4 ms·

The concerns you list don't stop this from being a good thing, I agree. My bigger concern is what BoAs rate of low-wage direct employees versus contractors look

The concerns you list don't stop this from being a good thing, I agree. My bigger concern is what BoAs rate of low-wage direct employees versus contractors looks like, and will look like in the future. The overall trend seems to be that contracted service work is paid somewhat worse than direct, but also faces no benefits, high firing rates, and far nastier working conditions. I don't have numbers on BoA, and I doubt they'll publicize them. But my concern is that moves like this (without a corresponding guarantee for contractors) create an incentive to offload ever more work into conditions that might be even worse than the current state of affairs. I don't want to undersell this, though. I doubt bank tellers will become contract labor anytime soon, and this will actually represent a significant raise for them.

mabbo 8y ago
If they quickly move now to replace all their tellers to contractors, I will then judge BoA on that action. Until then, good on 'em.
Ari_Ugwu 8y ago
I wonder of 'trickle down economics' works when the money is injected more closely to where it's supposed to trickle from? While I don't think Bank of America has a large percentage of skill workers compared to knowledge workers I think this sends a very forward thinking message. The debt waters are rising for both consumer and corporate and I assume we'll see a correction soon that once again hits middle class and lower class folks _almost_ ready to make a mobility play. $20/hr during the coming lean times could be just enough to keep some folks from losing too much ground. I'm just guessing at the rationale but it does kind of make me want to switch banks in support. Next few years could get rough for +60% of the US population.
- Dumblydorr 8y ago
  Personally I've had B of A for years, they offer a variety of products but I've found them nickel and diming me while offering practically zero interest on the savings I leave there, lest I incur 5 dollars monthly for not having 300 bucks in savings.
  - true_religion 8y ago
    BoA basically wants you to open up an investment "savings" account with them, and allow them to use your money to play in the market. It's why their interest rates are abysmal. Beyond that, on the consumer end they charge rates for random things unless you keep a significant amount of money in your accounts. If you do then they basically charge you no money and call you once a week begging to redistribute your savings into something with "greater returns" by which they mean stocks.
- moate 8y ago
  >>I wonder of 'trickle down economics' works when the money is injected more closely to where it's supposed to trickle from? That's specifically not trickle-down economics. That's just a economics. If you give more money to people, you're just giving more money to people. The whole point of a trickle-down is that if you give large sums of money to already rich and powerful individuals, typically in the form of tax breaks or subsidies, then they will invest that money in sectors that create jobs which allows the wealth to trickle-down to the people you're positing to help. I'm not here trying to talk about the merits of either, just pointing out that this is an entirely different style of economics.
  - Ari_Ugwu 8y ago
    I'm not sure I follow. A very big company that benefits from many subsidies and government assurances used those profits gained to improve the lives of it's workers. It very literally _trickled down_ from benefits given to the top.

mabbo 8y ago

If they quickly move now to replace all their tellers to contractors, I will then judge BoA on that action. Until then, good on 'em.

Ari_Ugwu 8y ago

I wonder of 'trickle down economics' works when the money is injected more closely to where it's supposed to trickle from? While I don't think Bank of America has a large percentage of skill workers compared to knowledge workers I think this sends a very forward thinking message. The debt waters are rising for both consumer and corporate and I assume we'll see a correction soon that once again hits middle class and lower class folks _almost_ ready to make a mobility play. $20/hr during the coming lean times could be just enough to keep some folks from losing too much ground. I'm just guessing at the rationale but it does kind of make me want to switch banks in support. Next few years could get rough for +60% of the US population.

Dumblydorr 8y ago
Personally I've had B of A for years, they offer a variety of products but I've found them nickel and diming me while offering practically zero interest on the savings I leave there, lest I incur 5 dollars monthly for not having 300 bucks in savings.
- true_religion 8y ago
  BoA basically wants you to open up an investment "savings" account with them, and allow them to use your money to play in the market. It's why their interest rates are abysmal. Beyond that, on the consumer end they charge rates for random things unless you keep a significant amount of money in your accounts. If you do then they basically charge you no money and call you once a week begging to redistribute your savings into something with "greater returns" by which they mean stocks.
moate 8y ago
>>I wonder of 'trickle down economics' works when the money is injected more closely to where it's supposed to trickle from? That's specifically not trickle-down economics. That's just a economics. If you give more money to people, you're just giving more money to people. The whole point of a trickle-down is that if you give large sums of money to already rich and powerful individuals, typically in the form of tax breaks or subsidies, then they will invest that money in sectors that create jobs which allows the wealth to trickle-down to the people you're positing to help. I'm not here trying to talk about the merits of either, just pointing out that this is an entirely different style of economics.
- Ari_Ugwu 8y ago
  I'm not sure I follow. A very big company that benefits from many subsidies and government assurances used those profits gained to improve the lives of it's workers. It very literally _trickled down_ from benefits given to the top.