A Class Struggle

There aren't many full-time permanent employees left in this department. Bill and Dave's company doesn't seem to value the employee much, anymore. My experience has been completely different from what I've heard about this place over the past few years. People always told me how well they were treated and how much Bill and Dave prized the people who worked for them, but I'm just not seeing it here. Most of the people they've hired in are actually on a one year tour only. They get a slightly higher hourly wage but no medical benefits. Oddly enough they are employees of the company- not temporary workers from an outside agency. I'd call them contract workers. You get hired on and your contract is for one year. If at the end of that year they like you, maybe you get to stay on for another year. However if you work for two years straight they force you to take a few months off. I'm not sure how all this works or why it's a benefit to the company. To me it all seems like a bad idea. Doesn't make much sense to me. Our management should either want employees to be here- or not. Pretty simple.

Resentment runs high among the contract employees. The reason is because many of them have been employed here for much longer than two years. Management at Bill and Dave's won't hire them, instead they continue to dangle the carrot in front of them that they *might* get hired if they keep doing a good job. Alot of the people seem to know that's a lie and question why they've been strung along. Nobody trusts the managers. Managers love having meetings to tell us all what's going on but I've noticed something in the few short months I've been here. The managers actions are totally different from what they are telling us. It's all spin. I'm not paying any attention to them as a result. I started boycotting their meetings. I'd rather just stay at my station and keep working. If you can't stick to your word and do what you say you will do, I have no time or respect for you.

A backlash from the few full-time employees has erupted. The full-time people are angry that the contract employees get paid more per hour than they do for essentially doing the same work. It's funny that they are so mad about it since they have full medical benefits and a bunch of other perks that contract employees will never get. Some permanent employees are withholding key information when they are training the new people who happen to be on contract. They are probably trying to remain indispensable rather than expendable. It's counterproductive to say the least.

Another group of employees that were here full-time permanent bailed out in recent years when they were offered a lucrative severance package if they volunteered to leave the company. Sort of an early retirement deal. I've talked to alot of the people who participated in it and they all seem to say the same things. They left Bill and Dave's with a huge chunk of cash, started their own businesses, failed miserably at it, and came back here to work on contract with their tail between their legs. Many of these guys are pissed off about their situation and harbor ill feelings towards the company. I don't have much sympathy for them since they put themselves into this mess to begin with. Greedy chumps.

Animosity between permanent and contract employees reigns supreme. I feel like I'm working with a bunch of Dr. Seuss' Sneetches around here. Some of the contract employees have begun to sabotage company equipment and/or their work. Petty revenge...