I've worked in manufacturing for the same billion dollar company for just over a decade, hitting 11 years next month.
We are not union.
I have been pushing for a union here since I became a permanent employee after my 2nd. I managed to get two card checks here, both which ended up failing. In all honestly, I've sort of given up the last couple years.
Even as non-union manufacturing, we make decent pay and benefits here. And in the past the company always had very strict rules which were never broken….they were enforced by supervisors, managers, HR, etc.
It was honestly very similar to working for a union company. For example you could never be fired for simply calling out, unless you went through quite a long line of discipline. Everyone gets 40 hours of personal time in January (this is separate from vacation time). It can't be denied. You don't even have to call out ahead of time. The only requirement is calling out before your shift ended. After you used up your time you could make 3 call outs within six months for no pay, if you went over you got a verbal warning, if you went over again you got a written warning, if you went over again you got a 1 day suspension, over again a 3 day suspension, over again terminated. But a call out with no personal time would also reset every two months.
Not a perfect system, but a lot more fair than most companies in the blue collar/manufacturing field.
To the topic at hand though…..
Like I said, I've given up at this point. I'm just here for me. At over a decade here, despite just being a lowly floor worker, I'm making around $30k over the average individual per capita income for my city. I have a nice house, nice car, etc. I pushed for a union, my coworkers didn't want it. I'm done after organizing two failed card checks.
I do not go above an beyond at my job. I do the bare minimum. I have a quota everyday, and I meet it exactly. I NEVER volunteer for OT unless I actually want/need it.
My department has 14 people. Out of those 14, there is one other person besides me who meets the quota. We don't come in early, we take our full breaks, we don't do anything special.
The other 12 never make it. Because technically you don't have to. As long as you're within 3-4 units of your quota, you won't get fired.
Because the two of us do the actual quota, our supervisor does us favors.
Usually in the form of letting us leave early. Not paid granted, but that's fine by me. I can afford some hours every month not being paid.
So let's say one of the other 12 in my department has a machine go down for the shift, my supervisor won't ask them if they want to go home first. They will come to me or the other guy and ask us. Then move the person to our machine.
Or like today for a long weekend….I got to work, and before I even punched in my supervisor came over and said, “Hey, you can just take off now if you want, you're good.”
The other guys in my department are constantly flipping out over this.
They've gone off on me asking, “How can you support a union and talk about solidarity when you fuck the rest of us over, why don't any of us ever get to leave.”
What I've told them, and the way I see it….fuck them.
I don't bootlick. I don't go above and beyond. I literally do what I'm asked. And I get the benefit of my supervisor doing me favors, getting to go home early.
As far as I'm concerned, they benefit too. They get to do 3-4 units less of work per day with zero risk of being fired….which means they get about 90 minutes of free pay per day.
If you wanted shit to be more fair, should have joined my cause.
I'm fucking over a decade in here, and pushing 40 years old. I'm done helping out here, I'm only looking after me.