This is more of a “don’t let this shit fool you like it did me” kind of post. I’ve worked in a manufacturing plant for over 12 years (no union, despite workers trying). It’s become significantly more stressful and production numbers are the highest they’ve ever been with no compensation to justify the workload.
Discussing wages: this is actually what opened my eyes to how absolutely fucked my job is. Due to being unable to keep anyone employed, my employer recently threw a significant amount of money at an employee who knows very little in comparison to most of the senior employees for the sake of keeping him here. When employees with 10+ more years of experience and broader skill sets learned of this (he “forgot” his check with his brand new raise open for everyone to see) we were all immediately shut down. It got everyone discussing wages and how terribly unbalanced the pay scale is. Hell, there really isn’t even a scale. However, it’s brought forth a new “you get what you pay for” attitude amongst those of us who get paid shit compared to this guy. Discuss your wages, raise hell. There’s likely someone doing what you do for more for no discernible reason.
Cross training and lateral moves: My employer strongly encourages cross training to broaden your skill set. However, upon completion of training they like to convince you this new position is a “lateral” move to the one you primarily work and will use that as justification to not give you a sizable increase, while they now have an employee at their disposal who can fill in on multiple positions shorthanded. There’s no such thing as a “lateral move” if you learn something new and add to your usefulness, don’t let them exploit your efforts.
Indeed listings: Recently we’ve had trouble keeping new hires around, and even some senior employees have left. I don’t blame them for getting out of here, I often encourage it to younger new hires that are highly motivated. I don’t like seeing them exploited and manipulated. Anyway, in a desperate attempt to get new employees in, they’ve made a “confidential” indeed posting with starting wages that can compete with some senior employees (we know it’s them because they left their name in the mission statement on the posting lololol). And once again, no experienced employee received any increase to compete with new hire wages despite bringing it up.
TL;DR If you notice early signs of manipulation or feel like you’re being taken advantage of, don’t wait 12 years. Just get the fuck out and find somewhere that will treat you like a human.