Unions

I am getting paid approximately $38/hr right now as I'm typing this. I was supposed to work 2:30pm to 10:30pm today and since it's Sunday I get paid time and a half. But they sent me home 45 minutes early so I'm still getting paid right now. While I'm not complaining I'm also not sure about whether I really like working for a union. Twice now I've been told to 'take it easy'. Both times it was because there was not very much left to do so I had to work slower so that I wouldn't get done before my shift was over. Tonight I had to leave enough work for the next person coming in. So not only was I told to work slower and take more breaks but I also got to go home early. I think that the foreman intentionally waited until it was 15 minutes into my last hour so that I would still get paid for the last hour. I'm quite happy about getting off early but it seems kind of ridiculous to me that this is how things are done. It's one thing to get off early either with or without pay but I really don't understand the logic behind telling someone to work slower. The shifts go much faster for me if I have lots to do and can work at a steady pace to get it done. But if I have to try and waste time I really don't enjoy it. What do they expect me to do? I had already taken an extra 30-45 minutes worth of breaks above what I normally am supposed to take. At first I thought that it was just the other employees that discouraged hard work but now I'm starting to think differently. Not long after I started one of the employees informed me that hard work is punished at Scott. I'm still not sure that I fully understand what he meant but he did explain it a bit. He said that if one person works really hard, is quick and gets lots done then they will up the quota for everyone. I can see why this may be a problem because not everyone is able to work as fast as the fastest person or people. There is one girl that I work with sometimes that has trouble getting eight pallets done on the job that I was on tonight. 10 is the quota right now (it used to be 8). Last summer some of the summer students were doing up to 16 pallets in a shift so they raised the quota to 10. I thought that 10 was just a guide and that as long as you were near that amount it was fine. But nobody ever does more than 10. Just think of all the money the company could save if they were able to do things differently. I'm not a particularly fast worker and would consider myself to be about average (or possibly a bit slow) but I can easily get 11 pallets done. So if everyone worked at their normal speed they could eliminate about 3 shifts a week which is at least $600/wk in wages. And that's just on one machine. The other thing about unions is that there is no reward for people who do work hard and try to do a good job. Everyone gets paid the same (depending on what jobs you are trained for) and everyone gets the same size raise at the same time. So really what motivation is there for working hard. It doesn't appear as though it will ever get you ahead at all. Everything is based on seniority too. So it's pretty hard to work your way up to a better position. When I started the job I had intended for it to be only temporary but now I feel even more sure of that. Other than the money there is nothing to keep me there. Now the question is how long do I stay and what do I do next. I have a couple different ideas that appeal to me. I think that I still have a job available to me starting this Novemeber in Alberta if I want it. I haven't heard anything lately from my previous employers so I can't be sure. I will also need to find out all the details and decide if that is what I want to do. With my allergies being as bad as they have been lately here in BC, Alberta is looking even more appealing to me. I am also considering going back to school in the fall of 2007 to get my ECE. I know that I would really enjoy working with kids and I can see myself actually sticking to that as my career. The reasons that I might not do this though are that it will cost me more money and the pay is not great afterwards. It's not awful but it's not $25/hr either. I also worry that if I wait that long and stay at Scott that long that I would end up stuck like everyone else and would never leave. I don't think that it's very likely but it happens to enough people that it is a concern. Of course I could start in a ECE program sooner but I'm not sure if the other colleges are as good as the one that I am looking in to. I could probably start in September of this year at another college. Well whatever I decide I'm sure that I will probably change my mind many times and then wait until the very last minute to make an actual decision. That seems to be how I usually do things.
I have finished training the mare that I was working with. I took her out for a ride on the roads and a bit of trail by myself on Saturday. She was really good. The people are moving to Aldergrove next weekend too so we are all glad that I'm done. It would be a bit far for me to drive to Aldergrove to work with the horse. I really enjoyed training her and I think that I will miss it a bit. I'm going to miss the road and trail rides for sure. I liked getting paid to go on trail and road rides on a calm horse that really didn't need much more than experience. Of course I could do the same with Brig but it's hard for me to make the time to do it with him when there are so many other things that I want to teach him in the ring instead. I did take him out for a little ride on Saturday too though. He was really good. He's excellent on the road. We had a big truck pass us and Brig didn't even look at it. The driver was really good to slow down and drive on the opposite side but I think that even if he hadn't Brig wouldn't have cared. I took him through some trails and to a river but he was really scared of the river. He wouldn't go anywhere near it while I was on his back. Eventually I got off and made him walk up to it and look at it. But he didn't want to try and go in to the water. I didn't really try to make him either because he's usually pretty sensible and I think that if I give him enough time to get over his fear he'll be okay. At one point he did touch all four feet to the water at the same time though. He wasn't too bad when it was just the fronts but once he felt the water on the back feet he started to panic. I think that I'll take him there again tomorrow. There is a riding ring that I can use too and it's bigger than the one at where I keep him. I've been needing more space to work with him on some things so hopefully this other one will work. I know the footing isn't great but it's been warm enough lately that it might be okay. If not then I might have to look into moving him to another place or I can pay $20 to go ride at the equestrian center on the days that I need more space.