I think yesterday was probably the last event in my whole job hunting experience this year.
I've been in the same building for just about 19 years, across 4 different companies. Union gig, and it was something I was fine with for a long time - do your work and go home.
2 and a half years ago, they offered me a job training all the new hires, and I took it because my body was breaking down - knee problems, back problems, and I just couldn't see myself sitting on a forklift for the next 20 years (still in my early 40's, so what other choice did I have?). Turns out, I really enjoy it. Which is odd, because I'm about as introverted as it gets, and I fucking hate meeting new people. But, ever since my divorce 4 years ago, I have a decent amount of ambition since it's only my income holding the house together, and I'm also not wasting a bunch of mental energy dealing with a soul stealing relationship.
So, the training gig is fine, but I was still a member of the union, which caused infinite problems. "How come he doesn't have to do this shit, I have more seniority!" Because I'm doing my job, fucknuts, so go do yours and mind your own fucking business. Which flies like a lead balloon because unions are for the worthless sacks of shit in the world. Covid came and went and our staffing issues haven't gotten better. Turns out no one wants to actually work for a living anymore, so we've gotta weed thru about 5 people who actually make it in the door for every one we can get to stay for a fucking year. It's absolutely brutal. In January, I put in my notice, because I just couldn't keep doing my job, and then doing a bunch of mandatory overtime in the evenings and weekends because of our staffing shortages. I've been here damned near 20 fucking years, and what is promised (or at least strongly implied) when you work a union job is that you do the shit jobs when you start, and when you've been there awhile, you've got a gravy gig working easy hours and overtime when you want. That wasn't happening. I had a job lined up that was much closer to home (and that's saying something, because I have a 15 minute commute), but a 20% pay cut because I just couldn't do it anymore.
Much to my surprise (and it really was my surprise, because it's a union gig and they don't have the flexibility to just pay me more), I was met with "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold on a minute." My management team makes it absolutely clear to upper management that I am not allowed to walk out the door for any fucking reason. There are no suitable candidates in house to do the job I do with the skillset, personality and professionalism I have, to say nothing of anyone who would actually WANT the job, and obviously finding an external candidate would be futile because of the massive amount of internal knowledge one would need to effectively teach others how to do their job. This lead to literally every single rule not apply to me. Mandatory overtime? Leave when you want to leave. Attendance? We'll handle it on the back end. Can't do the manual labor anymore? Don't, do your work, leave when you're done. The salt was fucking endless from the union fucks. In the meantime, they started working on building me a job, and I can't even believe how much HR clogs up a process. They original promise was to make me salaried doing the same job, and it just met roadblock after roadblock. Some of them self inflicted, because obviously in my state of being "done" with this job, I got a little cavalier with some language with some people a few paygrades too high. Honestly, fuck em. I can't even believe how soft skinned and out of touch director and VP level cocksuckers who have been working from home for 2 years are. Zero respect for those empty suit pieces of shit.
Eventually, though, the plant manager came to me and said "Look, we've been jerking you around long enough and we need to make this right. I've got 2 options. I can get the salaried thing done, but it's gonna take a few more months as we navigate what the command structure looks like for that job, and I don't feel like we have that time with you right now. Or, I can pull you out of the union now into an hourly role where you do the same exact job, bump up your pay accordingly and get you out of all of those obligations and you can just focus on your job." Yeah, sure, lets do that I suppose.
Now, transitioning from a really cozy union gig with a ton of seniority to a non-union comes with a lot of challenges. The first being my absolutely excessive amount of PTO. We don't have PTO, we have vacation, and sick. And I accrue 7.5 weeks a year combined. I had over 500 hours in my bank at the time of the transition, and that would drop down to 5 weeks accrual and a cap of 280 with the company. I was told my vacation would carry over and my sick would get paid out. Okay, no problem, sounds fair. Then we had to cover my fucking nonsensical health insurance. My health insurance was $45/mo, for a $500 deductible, 85/15, and a $2500 OOP max. Stupid good. After giving me a 25% raise, they tried to account for the difference in my insurance and ran into the problem of me being so close to the pay cap for this position that they couldn't do much else. And actually, and truthfully, I'm totally okay with this. I am not actually motivated by money at this point in my life - I'm motivated by time. My kids are 11 and 21 - I missed one kid growing up because of this job, I don't wanna miss the other one. They also told me I could come in when I want and leave when I want....I literally have the option to work 1000 hours of OT a year if I want. So I figured, hourly gig, I can just work more if I need more money. It'll be fine.
So we get into it a few weeks ago and the process actually gets figured out. I'm being terminated from the union, and all the things that happen with that happen. They pay out my vacation and my sick days just fucking evaporate. What the fuck. 320 hours just *poof*, gone. I'm pissed, because I would have gotten another shot in my knee and taken a couple weeks off if that was the case. Then I start over at 0 PTO accrued in my new job, so all my vacation plans are toast this year. I am understandably annoyed at this. Plant manager says he will pay me for all my scheduled vacation this year, and anything else I want to take. Okay, fine, but I'm still fucking pissed about 8 weeks of PTO just evaporating and turning into nothing. Then, I have an epiphany - I don't NEED to be there 5 days a week. To do my job, I need to be there 3 days, and about half of Monday. I approach the plant manager about 4 10's, which is fucking unheard of in this building - we are a 24/7 operation.
He tells me "You have absolute autonomy to work whenever and however you want, to control your program how you see fit, and to change that on a weekly basis with no approval from anyone."
There it is. Another 52 days off a year, and I'm Mon-Th now, with 3 day weekends to spend with my kids. I can come and go as I please, and I report to no one.
The best part? And I'm actually laughing more about this than my approval to work whenever I want - is my supervisor goes to the plant manager and says "Yeah, so I'm totally on board with him working 4-10's, and actually this would open up the door for more of us to work those kinds of schedules...."
Plant manager cuts him off and says "You're not in that bucket."
fucking lol.
Nija
