I don't usually read my fan mail ..

[lexington_spurs]

but this one has caught my eye.

It seems I am being offered the opportunity to earn 10% less per day - a new initiative from the end client.

The letter mentions "a minimum 10% reduction to the majority of temporary pay rates".

This very sloppy bit of English asks more questions than it answers. What have "temporary pay rates" got to do with Ltd cos, and what is all this "majority of" .. business.

Any rate cut war stories to sharpen the concentration of contractors at ...?

[bren586]

I am in the same boat - slightly different language though. "All our business partners are to take a 10% pay cut"

I asked what the stick was - will we get canned if we do not take a 10% cut and the answer was "don't know, they did not say"

Still waiting to hear the outcome of my no. Been over 2 weeks and I am off on my hols on Monday.

Mind you, there is nothing like an imminent rate cut to focus the mind on what's important. Might start posting a touch more here.

[Sysman]

My story from half a dozen years ago:

You will take a 20% pay cut, but the contract is for a full year. We reluctantly accepted, as it was being sold as a full year when contracts were thin on the ground.

By the end of the first month, we were given 2 months notice (in accordance with the contract). We already feel conned, as the only reason we agreed to 20% was the full year bit. The client then lets some contractors go, but keeps others, myself included. Agency then offers another 10% cut, and I told them to go away and think about that again. On the first day of the 4th month the agency are on the phone to me, literally screaming at me that I had declined the extension by not accepting the 10% cut.

The the great surprise of the client, I screamed back down the phone at the agency. They'd never seen me do anything like that before,

I continued for the next 9 months without the extra 10% cut, but it was a miserable existence, as the whole department, permies included, were peed off with the way we were being treated.

[lexington_spurs]

when I got to the bottom of the letter, it said

"by not accepting these terms you are effectively giving notice on your existing contract".

which was nice.

I am accepting the terms and await 2009 with trepidation.

[Mich the Tester]

Here in NL, the big five consulting and system integrator firms all sent their subcontractors letters demanding 10% pay rates, all within 3 days of each other. The most popular ICT news site is filled with those firms stating categorically that they haven’t been talking to one another, and otherwise freelancers making sarcastic remarks like ‘what a coincidence!’

F**king scumbag anti-competitive price fixing cartel forming parasites.

[Platypus]

It seems I am being offered the opportunity to earn 10% less per day - a new initiative from the end client.

I am in the same boat - slightly different language though. "All our business partners are to take a 10% pay cut"

Are either of you at IBM?

I'm hearing that story from colleagues in IBM USA and wondered if it was the same over here in the UK. PM me if you prefer. Thanks.

[bren586]

Are either of you at IBM?

I'm hearing that story from colleagues in IBM USA and wondered if it was the same over here in the UK. PM me if you prefer. Thanks.

PM sent

[bren586]

Are either of you at IBM?

I'm hearing that story from colleagues in IBM USA and wondered if it was the same over here in the UK. PM me if you prefer. Thanks.

I had heard from a friend working at IBM UK that they were on the 10% cut or the door deal.