Hey all! I work for a large company in a call center/sales center environment. I have been here for 5+ years, and the company was always pretty good. 401k match, good health insurance, good pay, etc.
Within the last few years they implemented occasional mandatory ot. It's become an almost daily thing now. Interestingly, they force us to have half hour lunches for OT when we usually have an hour, though in ny those working with start times of 2pm should have at least 45. They have started telling us if we leave late to lunch/break due to a long call, come back at your regular return time. They are also now telling us that if we are in personal for more than either 5 or 2 minutes (depends on the day) we are logged out and not paid for the time we are gone. That seems to be an Osha violation. They are also forcibly moving peoples shifts around when they have always been set based on a bid. They now dont let you get commission if you are out for 5+days, vacation, fmla, or otherwise. They used to pay us base pay plus commission rate pto, now it's just base. Their response to complaints are- so quit. Iv tried talking with management and haven't gotten anywhere. I really want to work on starting a union, and I think a lot of people would go for it, but this company doesn't have the best track record when dealing with them. Any suggestions on how to go about it?
I know many will say just leave, but I really want to make this a better experience for not just myself but my coworkers.