I worked for a grocery chain for 4 years and they have a union. I started as a cashier at $10/hour and after a month I moved to pharmacy as a technician. The new pay rate for a pharmacy technician was $11.25/hour and I was only part time. I kept asking for full time, but it seemed like they didn't want to pay benefits since most of the employees were part time. After two years I decided I needed to find a full time job. I had an interview and was offered the job on the spot. I told my manager and he asked if I could give him until the end of the day to try to get me full time hours. I said okay and he managed to talk the store manager into making me a full time employee, but I still wasn't making living wage.
I tried talking to the district manager, store director and my union rep about a raise and I kept getting the run around for two years. I was one of the lowest paid employees and I was the only pharmacy technician at that location. I managed to schedule a meeting with the DM, HR and my union rep. I told them about all the work we have to do in the pharmacy with just me and one pharmacist. Their response was that there were no merit based wage increases as part of the union contract. Raise were only given based off years worked for the company. They suggested I cross train in another department if I wanted to make more money. It wouldn't make sense to cross train when I'm licensed an certified as a pharm tech and I'm the only tech they had so it would be impossible to find time to cross train. I quit as soon as they told me there was no negotiation a raise.
Has anyone ever experienced a union contract working against them?
TLDR: I asked my union rep and district manager for a raise and was told that my union contact states there are no merit based raises, I would only get a raise based on how many years I worked for the company.