Exhibit A007
"Yeah, this machine runs like shit. Welcome to reality."
Welcome to reality. She said it without a hint of sarcasm. No twitch of the corner of the mouths. No undertone of mirth. She just turned back to the box she was filling with product and didn't say anything more.
I have worked in a factory for the past two summers, and today was the worst day at work I've ever had. I was asked to work overtime, so I said I would. Twelve hour days are nothing new, I worked at least two every week of last summer. It wasn't the heat, or the tediousness of the job. It was the fact that we were three people short and every machine, at some point, broke down... repeatedly... all at the same time, creating a logistical and labor nightmare beyond anything most at the factory could recall.
It was rough, but it doesn't happen all the time. In fact, usually nothing at all happens. The workers drone on, marvelous specimens of productivity. And I have come to the revelation that if this is the backbone of our country, then I'd rather be an invertebrate. You see, in the past week I've gotten some nasty shocks.
From one woman: "I've been here 30 years, and they didn't even come to me at all for relocation."
From an operator: "They lose a lot of money shutting down that line for an hour.. I mean, when you get $10 a case and you put out 50 cases an hour and you're only paying the packer $8 an hour..."
From a brand new hire: "I'm trying, but they say I need to pick up the pace..."
First, that really upsets me that anyone would do this type of work for 30 years without promotion, or that they would continue to do it. Last year when I worked for Snyder's I came across a similar incident. After 25 years of continuous employment, a woman came into the breakroom holding a certificate of appreciation... no bonus, no raise, no promotion. A piece of paper printed off from stock in 10 seconds and quickly signed by a guy in corporate who had never heard of her before, nor cared who she was. And worst of all, she was actually proud of it. Have I been raised broken? Is it wrong of me to expect more than this when I'm 45 and barely paying my bills because I've been a loyal employee for 25 years?
And that leads me to the second point. Packing is hard. Twelve hours standing at one table making the same movements hundreds of times an hour. One would expect it to be worth one's while. When I was hired, I received $11.59 an hour. Wow, I thought, I only made 10.50 at Snyder's, and that was a smaller wage than the regular packers, since I was a temporary employee, and at Snyder's there was a rotation, so you packed something different every hour. Certainly I thought that if I was making 11.50 here, the regular packers must be making plenty more than that. I was wrong. $8? That is an absolutely ridiculous amount of money for this type of work, for these hours, and in these conditions. What concerns me more is that I was hired as a temporary intern and I make more an hour than someone who has been doing the same job I do for 30 years. I got a title. Manufacturing Intern in Plastic Extrusion Technology. Sounds fancy? It should, it cost a lot.
Third, there is something that I just realized. My father works in a manufacturing plant, working with lumber and prefab buildings. True, he's been promoted in his 15 years there, but he still works on the floor, doing what I do now... doing what I can't imagine doing 15 years from now. I never realized this part of his life. And now I know that his life sucks and somehow he never let us know. He just leaves his cares at work, comes home exhausted but picks up his life where he left off. That man has taught me a lot.
Welcome to reality. She said it without a hint of sarcasm. No twitch of the corner of the mouths. No undertone of mirth. She just turned back to the box she was filling with product and didn't say anything more.
I have worked in a factory for the past two summers, and today was the worst day at work I've ever had. I was asked to work overtime, so I said I would. Twelve hour days are nothing new, I worked at least two every week of last summer. It wasn't the heat, or the tediousness of the job. It was the fact that we were three people short and every machine, at some point, broke down... repeatedly... all at the same time, creating a logistical and labor nightmare beyond anything most at the factory could recall.
It was rough, but it doesn't happen all the time. In fact, usually nothing at all happens. The workers drone on, marvelous specimens of productivity. And I have come to the revelation that if this is the backbone of our country, then I'd rather be an invertebrate. You see, in the past week I've gotten some nasty shocks.
From one woman: "I've been here 30 years, and they didn't even come to me at all for relocation."
From an operator: "They lose a lot of money shutting down that line for an hour.. I mean, when you get $10 a case and you put out 50 cases an hour and you're only paying the packer $8 an hour..."
From a brand new hire: "I'm trying, but they say I need to pick up the pace..."
First, that really upsets me that anyone would do this type of work for 30 years without promotion, or that they would continue to do it. Last year when I worked for Snyder's I came across a similar incident. After 25 years of continuous employment, a woman came into the breakroom holding a certificate of appreciation... no bonus, no raise, no promotion. A piece of paper printed off from stock in 10 seconds and quickly signed by a guy in corporate who had never heard of her before, nor cared who she was. And worst of all, she was actually proud of it. Have I been raised broken? Is it wrong of me to expect more than this when I'm 45 and barely paying my bills because I've been a loyal employee for 25 years?
And that leads me to the second point. Packing is hard. Twelve hours standing at one table making the same movements hundreds of times an hour. One would expect it to be worth one's while. When I was hired, I received $11.59 an hour. Wow, I thought, I only made 10.50 at Snyder's, and that was a smaller wage than the regular packers, since I was a temporary employee, and at Snyder's there was a rotation, so you packed something different every hour. Certainly I thought that if I was making 11.50 here, the regular packers must be making plenty more than that. I was wrong. $8? That is an absolutely ridiculous amount of money for this type of work, for these hours, and in these conditions. What concerns me more is that I was hired as a temporary intern and I make more an hour than someone who has been doing the same job I do for 30 years. I got a title. Manufacturing Intern in Plastic Extrusion Technology. Sounds fancy? It should, it cost a lot.
Third, there is something that I just realized. My father works in a manufacturing plant, working with lumber and prefab buildings. True, he's been promoted in his 15 years there, but he still works on the floor, doing what I do now... doing what I can't imagine doing 15 years from now. I never realized this part of his life. And now I know that his life sucks and somehow he never let us know. He just leaves his cares at work, comes home exhausted but picks up his life where he left off. That man has taught me a lot.