So, up until Monday, I was a lead shipper/receiver and forklift operator for a regional health care company. I supervised five people in my department.
Unlike many industries, we never shuttered during COVID. We kept everyone throughout the pandemic. What's more, nobody caught COVID during the time due to, well…due diligence on our part, as well as having a COVID immunization clinic that came to our door.
So, while the office staff was successful in negotiating raises to stay at home, we got to thinking: our cost of living has gone up. Gas became more expensive, and we still have to come in, why aren't we allowed a sizeable raise? I mean, the sales staff only have to come in one every two weeks for half a day, why should they get a big raise when we still had to drive in each day? HR came in twice a week at best, and our accounts payable/receivable person hadn't been in the office for two years: trust me, we know).
Ten of us (myself, my five staff members, and the four janitors who somehow fell under my supervision, I don't know how) sat down and decided to do something about it: we brought our concerns to HR. We asked for simple things, really: a fifteen percent raise per person, as that's the average rate that the office drones got. We also asked for three extra vacation days off per person, as nobody in the crew took sick days. I asked for a new forklift, as one we had was dead, and the other was nearly there.
We basically told HR that we were overworked, underpaid, and pissed off, and that's not something they want the people who distribute their product or keep the facilities in tip top shape to be.
HR scoffed at it. Proving how clueless the department is, the rep wondered why I couldn't use a forklift that wasn't dead but still running. I mentioned OSHA regulations but that flew over their heads. I mentioned how I personally arranged for the COVID shot clinics, and even though I showed them the paperwork, they thought that I was full of shit.
But when they said they didn't have the money, that's when shit really hit the fan. I looked the HR rep straight in the eye and told her that being lead in the logistics department, I knew exactly what was coming in, what they paid for it, and what they were selling things for. Yeah, I know Bills of Lading and invoices. She didn't have a response for that outside of stammering, saying that there's more it than that.
So, we left the meeting, not a dollar richer, and even more frustrated…but I did have an ace up my sleeve: one of my oldest friends from high school was promoted to VP of logistics at another company: when I informed him of my issues where we were, he said that they were looking to staff a new warehouse. We started to discuss numbers, and after a week he was able to offer the ten of us employment contracts for everything we all asked for but was denied. Fifteen percent more than what we were paid originally, extra days off, and some neat perks we always joked about wanting, like an arcade machine in the lunch room, and free coffee.
Contracts in hand, it was a easy sell to convince everyone to sign. Within the day everyone signed, and had a two week notice letter drafted to HR. I delivered them to HR, and after they got over the laughter, they said they wouldn't acknowledge them, saying I was committing industrial espionage. I explained that these were signed, and as I was their superior, I accepted them and wished them well.
They didn't like that. HR thought I was full of shit, and I left the office immediately. I told the crew that they didn't accept the letters, but that wasn't their problem…just carry on, do your jobs until the last day, don't talk to HR (they never came to the back, because ew, it's dirty and dusty) and on your last day, empty your locker.
Fast forward to Monday: Nobody in my department shows up for work. They find the locker room empty, my office is cleaned out, and everyone's uniforms are hanging neatly where they belong. There's five trucks waiting to be loaded and offloaded, and several people are losing their shit.
I don't care.
I hold a BBQ at the park near my house, and everyone's invited, including HR, remotely of course. HR quickly calls me, and asks why nobody is in, nobody's doing their jobs, nobody is available, etc. I explain to her thay we had an agreement, that after two weeks, the crew would be leaving. I put the call on speaker; we could hear the HR person frantically calling people in the office, asking if they knew how to drive a forklift, if they knew where the keys were, and how do shut off the alarm at the dock doors. Also, someone was complaining about a sink overflowing and whatever, but I digress.
HR said she had expected the problems to blow over, because we worked really well, and I told her that yes we work well together, but at a new place. “Money isn't everything, things are always tight toward the end of the month, it's easy to get frustrated”, she said.
Eventually, she panicked and offered me basically everything we asked for: but we declined telling her politely stick her head up her ass, and that we were done. I explained this was all about respect and being treated as equals, something that HR and management didn't seem to understand. To them, we were blue collar workers, but to me, we were a family, a fraternity. Working together through the Pandemic made us a family, and not the cringe “we're a family” line that is frequently espoused.
Fast forward to today: I find all our jobs posted on a few job boards: each offering the same rate of pay we earned before we left. I was informed in the office that the company owner is absolutely irate and wants to fire HR because of how this all went down. At least three of his contracts cancelled and he's dealing with a load of other issues stemming from this. Couple that with trying to hire and train two shippers, one receiver, one order picker, one experienced logistics team lead, and a handful of janitors, all properly trained with WHMIS certification and dangerous goods certification and forklifts certs if necessary.
I want to say I didn't enjoy how this all played out, but I can't. Sorry.
By the way, how did the manager find out? I told him that we all quit via mass email two minutes before we were supposed to start on Monday morning, detailing all of this. Every single person in the company directory: vendor, customer and all, found out.
That beer on Monday tasted so good, as were the ribs. Probably better than the humble pie HR had to eat, or the crow the manager ate.