I hope that they are smart and vote for the union. Money is important, but it is not everything. I have seen both sides of the coin. One of the most interesting jobs that I had paid the least. I got to do interesting things and work with specialized equipment. Lots of calibration and test equipment. The work was very precise as it was under the FDA. They had a good employee suggestion program. They really valued and appreciated employee input to improve the process. Problem was the pay sucked. I loved going to work, and I liked the people. Its when I got off work that my life sucked as I was broke.
I have had great paying jobs where every second of the day it was all I could do to keep from punching someone out. Surrounded by backstabbers and ass kissers (people with no qualifications other than nepotism). Mandatory group meetings every fucking day listening to a bunch of whining assholes. Its a wonder that my liver is still intact. I would drink in my car before work. Drink on break, drink on lunch, and drink on afternoon break as well. I would experiment to find the strongest alcohol with the least smell. Everclear was the solution, that and valium. The job started off great!! Then they went to this team "cell build" way of doing things. Between that and their "just in time" concept meant that I went from wiring power distribution boxes while rocking out with my walkman all day to twiddling my thumbs while listening to people bitch and moan all day. I went from actually producing things 12 hours a day to pretending like I was working because I did not have any parts thanks to "just in time" (its never in time in reality) and attending mandatory group meetings (bitch and whine sessions) for hours on end every day where I had to pretend like I cared. Want a long day? Pretend like you are working all day. Bring up the obvious at meetings like how you used to complete projects on time when you actually had parts on hand, only to be told that you are a stick in the mud for not getting on board with new ways of manufacturing. It was the semiconductor industry so we worked around very toxic materials like arsenic and boron gas. It is used to dope the silicon into N and P layers. I used to spend my time daydreaming that there would be a massive gas leak on my day off and permanently shut down the plant. That is how bad it got.
I digress, even a good paying job can suck when you have no dignity. Been there and done that. I find that when your job sucks, your whole life sucks. People say don't take it home with you. I wish that I could leave it at work, I really do. I find that when people are backstabbing me, and sabotaging my work to make themselves look better, than I can't let it go. I cannot let people that I am smarter than think that they have the better of me. It goes against the natural order of things. I have to settle scores, in a major way. Then I have to spend all my free time settling scores. Good money is not worth being miserable all the time for. Finally being laid off from that shithole was the best thing that ever happened to me, well except for watching the company go belly up a few years later. Most of those people were not qualified to work the drive through at a Mcdonalds. Their gravy train was over. I was told that my layoff was due to NAFTA. Because of that I was able to collect unemployment without looking for work for a whole year while attending trade school. The government also paid for my trade school for heating and air. I was making twice what I was making at that shithole within two years of being laid off. Thank you NAFTA!!!
