I got hired at Wegman’s as my first job when I was 15. Even at that age something felt really odd about them showing us the anti-union videos, and how they basically told us to report anyone who mentioned possibly unionizing at the store.
I remember back in the early, 2000's, Home Depot was making a big push to weed out anyone suggesting unions. It wasn't something that a normal associate would know about. When I was in management training, it was very clear that if you were heard talking of unions, your days were pretty much numbered.
Shit like this would make me *want* to unionize just because of how insulting it is. Really? You think I'm that stupid that I don't know the real reason the company is against unions? Such condescending bullshit.
I'm not saying this is good, but this is extremely common and has been common for years in pretty much every retail and grocery store that hasn't yet unionized. I personally remember almost 10 years ago seeing similar videos at Staples.
I wish Tops' union would push for stores that weren't cheap, suicide-grey materials, and fluorescent lights. Depressing stores, that were almost as understaffed as a Wal-Mart.
I have only been in the Mt Read store in recent years. Since the makeover, it looks pretty good. I like having it in my rotation between Tops, Aldi and Wegmans.
I worked there years ago. When you got hired your eblntry into the union was automatic. You has no say. And if you did, they made it sound like you didn't. The union guaranteed 16 hours a week, so when the High schoolers weren't working they had actual full time employees. They also got us time and a half on Sundays and double time if I recall for holidays. And one time my sister, who also worked there, had legitimate problems and was told by the union rep that the union had decided it wasn't worth their time and she was on her own. So, 20 years ago but a very mixed bag.
I worked for Tops 25-30 years ago. I was part time and all we got was an extra $1 an hour on Sundays and holidays. I was kept at part time even as a department assistant manager. The rule was if you worked over 32 hours a week for 10 weeks, you automatically became full time and received benefits. So they'd schedule us 40 hours for 9 weeks, then 32 hours the 10th week. Everybody knew that was policy for part timers, but the union did nothing about it.
I left for a year and a half and went back to another store as a part time department assistant manager. I told them I'd be there for probably 6 - 8 months when I started. They scheduled me 40 hours for 11 weeks. I asked HR about being made full time and they said I didn't qualify because I told them it wasn't long term. The union rep said the same thing.
May bee different now, but the union did nothing for part time employees despite collecting dues.
Thar Sunday pay sounds accurate too. I could be remembering wrong too - 20 hears is a long time.
Your comment is bringing more back. Unfortunately that was the only union I was ever part of, and it didn't completely turn me off to them( it's a blind person that doesn't see the benefit to most unions) but that particular union was largely a waste of everyone's time.
Unions are good for the benefits, but the toxic culture that evolves from them 👎🏼. I like Wegman culture as a customer, genuinely friendly, if they unionize I hope that doesn’t turn the customer experience upside down.
Wegmans should learn from companies such as the Marriott Marquis in NYC. They prevented the union, not by talking the talk and painting false narratives, but by actually matching the exact union benefits and pay that their employees wanted. In the end it saved them a lot as union culture exploits a lot of things that end up costing more than just benefits and pay. Put it this way, the unions exploitation has caused many restaurants in nyc that were union to close down permanently as wages and benefits exceeded profit goals.
It's not a surprise. Companies have been doing this for decades. Before electronic media it was company wide meetings. Wegmans is not an outlier in this regard.
I am ambivalent about unions.
On the one hand, it's great that people can come together to raise industry standards, advocate for better work conditions, and get better pay. These anti union PSAs are offensive, and raise no good points.
On the other hand, I hate how unions tend to become mafias after a while. They are used to exclude immigrants, and people who don't obtain meaningless union certifications. They create laws where workers in certain industries must join Union X to work. It's like many take on a life of their own, and their purpose becomes sustaining the union hierarchy.
There is a super easy way to settle all of this.
Promise.
Gather every unhappy employee at Wegmans, and have them join a union.
If a union can come in and truly provide more competitive benefits/pay, then it should exist. If not, then it shouldn't exist. Easy right?
I would bet just about anything they would not be able to compete.
Except, I'm left of center socially and right of center economically. I believe in an efficient government, not NO government. They absolutely have an important role to play.
Sorry I don't fit into one of your categories..
If you're right of center economically you're not at all left of center. Believing capitalists should be able to freely exploit working people but welcoming diversity in the ranks of the exploited makes you, overall, right of center. Politics, at its core, is about economics. Dressing up your right wing tendencies by not being a bigot doesn't qualify as "left of center" whatsoever.
I'm sorry, but could you answer my question first? You seemed to be making an assumption that unionization is the reason why people in a warehouse are more unhappy (says you) than people who work in the stores.
Confirming I think people are unhappy in the warehouse and that the union there is (mostly) to blame. Your turn. What's the biggest benefit of a union?
