#support union

Hello. You don’t know me. And based on your lack of consideration thus far, it is doubtful you wish to.  I am the wife of one of your employee’s. I am a mother of four. I am the woman that has watched her husband go work, thirteen to fourteen hour shifts for you, often times in the middle of the night. I am a woman who raised children during the pandemic. Homeschooled them. Became their friend. Their teacher. Their support. Because you couldn’t spare a single worker.  I am the one that has watched him struggle with working for you, a good company as you proudly proclaim, while trying to be a good father.  He operates on little to no sleep due to the type of hours you demand and the shifts you implement. Because he wants to provide for us. But he also doesn’t want his children to grow up, as many are now, with an absentee father.

On September 13th, your employees walked on you. You claim your contract is fair. It is not.  A pay increase does nothing when insurance goes down.  It does nothing in the face of inflation. And it does nothing when most of your workers have to commute and the gas prices have skyrocketed. In fact, what you have offered them is a pay decrease in the guise of something charitable. You talk about fair and competitive wages and yet most people have been able to leave and find better money elsewhere. Your electricians are underpaid by far. Your hours are atrocious. Your insurance is abysmal. I have had two babies under your insurance. My first one had issue within the hospital. That original plan five years ago, was a lifesaver.  My child that was born without complications, without me spending a full extra day in the hospital, nearly bankrupted us because the fees were so high due to your shitty insurance policy. And now you wish to reduce it more because it is status quo? 

What happened to being a good company because you weren’t status quo? Because you offered what others could not? What happened to be a good solid foundation for a community? You pride yourself on hard work and family values and yet children are struggling to eat because you cannot meet your employees at the table and negotiate.

And that, is truly what it does come down to. Your employees are willing to negotiate. They are not asking for the moon. But each time you have come back to the negotiating table with nothing. Nothing but a paltry sign on bonus that you were shocked people weren’t going to take? Can I ask you what you think a sign on bonus is going to do for my children when they get sick? Or if Covid resurges? Can I ask you what your sign on bonus is going to do if a pipe bursts this winter?  Can I ask how your sign on bonus has helped or can help in the face of your employee’s family emergencies? Your community lost family members these last few years.  Your employees banded together. Grieved together. Supported and helped each other. Where were you?

You claim to be a good company. That you take care of your own. Your own are speaking back saying they do not feel support and your response is to gaslight them as if they are some small child undeserving of your time.  But hey, when you guys came to them and asked them to still work during a worldwide pandemic, they did. They made you billions in profit in fact. Let's just read that again. Billions.  But you can’t give them a decent raise or decent insurance.  Mr. Stockfish, were your bonus’s that you took this year more important than my child's speech therapy?  Was your bonus more important than the mental health of your workers?  Can I ask you if it is more important than your employees choosing whether they can turn on their heat this winter because they might not be able to afford it?  Can I see what you bought with your bonus while your workers all got up at two or three in the morning to come serve your company, while you do nothing but sit back and collect?

I’ll wait.

Sincerely,

A wife. A mother. A member of this community you claim to care for and are letting down.