This is only the beginning, but it’s a big step for me and really wanted to share with likeminded people. Really wound up after today so the adrenaline (or anxiety, I can’t tell anymore) is still pumping.
Quick context: Young-adult, working at a large non-profit, and have been here for 3 years. I get paid $10.50 and work 28 hours a week. The minimum wage here is $7.25.
I have worked my way up through a pandemic, entering college, and have nothing but appreciation for this place- until lately. I’ve fallen in love with the type of work we do and am going to school /for/ this kind of career. I /was/ very grateful to not have any major bills to pay, until my trusty car of 6 years gave out on Friday, so car payments are gonna be my new friend soon. Plus, being below the poverty line every year just to “look good on a resume” is not the motto I want to live by anymore. I took a break from school (going back in September) once the pandemic hit, and still want to pursue this line of work, but not in the position I’m in without that degree.
In February, one of our full-time department heads left for better opportunities. I should’ve ran, then. That position kind of dissolved amongst two departments, A and B. I mainly have worked in dept. A until they needed help filling in, so I approached admin and asked for more opportunities since I wasn’t going back to school for another semester. Now, I’m practically seasoned in dept. B and will hop back and forth between the two if needed, whenever needed, etc. I’ve picked up a lot of other regular tasks that I realized no one else was doing anymore since that employee left, and no one has said anything except “thanks for doing that”. Lmao. It took me a few months to realize, holy shit, I’m doing twice the amount of work for the same pay. The experience is nice though, I’ll be able to add experience with “hard to work with” equipment on my resume! This was a huge part of pushing for the raise, it made me realize they really need me more than I need them.
I’ve been in an ultimatum for a while, and I don’t want to leave, so I asked if I could meet with said supervisor before lunch this afternoon. I’ve never had to ask for a raise before, so thanks to this subreddit, 2 weeks worth of researching, and several DBT techniques later, /I did it/. I asked for 35 hours a week and a 10-20% raise. Since my last wage increase was in August 2020, I also asked about our COLAs & he said it isn’t likely we’re going to get them this year… alright. The consensus being, it’s a waiting game. Our financial director won’t be back in until Monday to discuss things, but he claims he is going to push for more hours and see what he can do for a raise. He asked if this was an ultimatum and I told him he could call it that.
I told my close coworker about this, since she wants nothing but me to get out of this place and go onto better things, and she was so excited for me. We went online and saw a job posting of a similar position of mine with a salary of $33,400. She then told me she has a masters degree and 6 years of experience in the field and makes just $300 more than that… I’m pretty sure my coworkers in my department make less than that, too. I have no idea how some of these “Been here for 15 years and will til I retire!” coworkers do it.
Anyways, I’m currently finishing up updating my resume. I think browsing the current postings online, regardless of what the outcome is at my current job is, will continue to motivate me to get the fuck out of here.
There is so much inspiration in this community. Thanks antiwork friends.