Ok. Work is getting bad. Owned by 3 brothers, they have kids and about 700 employees during the heavy periods. Here are the problems:

1) My bosses boss in charge of my area. HATES me. She (BIG Feminist, O supporter) is right below the Pres, one of the owners. Said lady (being nice here) says boo and EVERYONE (including owners) jumps! She fires for no reason and promotes/demotes for no reason. She was FIRED once by a friend of my FIL but tells everyone she walked out. (How does someone walk out which is grounds for a no rehire and get a better job when you come back?) People have talked about unionizing but no one has the guts.

2) I got demoted for no good reason, different reason keeps coming up every time it is talked about. Can't move to a different department cuz she lies to the owners about what's wrong with me and makes a convincing case as to why I cannot be moved.

3) My skills mean nothing. I ask for a raise because of my breath of knowledge. We are talking (and not I can do a passable job, I am excellent according to different bosses in the plant) forklift/Line Operator of simple to VERY Complex lines/line worker able to keep up with the fastest lines (150 cases/12pk a case a minute)/be my own mechanic (bought tools to do it)/been used as a mechanic when things got haywire/etc. They wouldn't! Stuck at 12/hr when others got the raise immediately.

4)Other people learn about said raises for learning different stuff, push to get it, then get demoted really quick cuz someone else got better efficiency/numbers even though they were already making a freakin 110%!!!

5)People (mostly men here) are made to work 2-3 peoples different jobs. I hurt my wrist cuz of this and got reprimanded.

6)Managers of different departments just got demoted this week because owners sons wanted those positions and have NEVER worked in them, much less know how to RUN them.

7)55 lbs weight limit but yet they expect us to pick up CHEP pallets, wet or dry, that weigh more than 55lbs. We get hurt and WE get in trouble. We cause trouble, we get FIRED!

This is complete and utter BS!!! I am sick of it and want out. I have applications in different companies. The 1 problem is the very steady work and hard to get hired anywhere else right now. I have 2 different mechanics giving me a in at a couple diesel shops around but I am not counting my chickens before they hatch. Other similar jobs get paid nearly 2x as much as we do but they are union.

How do I get a union in here? I have not been a big fan of unions cuz of the way the UAW and others I know run. Now it seems pretty good....

HELP!

 

I would consult with a labor lawyer before I did anything else.




Get ready, you are going to get pummeled for mentioning the "U" word here.


Good luck.

 

It sounds pretty bad in the management area. I have found beening in the union will not change bad management, but you may have a leg too stand on when it comes to raises and promotions with the union. Also if you get wrongly terminated you have a much better chance of getting your job back, but that is usually at least a 6 month process. Regaurdless what you do hang in there, better will come. You may contact AFL-CIO they cover a broad base of laborers.

 

Dieseljon, sounds like your management needs a good overhaul.

I've worked non-union and union shops. I prefer the union shop vs the non union ones I have worked in the past. Unions have a security factor to them, a supervisor or boss can't walk down the shop floor and fire you just because he or she doesn't like you for whatever reason. Or cut your pay or demote you for no reason. Alot of union jobs that I've seen, you can bid jobs and positions within the company. So if you want out of one dept and there is an opening in another dept you can put a bid in and hopefuly get it if you have the most senority among others that placed bids. Pay is more equal among the worker too, some differences depending the job you are performing.

I've seen a company in my town try to go union, the tanker drivers for gas station chain wanted to become teamsters. The business was family owned, and once they got everything organized and ready to vote on, the owner of the company fired all the drivers. He then contracted another transport company to haul gas for his stations.

With unionizing, there will be some elements that will abuse the unions power. You'll get people that will do as little as possible, sleep on the job, and be late to work because they are protected. I don't agree with those who abuse it.

There are alot of hard workers in unions, not all are lazy bums that want everything handed to them. I feel unions have their place, so companies need them and others don't need them.

 

I don't think anyone will top that thread Matt. Very well worded and accurate!

 

Thanks Scott, I wanted to get my statement across before this thread turns into a union/non-union bashing.

 

I agree whole heartedly with you statement Matt. Some industries still need a union. Most should NOT

I personally think alot of the problem with our economy today is becasue of unions.. Just one man's opinion..

 

Well, I'm not a pro-union person, but I DO believe they have their place. So I guess I'm not an anti-union person either.

 

Unions have their place, no doubt - - in some businesses. Way back in yesteryear (is that a word???) we businesses needed some shaping up on how they treated their people. However, if I take my money, take out loans and sell my future to the bank and dump it all in a business, take very little pay myself while I build that business, then have a union come and tell me how I will run that business - - well, guess what - - there will be no employees in that business - - I will farm the work out. Many unions have become much worse than the conditions that caused their growth in the first place.

