Sweet! I got a raise! (Rant)

I've been working at the same site for four years. I'm the youngest guard and the veteran of the site. I know this place like the back of my hand, likely better than stone of the guys running it, and I'm a very hard worker. My job is quite a bit more entailing than the others. I'm no supervisor, but I am an unofficial trainer. We are contractors.

The site has been frozen at the same pay rate for about fourteen years. Recently there was a security analysis done and one of the complaints was that we were three to four dollars underpaid. We very impolitely passed that information on to our manager urging him to have a talk with the client.

Today I found out we got a raise. Yay. 34 cents. I will be urging my supervisor to pass it on to the manager that he is free to shove it straight up his ass.

Yeah. It sucks. Happening in a lot of industries I think. Everyone's trying to cut costs.

My workload and responsibility has increased a lot over the past 4 years (like 3x what it was when I started here over 6 years ago), and after 3 years with no raise I got $1 raise last year.

I got a bigger raise after my first year with the company, and compared to what I am doing now, I wasn't doing E36 M3 then!

At least I didn't get laid off in that time (a lot of people did). I must be cheap labor lol

In reply to N Sperlo:

and for that .34 they'll prolly now want you to shovel snow, change lightbulbs and repair the facility plumbing in your 'spare' time.

I feel your pain. I just got a 1.3% raise. Just enough to buy a 6 pack at the end of the week.

Yeah, the main way to bump your pay up these days is to change companies.

I bounced around until my current employer. Established manufacturing company, pay us well, and we have tons of room for growth.

Underpaid means that you are ripe for job-shopping. The powers that be won't do anything until they can't keep people at the rate that they pay.

Don't tell them to shove extra money they are willing to pay, that's a bad move. Ask for a letter of recommendation or to use them as a reference.

hopefully it won't be one of those raises that winds up getting you a smaller paycheck due to the way they withhold taxes.. i got one of those once.. i was pissed..

Uhh, pay freezes are the norm right now. Pay freezes for a decade and a half are bull! I'd be outta there soo fast. I've left jobs I LOVED for less than that.

Sheriff is up for election. My friend wins, I triple my pay. Job security is the only thing keeping me with this company.

The only big raises I've ever gotten were from switching companies. Receiving outstanding evals and getting less than a 2% raise means it's time to walk. You do have to view the whole benefits package, though. A really good health/dental insurance plan can make up for being a couple bucks "underpaid."

With that sweet raise...keep in mind...

Corporate profits are at an all time high.

CEO pay is 380 times the avg worker. From 1960 - 1980 it was a mere 50x.

After adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings haven't increased in 50 years.

In short... while CEOs and shareholders have been cashing in, wages as a percent of the economy have dropped to an all-time low.

Source

could be worse.. our pay went DOWN 15% with the last contract negotions.. and to make up for the lack of dues.. the union raised the percentage we pay in.. double hurt

True, it could always be worse, but it shouldn't be. My company has high standards for a reason.

mad_machine wrote: could be worse.. our pay went DOWN 15% with the last contract negotions.. and to make up for the lack of dues.. the union raised the percentage we pay in.. double hurt

unions are awesome, aren't they? how has the pay of the union leaders been going lately?

trust me.. I am not hurting on you. I have been there. One of my first jobs was a local retail chain (boscov's for those in the philly region) and you could get up to a 25 cent raise (on a $4.50/hour starting) and after a full year of never being late, never getting written up, getting all my work done on time... I got 20 cents..

that is the exact reason I keep job hopping. When I told someone at Nissan what I made as a flat tech at Subaru, he asked me why anyone would want to work there. lol.
That place was on average $5-10 an hour underpaid compared to what they're paying where I am now.
I have a much easier job now, get paid hourly instead of flat, and get the same rate I had as a flat tech at Subaru.
If I can ever move up here I'll start by making $4-5 an hour more as a flat tech, at a busier place, so that'll be an easy 100-200 more a week

well when i was at toyota they paid me 21 flat rate. and there was only enough work for 40 to 50 hours a week. when i left i went to an independant and immediatly got 32 flat rate and had enough work for 70 to 100 a week.

Sounds like it's time to polish up the resume and find a place that will pay you a fair wage.

I recently left the machine shop where I worked for 4.5+ years due to a combination of corruption in management and being passed over for a raise. I now make $4 more per hour and it's a union shop so it will go up by 5% every 6 months until I reach 100% of scale.

Find a better job. It's scary leaving a steady, secure job but it's worth it to move up.

No Trollo

My company gets pissed when people want more money. "there's more to a job than just money".

Yes, I agree but.......

Just to let everyone know... I make more money now than I ever have, but I pay $18,000 per year pre tax just for my insurance.

It doesn't even out.

The_Jed wrote: Find a better job. It's scary leaving a steady, secure job but it's worth it to move up.

Thats where it gets tricky. I'm in law enforcement and don't have a certification. The only two places that I'm likely to get a job with that will send me through the academy are either frozen or pending. Thats why I figure put up with it at least until the end if the year. Things can only improve. Just finishing off this sixteen hour shift.... whimper

Pete240Z wrote: My company gets pissed when people want more money. "there's more to a job than just money". Yes, I agree but.......

that's what they all say.. but i've flat out told a few of my bosses that if it wasn't for money, then i wouldn't be there at all.

Business = profit.

Employee = wages.

Simple.