaliation - deleting by post was despeakable, but this is the best they can do. This already borders on breaking the Labor Law. I consulted with my attormey on this. I will send a copy of a brochure that describes our rights as employees under Federal Law to anyone who is in doubt.
If we rally we can get our benefits, join me, talk to me, spread the word to others! The company has been successfully keeping us separated from each other so we cannot even talk. For God's sake, we do not even know the email of people who we are on the same team with. In order to get for our voice to be heard we need as much response as possible. So, people, do me and yourself a favor, tell about this blog to every interpreter whose contact information you have, even you do not know them. Next time you have a meeting - tell them about our campaign, this is the only way to get the word out. The company does not want us to talk, because they know - united we are worth a whole lot of trouble for them and they CANNOT retiliate! JOIN ME!
P.S. Note to any person who might be snooping around on this blog with the purpose of keeping an eye on what I have to say. I am not doing anything illegal here, I am exercising my right to organize workers, which is protected by the US Federal Law. I am just hoping tha the company does not do anything illegal either, because if I notice that my work environment changed to the worse as the result of this little campaign, I will not hesitate to start a lawsuit.
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