TLDR Was making barely more to train new employees than those new employees were making. Threatened to quit, got my money
I’ve worked for this company for nearly a decade. I moved across the country to work in their second facility. We manufacture things and my job is to train people how to manufacture those things. Sorry for vagueness, but the point is this:
When I started out at the company, I made 12.50 an hour back in 2015. Six years later I was making 19, which sounds all right on paper. But in 2020 they started hiring new employees in at almost 18 an hour but not increasing existing employees wages. I’m not begrudging new employees making good money but how can a company value zero experience more than years of service?
I carried my department. Most knowledgeable, most experienced, the go-to guy. There are lots of unappreciated people like me on this sub, I’m sure. Every performance review was GLOWING, yet my raises were .50 an hour tops.
I lived with frustration until one day when I was working and chatting with a coworker. They casually mentioned that “Joe”, who had worked there for many fewer years than me and held an entry level packaging position was making 20.50 an hour. I got pissed off and emailed the boss saying I need a pay increase.
He replied saying he would speak to the president of the company. A couple days later he emails me saying we would address a pay bump in my next review, which was a few weeks away.
I replied with the following:
“I was hoping for something more specific. New hires are being paid 5 an hour more than I was when I started. This, I think a five dollar raise is fair.”
He said he would forward my “ask” to the president. A very terse, sarcastic email.
I replied I would start looking for other employment in the meantime.
An HR rep approached me. She asked me if I had heard back yet and I said not really, but I told her what I had asked for. Her eyes bugged out like she couldn’t believe it, that I was crazy.
I felt crazy. I was afraid because I was prepared to leave my job, and they knew would leave.
Someone told me they overheard the managers taking about me, saying “What are we going to do?” They didn’t want to pay me, but they couldn’t afford to lose me. Luckily, someone must have come to their senses. Six months later I’m pushing nearly 26 an hour. Still not as comfortable financially as I thought I would be, but with inflation and insane prices on everything, I don’t know what I would be doing if I made less.
I don’t have a zinger to end this with, I just wanted to share my story. Keep fighting for fair wages!