I was recalled to my union position in May of last year with a start date in mid July. In October, the company told me this was a mistake but they would allow me to stay as a new hire with no seniority. They made sure to tell me that this was non-negotiable and gave me 48 hours to sign the new contract. There was insufficient time for me to get a hold of anyone helpful in union leadership. The in-plant rep told me I could sign it, or quit and re-apply in a year. Obviously that wasn’t in the cards as I had already been working for several months and didn’t have another job lined up. I couldn’t negotiate pay as if I was a new hire because I had already accepted the pay I was given, $22.50/hr (the wage I was laid off at). So now I’m a new hire with 10 years of manufacturing experience, 4 years of management experience, 2 years of shop lead experience, and 2 years of CNC program editing experience. If I were to come in off the street, you’d hear their dicks hit the bottom of the table right before they offered me well over $30/hr.
My coworker just got his friend hired starting at $24/hr with much less experience. He also started 2 years before me and is now making $8/hr more than I am. I’ve lost all fucks. Tonight my manager told me to have someone from another area finish someone else’s job so I can start mine. It took everything in me to tell him I don’t get paid to delegate. Instead I just didn’t do anything and sat back down at my machine.