Rate Reductions

[gadgetman]

I got shafted by Accenture/Barclays at Radbroke. Contract was ending, interviewed elsewhere and was then offered an extension. Turned down the other gig then renewal was withdrawn with about a week to go.

Got the last laugh though, got another 6 month gig within a couple of days and a 25% increase.

[ItsQuickerAntiClockwise]

Yep, sounds like a barcrap tactic. Did this when I was working at Rabroke Hall in Knutsford. 4 weeks into a new contract when I was told at extension negotiations that there wouldnt be one where I was working. Told them I'd negotiate at the next renewal but not seeing as we'd just negotiated the renewal.

Spring wouldnt do anything so I told them to shove it.

Wont ever work for Barcrap again the bunch of *unts and my regular agents know not to contact me with any roles from them.

So no lingering bitterness there then

Mate its business, shaft or be shafted.

[Sysman]

Last year with HP. 10% mid-contract. I figured 90% of something was better than 100% of nothing, which is of course what HP were betting on. PITA etc but it wasn't worth being obstinate about IMHO. And right now anyone who is in contract need to be aware of the current state of the market - principles are fine, but they don't pay the bills.

Since you mention HP, we had a similar situation nearly 8 years ago. A 10% cut on the grounds that the contract was for a year seemed reasonable enough because we knew the client was asking for a rate cut. However that one year turned out to be three months with a further 10% cut thereafter. I managed to negotiate my way around the second cut, but morale plummeted and most of us simply spent our time looking for new positions, not easy at the time.

[Sockpuppet]

I took a 20% rate cut earlier this year. Then again I was negotiating from a hospital bed with broken legs and cracked ribs. Although they did phone me up and ask me to return I wasn't exactly in the strongest negotiating position to capitalise on that.