I've been with my employer for 15 years. I loved working there for the majority of those 15 years. This last year made me realize that my employer, The City of Phoenix, was just as bad as any shitty corporation out there.
We are unionized. But unfortunately the union is neutered. Completely devoid of any strength and they lack the balls to stand up for the workers outside of miniscule things. The union can't even call for a strike! In fact, there's really no repercussions for the city or it's shitty management when they mistreat workers outside of a strongly worded email that eventually goes nowhere.
Two weeks ago our Human Resources director informed us that as of September, ALL covid considerations will be null and void and that covid will be treated no worse than the common cold or flu.
Up until July of this year, the city was giving all full time employees up to 120 hours of covid leave. During our meeting with HR, they said that the city rescinded this and that covid was considered a normal illness.
But hey, at least the corrupt fucks that came up with this are nice and safe working from home.
Our union sucks!
Last year we got a whopping 1.6% COL increase. But our health insurance went up by $20 a month.
This year we got an awesome 1.5% COL increase. But our health insurance premiums went up $50 a month.
Currently our city has seen around 9% inflation. But hey, we got a whopping 3% COL increase, over a two year period! I guess if you take into account our rising health insurance premiums and the fact our COL raises don't even come close to matching the insane housing market, the price for rent and groceries, we actually got a huge pay DECREASE!
It just goes to show, that a government job with a union is not always better than the private industry.
In a way, it kinda makes sense. Because, the idiot leaders of our city government need to prove to the public that we work for them, and so, shall starve!