We had a meeting yesterday. Our owners/managers basically told us we were going to work 12 hours and get paid for 8. I told them they were "******* high" amongst many other things in a loud f bomb kind of way. I let them have it as did about 5 others . The other 20 people sat there in disbelief . I am not saying I was right , I just lost it. They have changed their minds. We are a specialized union workforce that has a CONTRACT . We walk and they are screwed. Bunch of white collar morons!! I have went thru some really bad stuff during the last year and it has changed me forever . I am not scared anymore. It feel really good, like total freedom and independence.
I probably would have just told them that I was going to consult a labor lawyer about the legalities of their plan, and I'd like a written copy of their plan to make sure I 'get all the details right.' But hey, whatever works.
I don't need it , i can sell myself I am looking for a job now . Found one already and a possible second .
Frankly, I'd consider it a plus to not get a recommendation from someone who would even consider that as an option.
This is an interesting subject to me b/c in SC (I'm sure there are excpetions) we do not have unions. We are a "right to work state," though I'm not 100% sure on what that means legally in the fullest sense. There doesn't have to be justifiaction fire someone, nor is here negotioation between workers and owners. If you were to drop F bombs at work you would be laughed at and sent packing with no recourse. It would be nice though to be able to stick it to the man like that. Nicely done
I worked for the state, SEIU was/is the union. Useless. If your boss, called you in the office and tore your clothes off and raped your "self esteem" in front of the entire department, then posted pictures on the internet. The union would make sure he HAD to go to Las Vegas for sensitivity training, but only if a big act was booked that week. Then they'd back a promotion for the bastage, to promote diversity.
I once worked briefly (about 3 weeks) in a factory of about 100 employees where the management right from the owner on down were all complete idiots who had no business running a lemonade stand much less a factory. They had so many production problems and were losing money so fast that they called an emergency meeting of everyone in the factory to try to fix things before the company went out of business. The fix was to pretend to listen to input from the workers for about 10 minutes and then proceed to have the owner tell the workers that they were all inattentive and useless and we should all start doing better jobs and get used to working harder. Anyone who didn't like it could "just get up and walk out the door right now." There was not even one second's hesitation before a mass of people rose up out of their seats and half of his workforce (including me) just strolled out of the building happy to be getting off the sinking ship. The owner had the nerve to actually look surprised. I've got more stories of unbelievable owner/management incompetence from only three weeks in that place then from every other place I've ever worked in for the last 30 years combined.
It's stories like these that make me happy I'm getting my Master's in Engineering Management, where they teach us how to manage people properly. Stuff like this tells me I may have a job somewhere in my future lol.
I worked for a small company that did something similar last year. They cut everyone's pay 10% across the board. That was the last day I worked there. Three weeks later the owners left for a 4 week vacation in Australia. Classy move, eh?
I worked for a grocery store for about 17 years and saw managers come and go. This one particular assistant manager had a habit of being a jerk. One time he literally tossed a broom to me, while I had a handful of apples, and said sternly, "Sweep the floor." How the hell was I supposed to catch it? I responded with "if you treat me with some respect I'll gladly sweep the floor, but if you're going to be a jerk you can sweep it yourself." Ever since then the guy was out to fire me. I took 2 minutes longer than my alloted 15min break and he hauled me into the office and gave me a 5 day suspension for it. At that point I knew he was out to fire me. Actually he did me a favour as that motivated me to get my butt in gear and actually put my teaching degree to use and get on with my career. Good pay though. I was making $23.97 an hour to stack fruit, but it was boring as hell.
I am not proud of what I did. Just tired of taking it in the *** I work with two other men who actually punched their last employers. Maybe it's just the area of the country I live in ?
I love Evansville, I was there a few years ago for my father in laws wedding. Nice town, had a huge comic book store the wife and I went to everyday. Back on topic, I finally work for a company where the management appear to have an IQ higher than 5. It's amazing how far some people can get within a company.
Ahhh to be young... The managers sound a whole lot better than mine. I've been working 14 hours a day and only getting payed for 8 of it for over 3 years. and I'm not salary.
Workers right are pretty well covered over here, but I got to share a story from my teens. I think I was 15 years old and had a summer job as a hotel cleaner (not rooms, the rest of the hotel) in a large foreign company that had recently started in Finland. It was torture and the working pace was unlike anything I have ever witnessed since. Every second counted. I had to wake up at 3:30 AM to make it to the hotel at 5:00 AM. When we took the job the manager went over the place and showed all the areas that were our responsibilities (there was two of us kids and one more experienced older lady who obviosly was the group leader with better hourly rates) and said it would be around 8 hours a day with a 30 minute lunch and a 15 minute coffee break. In the beginning we had no hope of making it in 8 hours as it took us about 10. But it was ok, after a week or two when we got used to it and by cutting away the coffee break and half of the lunch we started to make it in 8 hours. But after few weeks the demands started. Every couple of days they added more and more stuff on the do to list and we said ok because we were there for the money and the whole summer day would be wasted anyhow so the extra hours wouldn't be bad at all. So during the next month our avarage day was around 11-13 hours, sometimes going up to 15. Then came the paycheck. We got paid for 8 hours a day. Furious about this I rushed into the office of the manager demanding rest of my paycheck. He said that he thought it was obvious that we'd only get paid for eight hours a day since it would be illegal to have minors working longer days. ***??? I just lost it. I knocked over one his tables and threw his cellphone out the window and tried to get my hands on his computer before he wrestled me into the ground and called the security. But when I started yelling people to call the cops he quickly realized the problem. Guess he just thought that he could pull this on some kids withouth them demanding their rights. It all ended well though, I was "able to quit" three weeks earlier than I had planned and so I actually had a three week summer vacation before school started. I only got paid for the 8 hour days but the manager gave us both nice "vacations bonuses", on my case deducting a brand new cell phone from it... And then I marched into the best bass shop in town to get me the stingray I had been working for. When I said that I'll buy this the owner (who was also my teacher at the time) said that not before I tried out what they got in few days before and brought up a sweeet 1978 jazz from behind the counter. I loved it and I had enough money. So afterwards I was more than happy and a newly found jazz bass fan. And I heard the company got tangled in so many lawsuits after their first year here that they're probably still going on.
I would never EVER work extra hours and not get paid for it. If the employers get used to the idea that they can abuse that, they will. If you're absolutely desperate that's one thing, otherwise find another job. So many times I've seen managers take advantage of teens' rights assuming that they won't stand-up for themselves. Don't act like a doormat and they won't (hopefully) bully you.