If someone runs their business lousy and abuses employees, keep your nose clean, swallow hard, do a good job and do what you are doing - - put the feelers out. You sound like a hard worker and sincere about doing a good job. Someone will see that and hire you. Then leave with no hassles - - don't leave dirty underwear where you now work. That company will feel the pain and have all kinds of problems keeping good people once the job market opens back up. You don't need a union telling you what to do either. This sort of thing has a way of balancing out. The lousy employer will always have their problems and you don't need to work for them.

Good luck - - keep a stiff upper lip and keep on truckin' til a good job opens - - then leave quietly, don't make a stink. Don't be an agitator. Just my opinion.

Bob

 

I agree with that, there are alot of areas of industry that don't need them. I think the transportation sectors should and heavy industry like mining, refineries, steel mills, and some areas of construction. The local grocery store doesn't need to have unionized baggers (there is a store in my town that has that as silly as it sounds.) In some industries unions have made the work enviroment a safer place too.

I don't agree it's because of all but certain ones, UAW comes to mind.

They do have their place

 

Couldn't have said it better myself Matt

 

I am not union yet I work with union employees. For the most part it all runs smooth. As mentioned theres always someone that wants to bend the rules, hide behind a regulation or abuse what the union is there for. It also happens on the management side. I see and deal with it everyday. Most times I just shrug it off and mind my own business. When a job starts to come home with me or gets me thinking I dislike it or the people I work with...its easier for me to make the change then it is to stir it up and make a mess. Been there and done that. You get a few friends or supporters but it does not take long for the word to get around if you have become known for being a pot stirrer.
Only speaking from my own experience.
I suggest you keep your head down and do your job. I do not envy the position you are in...makes for a difficult time. I hope it all works out for you.

Scotty

 

If you do go union you will still have to work with this company. I don't think it will/can change anything. I would put some feelers out there, at some other plants/shops. Not many hiring right now, trust me I know, but it is always easier to find a job when you have one. Based on your post, there is very little that can be done with a company like that.

Sometimes the best thing to do is go to the competetor and make them more successful.

Nepotism is a disease that is very rarely cured. Sounds like these three goof ***** are gonna run this place into the ground.

Oh ya, I do believe that there is a place for unions.

 

One more thing to consider if Obama gets his way. If you belong to a Union, you won't be taxed for your health coverage. A person with the same wage and same health care that is not union, WILL pay a tax on the coverage. Again, that's if he gets his way. I know, I know, he promised there would be no catering to special interest groups, but.......

 

I used to work for a place like that. One day the owners wife caught him cheating. He came in the back door of the plant to avoid his wife, saw the delivery trucks idling, and fired the whole shipping department. It was about 20 degrees outside and he wouldn't let us plug up any trucks overnight. Someone stepped up to tell him that now we don't have any licensed drivers so he told me and another guy to call them up and re-hire them back. This was the second to the last straw that made me leave. The last stupid thing, we had an idiot set a hammer down on a conveyor belt and let it get fed into a very expensive and one of only a few in the US, sanding machines. The only spare parts were in Holland. I had to have the parts flown in on a plane, meet the plane at an airport at midnight, two hours away, then met my crew up there and we totally tore down the machine and repaired it. We were all wound up so we decided maybe it would be cool if we just finished processing all the stuff that didn't thru that machine, just to test and make sure it worked. One of the guys grabbed a nail gun and started building some of the cabinets (this was a big cabinet shop). We had the machine running better than ever, so we got all the stuff processed really fast, so we had a contest to see who could build out the most in an hour. Before we knew it, we had all the days work done that was left behind, so we stacked it all at the loading dock and called it a night. Since we were so wore out, we drew cards to see who was going to come in first to cover the normal shift, then we split the day up into just a few hours each, so each of us could get some kind of sleep.

The next day, we were all back together and got called into his office. We were expecting a big pat on the back, but instead, we were all written up for not having the trucks loaded with what we built. None of us ever signed them, but I had had enuff and told him he can kiss my ------ and I walked out.

One of the best things I ever did. I had to take a pay cut but if I would have stayed, I'm pretty sure I would have been divorced and probably dead from a heart attack by now.

That's been nearly 16 years ago. I still know a few guys that have stayed there. They still complain about how awful it is but just keep on taking it. Now, employees are not allowed to talk to each other, unless it's strictly related to the task at hand, so they've developed their own little language of grunts and moans and sounds to communicate. Each work station now has cameras watching over them and the owners son has a huge office with tons of monitors and his job is to watch every move that every person makes. It's become a living nightmare for the employees left there. I have no idea how they can take it.

For the original poster, from my experience, get out as soon as you can. Unless you have more money and lawyers, there's not much you can do about it. Each day you stay will be a miserable day for you. Change your focus and start looking diligently for new employment. Like me, you might have to start completely over. This world is full of these kind of people. One day this guy and now his family domain is going to have to answer to the way they treat their employees. It's not going to be pretty.

BTW, out of my little 24 X 24 garage, I make one set of cabinets a summer and charge a fraction of what this guy does, and I get to laugh all the way to the bank cause my profit level is enuff to cover all of my fun guys stuff for the year. This past summer, I paid cash for a new boat.