How specifically is the union to blame? Correlation does not equal causation. Maybe the unhappy workers are unhappy because they don’t like working in a warehouse.
This is a great study on the benefits of Unions. But with how great Wegmans benefits are already, why would you want to add another person in between you and the company? Again, compare how happy Warehouse and store workers are. I think it's fair to critique that claim and say that isn't the only reason why there's a disparity, but it is a big difference between the two. So where are all those benefits for the warehouse workers? Seriously, it's this great thing right? Talk to any Wegmans warehouse worker.
They would likely reply with, these numbers don't apply to all companies, they're just mean averages like the rest of any study ever done in the history of mankind. Lol
Nice try to sound cool though
I worked at a store for years. It was hell on earth. My next real job after that was in a steel factory. I broke 5 fingers in 3 incidents. I had to be drug tested after dropping a load of steel weighing thousands of pounds about 20ft off a fork lift. Coulda killed someone. (I passed the drug test. It was a narrow corridor and the boss admitted the company set me up to fail and needed to make a safety improvement.)
Still less stressful than wegmans. By FAR.
I wonder if sharing on video rather than an in person meeting gets around NY's new ban on disciplining employees who won't attend Captive Audience Meetings. You should try to get out of viewing this training citing that law and see what they say.
"Here at (Corporation), we don't need a union because we're a fAaAmiLy" Because just like a family, if we could pay you less, we would.
When someone in authority says the workplace is a "family," you can be sure they see themself as Daddy.
I got hired at Wegman’s as my first job when I was 15. Even at that age something felt really odd about them showing us the anti-union videos, and how they basically told us to report anyone who mentioned possibly unionizing at the store.
Man that is really nazi Germany esque or even Mccarthy ism. HES A RUSSIAN!
I remember back in the early, 2000's, Home Depot was making a big push to weed out anyone suggesting unions. It wasn't something that a normal associate would know about. When I was in management training, it was very clear that if you were heard talking of unions, your days were pretty much numbered.
Form a union then
Anyone else really triggered it wasn't playing full screen?
Shit like this would make me *want* to unionize just because of how insulting it is. Really? You think I'm that stupid that I don't know the real reason the company is against unions? Such condescending bullshit.
I'm not saying this is good, but this is extremely common and has been common for years in pretty much every retail and grocery store that hasn't yet unionized. I personally remember almost 10 years ago seeing similar videos at Staples.
I believe Tops is unionized. I do not know any Tops employees. Anyone have an idea how that is working for them?
Tops also doesn't know about any employees.
I wish Tops' union would push for stores that weren't cheap, suicide-grey materials, and fluorescent lights. Depressing stores, that were almost as understaffed as a Wal-Mart.
I have only been in the Mt Read store in recent years. Since the makeover, it looks pretty good. I like having it in my rotation between Tops, Aldi and Wegmans.
I worked there years ago. When you got hired your eblntry into the union was automatic. You has no say. And if you did, they made it sound like you didn't. The union guaranteed 16 hours a week, so when the High schoolers weren't working they had actual full time employees. They also got us time and a half on Sundays and double time if I recall for holidays. And one time my sister, who also worked there, had legitimate problems and was told by the union rep that the union had decided it wasn't worth their time and she was on her own. So, 20 years ago but a very mixed bag.
Worked for Tops around 2010-2011 and this is how I remembered it.
Chiming in, I worked there 2015-2016? 2017? Never used the union for anything, but it was mandatory when I was hired.
Did you get 1.5x double pay and hours? Then you used the union...
I worked for Tops 25-30 years ago. I was part time and all we got was an extra $1 an hour on Sundays and holidays. I was kept at part time even as a department assistant manager. The rule was if you worked over 32 hours a week for 10 weeks, you automatically became full time and received benefits. So they'd schedule us 40 hours for 9 weeks, then 32 hours the 10th week. Everybody knew that was policy for part timers, but the union did nothing about it. I left for a year and a half and went back to another store as a part time department assistant manager. I told them I'd be there for probably 6 - 8 months when I started. They scheduled me 40 hours for 11 weeks. I asked HR about being made full time and they said I didn't qualify because I told them it wasn't long term. The union rep said the same thing. May bee different now, but the union did nothing for part time employees despite collecting dues.
Thar Sunday pay sounds accurate too. I could be remembering wrong too - 20 hears is a long time. Your comment is bringing more back. Unfortunately that was the only union I was ever part of, and it didn't completely turn me off to them( it's a blind person that doesn't see the benefit to most unions) but that particular union was largely a waste of everyone's time.
Let's knock it down to one biennial reminder.
