I felt like I just needed to share this with someone, as I’m planning on turning my two-weeks notice in tomorrow. And hopefully to highlight some issues within my industry.
I work at a non-profit Christian ministry. We have a car lot as part of our “enterprises”. Which means hat we have automotive technicians such as myself on our payroll.
Most dealerships pay flat-rate, which means they’re paid by the job, not by the hour. That water pump that took you 1 hour to replace pays 2 hours, so you get paid for 2 hours of work. It’s not uncommon to flag 100-150% of your clocked hours if you’re okay at your job. If you have crappy service managers, they can essentially rob you of a paycheck. Which is why I left the dealership world — warranty labor times due to crappy parts and garbage design end up taking money out of the technicians pocket. We suffer, we have to pay for all of our tools, and we go home stressed and underpaid.
At my current “shop” we’re payed by the hour only, but still expected to produce at 100-150%+ efficiently.
Further, our hourly rate is abysmally low because “we’re a Christian ministry, and what we can’t meet in pay, we make up for in culture”. Which translates to $21.00/hr hourly, no overtime, and morning meetings filled with hypocritical blowhards. I earned the equivalent of $38-45/hr at a GM dealership. We’ve had the “productivity carrot” dangled above our heads for the last 3 years, and was why I left my last shop. Two of my employees are refugees who are woefully underpaid for the quality work they perform.
With 8.5% inflation, and a record production year last year, we have had no raises. We have one “manager” to every two employees. These “managers” only exist to justify their own position. Every vehicle we work on is donated (free). Every vehicle we dont work on is free, and goes to scrap (quick $400.00).
The place down the block is hiring people to do window tinting, which would end up being an 18% raise. Any shop is paying twice as much to do less work, and doesn’t gaslight you into believing your low pay is what the Good Lord would want.
Fuck organized religion justifying charity and stewardship, and failing to pay its own employees while the organization reaps massive profits.
Fuck businesses for shitting on the actual workers while hiring huge numbers of incompetent “managers” incapable of performing any job short of tying their own shoes and showing up for a free paycheck.
God I’m so tired.