union contracts dont always equal pay raises. the last one was in 2009. next one will be in 2012. we receive lump sum "bonus checks" this december like we did last year at the same time. but im not complaining..... all raises go to my 401k and bonuses go to the city mission/ salvation army for christmas...
Things are tough all over. Dang insurance keeps going up, along with meat costs and the rest of the overhead and eating away at available money for raises. It should not be that way, but unfortunatly thats the world we live in.
On the lighter side my old boss would say one of two things when I would ask for a raise:
1st answer- "How high you wanna go? Bend over and I will see if I can....."
2nd answer- No raise, how about a title instead?
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I'm not a vegetarian, but have eaten many animals that were.
Ha. Funny. We took a 2% cut in 2009. Last raise was in 2004 I believe... Plus health benefits go up every year.
Isn't it strange that no matter how much they cut our pay, or try to during contract negotiations, we continue to try our best to make more and more for them?
How can we increase sales?
How can we improve the gross?
How can we cut labor?
How can we cut other costs (water, electricity, supplies, etc.)?
We get excited if we have more sales this week than the same week last year.
I've been hearing this since 1978.
Too bad the stores don't worry as much about us as we do them.
At my current company (3 years), I received 3 raises my first year, 2 the second, and one this year. If I want another raise, I go another year for the annual or get promoted, which is on the horizon. The majority of mine were merit raises. I think this is the only company (it's private) that still does this. It's also one of the only companies I know that's trying to carry on the tradition of good meat cutters. Of all the corporate companies I know, they will only pay you more if you threaten to quit and management likes you. It's tough out there for us cutters, but any store worth it's name should value their cutters. Real meat cutters are coming back in demand, and customers are taking a big stand against pre-pack meats.