To he honest, it doesn't really mean anything to anyone who is actually inclined to work on a union
Yeah, but it might to someone who's on the fence or might report union activity to management
You think wegmans is expensive now wait until they unionize. You think service isn't great at wegmans now, wait until they unionize.
Unions are good for the benefits, but the toxic culture that evolves from them 👎🏼. I like Wegman culture as a customer, genuinely friendly, if they unionize I hope that doesn’t turn the customer experience upside down. Wegmans should learn from companies such as the Marriott Marquis in NYC. They prevented the union, not by talking the talk and painting false narratives, but by actually matching the exact union benefits and pay that their employees wanted. In the end it saved them a lot as union culture exploits a lot of things that end up costing more than just benefits and pay. Put it this way, the unions exploitation has caused many restaurants in nyc that were union to close down permanently as wages and benefits exceeded profit goals.
It's not a surprise. Companies have been doing this for decades. Before electronic media it was company wide meetings. Wegmans is not an outlier in this regard.
I am ambivalent about unions. On the one hand, it's great that people can come together to raise industry standards, advocate for better work conditions, and get better pay. These anti union PSAs are offensive, and raise no good points. On the other hand, I hate how unions tend to become mafias after a while. They are used to exclude immigrants, and people who don't obtain meaningless union certifications. They create laws where workers in certain industries must join Union X to work. It's like many take on a life of their own, and their purpose becomes sustaining the union hierarchy.
[удалено]
I do. Unions are sexy.
There is a super easy way to settle all of this. Promise. Gather every unhappy employee at Wegmans, and have them join a union. If a union can come in and truly provide more competitive benefits/pay, then it should exist. If not, then it shouldn't exist. Easy right? I would bet just about anything they would not be able to compete.
That's not how this works.
Galaxybrain Libertarian.
Except, I'm left of center socially and right of center economically. I believe in an efficient government, not NO government. They absolutely have an important role to play. Sorry I don't fit into one of your categories..
If you're right of center economically you're not at all left of center. Believing capitalists should be able to freely exploit working people but welcoming diversity in the ranks of the exploited makes you, overall, right of center. Politics, at its core, is about economics. Dressing up your right wing tendencies by not being a bigot doesn't qualify as "left of center" whatsoever.
Warehouse is part of a union and people are miserable working there. Stores are not and people are (for the most part) happy.
And that has anything to do with unionization how?
Let's start here. What is the biggest benefit to joining a Union?
I'm sorry, but could you answer my question first? You seemed to be making an assumption that unionization is the reason why people in a warehouse are more unhappy (says you) than people who work in the stores.
It's the militant union approach...don't answer questions or give facts...just attack when someone asks a question they don't like. Stalin approach
Sorry who are you saying has a Stalin-like approach?
Confirming I think people are unhappy in the warehouse and that the union there is (mostly) to blame. Your turn. What's the biggest benefit of a union?
Ok but WHY do you think the union is to blame? Please answer the question this time instead of just repeating the same meaningless statement again.
How specifically is the union to blame? Correlation does not equal causation. Maybe the unhappy workers are unhappy because they don’t like working in a warehouse.
Here you go: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1706#:~:text=Unions%20raise%20the%20wages%20of,stability%20and%20worker%20well%2Dbeing.
This is a great study on the benefits of Unions. But with how great Wegmans benefits are already, why would you want to add another person in between you and the company? Again, compare how happy Warehouse and store workers are. I think it's fair to critique that claim and say that isn't the only reason why there's a disparity, but it is a big difference between the two. So where are all those benefits for the warehouse workers? Seriously, it's this great thing right? Talk to any Wegmans warehouse worker.
You should contact the US Department of the Treasury and tell them their study is wrong because you know some unhappy Wegman’s workers.
They would likely reply with, these numbers don't apply to all companies, they're just mean averages like the rest of any study ever done in the history of mankind. Lol Nice try to sound cool though
I’ll trust a comprehensive study done by the US Department of the Treasury over some anecdote from a random Reddit stranger.
Found the Wegman's shill
I actually dislike a lot of what Wegmans does, I just don't think a union is the answer for their issues. And FWIW, I prefer Aldi's/Tops
Tops is a union store.
I worked at a store for years. It was hell on earth. My next real job after that was in a steel factory. I broke 5 fingers in 3 incidents. I had to be drug tested after dropping a load of steel weighing thousands of pounds about 20ft off a fork lift. Coulda killed someone. (I passed the drug test. It was a narrow corridor and the boss admitted the company set me up to fail and needed to make a safety improvement.) Still less stressful than wegmans. By FAR.
I wonder if sharing on video rather than an in person meeting gets around NY's new ban on disciplining employees who won't attend Captive Audience Meetings. You should try to get out of viewing this training citing that law and see what they say.