Hacker News Reader

Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

This is a quote from the article:

> “While an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 per month, his/her salary had reduced to Rs 16,000 and, subsequently, to Rs 12,000 in the recent months. Non-engineering graduates monthly salary had reduced to Rs 8,000. The salary amount being credited to our accounts have been reducing and it was frustrating to see this,” an employee alleged.

Not being familiar with Indian pay practices, just wondering what the company thought the outcome would be after trying this? That nobody would notice?? That they'd just think "oh well, that's OK, company must be short this week"?? Because pretty much in any sizable American company employees would just stop working if they didn't get paid.

View on HN

I'm really curious if the management/owners also took a fifty percent cut in comp.

at heart, Wistron is a Taiwanese company - and this sort of move is common in Taiwan (I speak from secondhand experience, primarily that of Taiwanese companies reducing salaries in China). That said, this seems like an extreme example. Curious how much the India-based execs and managers are deciding on this

That sounds suspiciously like PRC anti-Taiwan propaganda and I have never heard of the practice (having heavy involvement with Taiwan and China).

I.e. not to be rude but I do not at all believe your second hand source.

Do you mean "common" in the sense of "normal operations", or in the sense of "we're in financial distress and need to skimp on payroll for a bit"?

That's what I don't understand here: is Wistron in distress, or is this a routine abuse of employees?

I'm not sure about the last part. I get you could cut most employee salaries by 10% or more at a big corp and not get that many immediate resignations. Of course there would be long-term ramifications, but that's a far cry from everyone quitting en masse.

What you are talking about is a salary renegotiation, i.e. the employer offering the employee a new contract at a lower salary for work to be performed in the future.

What had alleged happened in the story is salary theft, i.e. the employer stealing part of the employee's remuneration for work already performed in the past.

I can't speak to India's legal system, but if this had happened in the US then it would be a federal crime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

21k to 12k is much more than a ten percent drop.

The quality of these engineering graduates is nothing more than a highschool dropout from America or Europe.

Company is adjusting its the price of labor based on more info it comes across.

I am not surprised and really if you work with them, you'll know they don't deserve more money.

Just because some college awarded them a degree doesn't mean they are entitled to high wage.

> The quality of these engineering graduates is nothing more than a highschool dropout from America or Europe.

By America, I’m not sure what you meant - since you used Europe in the same sentence, I’m assuming you meant continent. But wait, there is no continent named ‘America’. It’s either South America, or North America. Collectively, they are sometimes referred as ‘America’s’. In case you meant country, you are incorrect in that too- there is no country named ‘America’. I’m one such Engineering graduate from India. I hope I didn’t sound like a high-school drop-out!

> Just because some college awarded them a degree doesn't mean they are entitled to high wage.

You seem to assume that the company was forced to hire them right out of college with no opportunity to interview them. Having interviewed for 30 Mech/Chem positions once, I was among 5000 engineers who were interviewed. Out if entire engineering curriculum, the interviewer asked me to make an iron-carbon diagram on the spot. Leave high-school drop outs, most engineers -from around the world - would be pretty hard pressed to get it right in an interview for a plant engineer position. Indian job market is a high supply-low demand market for engineers, and interviews could be pretty grueling!

>While an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 per month, his/her salary had reduced to Rs 16,000 and, subsequently, to Rs 12,000 in the recent months. Non-engineering graduates monthly salary had reduced to Rs 8,000. The salary amount being credited to our accounts have been reducing and it was frustrating to see this,” an employee alleged.

They should just quit working for them and move elsewhere not impede those who are happy with the wage they are receiving.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com