I have worked in fast food, chicken plant, retail, gas stations, farms, eldercare, doctor's office-most were pretty terrible, but this takes the cake.
In 2018 I found my life in shambles. I had to move, I had a small child, and was single. Yeah, I probably made some bad decisions that lead to this situation. I applied to Kubota, as the starting wage that was advertised was $14/hour which is almost a living wage for my area. I lasted less than a week. I went in thinking it would be boring, but decent and a steppingstone to getting my life together.
We were hired through a temp agency. There was no option for direct hire. At the temp agency were informed that the pay was $10 an hour. We had 3 days of training in July, in Georgia. The training building was not air conditioned, and neither was the majority of buildings. When the thermometer at the door, by large fans reached over 90 degrees we were given a 10-minute water break for every hour worked. The first day was the most aggressive and idiotic union busting I have ever seen. The HR rep said that if we had a union they could force us to work for less than minimum wage. We would have no choice- all would be forced into the union, and that our bosses would not be able to talk to us, or look at us. The HR person also said that since we sold products to the federal government, if we stole anything, (like putting a screw in our pocket and taking it home) it would be a federal crime. I asked him how many times someone has been charged with a federal crime for stealing, he refused to answer me.
We were then given our assignments, building 3 was the best, as it was new and had air conditioning. Only “nice looking” people would get that assignment. I sure that I would not get in, I was old and overweight from the pregnancy. Surprise, I was the only one would got in. I was also the only white person in the training class. Although I will say that the other building had second shift. So they had a release time, which building 3 did not. They said since it was “mostly” 12 hour shifts that one was not needed.
At building 3, we were expected to arrive at 6:45 to get in line to clock in at 7am. They would not allow us to clock in early. There were 5 machine for about 200 people. At 7:05 you were considered late. It took until 7:15 to clear the line. So some people were late even while arrive early and standing in line. We had no end time. The days I worked, we were “released” at 8:30-9pm. If we left before they released us, we were fired on the spot. Many times the line would stop due to product shortage. We were expected to clean the facility during these times. Sweeping, taking out trash and organizing other lines. These would take anywhere from 30 mins- to 3 hours. They said if we were not cleaning, then they did not have to pay us, supposedly other employees were “secret police”, and could mark us out, if they saw us not cleaning . I honestly forgot what they called the “secret police”, but they were employees that could write anyone up, and it would be anonymous, and no one could ever tell, who these employees were. I always that it was bullshit, (as in not real). Who the fuck would walk around and snitch for these assholes. I doubt it came with a significant raise. The safety manager found me one morning and said that she had received a complaint that I was pocketing screws, from the secret police. She told me to be more careful. I know that she did not see it, nor did the line leader.
We were told we could not leave the property during lunch breaks, the reason was if there was an emergency at the plant, the managers would not know many employees were inside. It would put any firefighters/EMS in danger, as they would have to look for us. I asked what emergency, they were planning on having. Does this building just spontaneously catch fire, often?
The guy who was training me, told me he had been temp for over a year and never received a raise, or benefits. I asked why he put up with this shit. He said so he could have money for winter. In winter most of the plant was shut down and most of the employees laid off. If you were a good employee, you would get some hours, but not fulltime, around 20 hours. Kubota, does not want to pay to store the products, or pay fulltime employees year round.
I quit, as it is impossible to find childcare for damn near 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. When I left I was paid $8.50/hour since I did not last 2 weeks.