Policy on discussing wages in the shop

[CNCAppsJames]

So it's against the law to prohibit an employee from talking about their wages, but what about an employee talking about someone elses wages to a different person?

Sounds like that could be considered an invasion of privacy issue perhaps?

[TSmcam]

So it's against the law to prohibit an employee from talking about their wages, but what about an employee talking about someone elses wages to a different person?

Yeah, that is fine. I was talking about your wages to someone at the pub last night.

They said you work for peanuts. 

[BrianP.]

So it's against the law to prohibit an employee from talking about their wages, but what about an employee talking about someone elses wages to a different person?

I would imagine it would depend on how they found out. If the guy told him then I would think nothing could be done. If they found out through nefarious ( Del that means bad 😛 ) ways it would and should be a different story.

If I was not dealing with a health issue for the last couple of years and being close to retirement I would have already quit. As soon as I can get to my "semi" retirement stage I think I will quit and move on. There are many benefits to being here at this point in time so I bite my tongue and try to ignore what happened.

[Jim at Gentex]

I worked in one union shop where the hourly wages were negotiated and posted by the union.
Similar to what James described, it was broken down by Department and Labor Grade, and everything was based on seniority, period.

Everywhere else I worked I don't recall much discussion about wages on the shop floor.
Only one place I recall the owner telling people specifically when they were hired to not discuss their hourly rate with co-workers because they had problems in the past.

I agree with everyone else who stated that my wage is between me and my employer, and it is based on what I bring to the table. 

I don't know, and I don't care to know how much money anyone else makes because they don't pay my bills and I don't pay theirs.

[gcode]

At my shop when had several young kids who had been there for years and been trained up to be pretty good,
and sometimes excellent machine operators.
We hired a bunch of new "experienced" guys in at much higher pay than the homegrown guys.
The homegrown guys got butthurt training people much less skilled and much better paid than they were.
Most of them have moved on to greener pastures at an irreplaceable loss to the company.

At another place I worked, someone got butthurt, printed up a bunch of copies of the office payroll and left them lying all over the plant. Management tried to deny the legitimacy of the leaked documents.
The whole incident was comedy gold, and some seriously overpaid office eyecandy ended up moving on 

[Jim at Gentex]

The homegrown guys got butthurt training people much less skilled and much better paid than they were.
 

The place I mentioned where the owner specifically told everyone to NOT discuss wages had a big blowout while I worked there because someone disregarded that directive.

It was a small manual machine shop, and there was a main setup guy who pretty much trained everyone.
Most of the jobs were small quantities of parts that were made on lathes and Bridgeports, and they had a pretty standardized way of setting up and running each job based on experience over time making the same parts over and over.

One day the setup guy was showing a new guy how a certain lathe job was to be done, and the new guy immediately thought he had a better idea, and so a heated discussion was taking place.
Having tried many different approaches to this particular job over several years, the setup guy told him this is how we do it, and if you don't like it, talk to Jack (the owner).

"I will talk to Jack", said the new guy, "because $xx an hour isn't worth this kind of hassle..."
Well, the $xx he blurted out was more than setup guy was making after having been there for years, so he shut the machine off, picked up his toolbox and his lunch pail, and walked out the door.

I heard that Jack called him and pretty much begged him to come back, but I left shortly after that myself, so I don't know if he ever came back.           

[crazy^millman]

The place I mentioned where the owner specifically told everyone to NOT discuss wages had a big blowout while I worked there because someone disregarded that directive.

It was a small manual machine shop, and there was a main setup guy who pretty much trained everyone.
Most of the jobs were small quantities of parts that were made on lathes and Bridgeports, and they had a pretty standardized way of setting up and running each job based on experience over time making the same parts over and over.

One day the setup guy was showing a new guy how a certain lathe job was to be done, and the new guy immediately thought he had a better idea, and so a heated discussion was taking place.
Having tried many different approaches to this particular job over several years, the setup guy told him this is how we do it, and if you don't like it, talk to Jack (the owner).

"I will talk to Jack", said the new guy, "because $xx an hour isn't worth this kind of hassle..."
Well, the $xx he blurted out was more than setup guy was making after having been there for years, so he shut the machine off, picked up his toolbox and his lunch pail, and walked out the door.

I heard that Jack called him and pretty much begged him to come back, but I left shortly after that myself, so I don't know if he ever came back.           

Reminds me of a shop I worked at and got moved to 3rd shift. I had been working that shift about 4 months and the owner was having cash flow issues. He told everyone they would need to go a few week without a pay check. Everyone else agreed and I told him I came here to work for a paycheck. You cannot pay me I will not be working here. He agreed to pay me pissing everyone else off. That went on for a month and I was the only person getting paid. He then said he couldn't pay me. I quit and then a week later he calls me begging me to come back. 1st and 2nd shit was taking a lot of my work and calming it as their work. I left and production took a major hit and the truth came out. I told him sorry no amount of money will bring me back you couldn't pay me once why risk coming back? Funny I ran into different guys later and they still couldn't understand how I was outworking them like I was.   

[thad]

One day the setup guy was showing a new guy how a certain lathe job was to be done, and the new guy immediately thought he had a better idea, and so a heated discussion was taking place.
Having tried many different approaches to this particular job over several years, the setup guy told him this is how we do it, and if you don't like it, talk to Jack (the owner).

"I will talk to Jack", said the new guy, "because $xx an hour isn't worth this kind of hassle..."
Well, the $xx he blurted out was more than setup guy was making after having been there for years, so he shut the machine off, picked up his toolbox and his lunch pail, and walked out the door.

I heard that Jack called him and pretty much begged him to come back, but I left shortly after that myself, so I don't know if he ever came back.         

That's why they don't want you talking about wages. People will see the underhanded bullshit that they're pulling. Jack knew what your experienced setup guy was making and he knew what he was paying the new guy. I say fuck Jack!

[crazy^millman]

That's why they don't want you talking about wages. People will see the underhanded bullshit that they're pulling. Jack knew what your experienced setup guy was making and he knew what he was paying the new guy. I say fuck Jack!

If I got to the point in any job where I had to go ask for a raise I was already looking for another job.

I was 19 working in a shop and I was promised a .75/hr raise after 30 days if I could do what was asked of me. I was doing that plus much more. The shop foreman comes to me and give me a great review and says money is tight we cannot give you a raise. A lot guys have not had a raise in 5-7 years. I told him that is not what we agreed to when I was hired. He was not happy having to go to the owner to get my raise. He made the mistake of running his mount to some of the other guys and they started giving me grief about it. I told ever single one of them you are happy making what you make without a raise for 5-7 years then that is on you. I was made a promise if I lived up to my end of the bargain. I went above and beyond and should get what I was promised. Then they backed off, but none of them were happy with the snot nosed punk kid.

From 19-25 I worked in 20 different shops. Some places little as 2 hours. I always gave more than I got from those places, but did learn something from each.

[CADCAM396]

Did a lot of job hopping like that in the past.
I at least now make sure they treat me with respect deserved and pay me reasonable. am currently getting ripped off a bit but people treat me well enough to make up for it.

to the OP, what I make is my bidness. have been network admin at a couple of companys so was privy to payroll. dem numbers can infeariate the best of us but it is what it is.

[Jim at Gentex]

That's why they don't want you talking about wages. People will see the underhanded bullshit that they're pulling. Jack knew what your experienced setup guy was making and he knew what he was paying the new guy. I say fuck Jack!

LOL...yep.

I was only working there during a layoff from a good job at a defense contractor, and I told Jack that up front.
I said I could be here 2 months or 2 years, and he said it was fine with him because he liked me and he thought I did good work.

This was waaaaay back in the late 80's when everything was slow.
I don't even know if that shop is still there today. 

[CNCAppsJames]

I believe if I were to put EVERY job I worked at on a resume... starting with my 1st CAREER job;

• Cummins Engine Company - Santa Fe Springs, Ca - starting 1991 or 1992 can't recall - 3 Years
• PlastiFab - La Verne, California
• Turvey Engineering - Corona, California
• Seagate, Anaheim - California
• Mikana Manufacturing - San Dimas, California
• Furno Company - Pomona, California
• Rainbow Technology - Brea, California
• GT Bicycles (Temp) - Santa Ana, California
• Mori Seiki - Cypress, California -                                                                                 2 years
• CAD/CAM Consulting Services - Huntington Beach and Ontario, California                      2 Years
• 4/Flight Industries - Ontario and Stanton, California                                                     3 Years
• NTMA Training Centers - Ontario, California                                                                  3 Years (evening job overlap)
• Meyette Manufacturing Consulting                                                                               2-ish years
• Arnold Engineering - Corona, California
• Selway Machine Tool Company - Buena Park and Ontario, California since 2006 or 2007.   15/16 Years.

The ones with no time are weeks/months. The one that is bold and underliend... hands down the biggest lying shitbirds I've ever worked for and that's a pretty long list. That piece of shit (owner of the now defunct business) is now a politician for a larger city in the San Gabriel Valley... the job suits him perfectly.

[neurosis]

I've only ever had 3 real jobs

Sounds like me.  I'm on my fourth and I've been here since 1995.

[gcode]

an upholstery refurb place owned by a boozy Frech woman
my job was tearing down furniture brought in for refurb.. she liked teenaged boys

a sod farm .. I lasted one day .. at 15 I was not strong enough to do the work

Carrows  washing dishes for .90/hour .. after 3 months of busting my ass they told how great I was doing and gave me a nickel raise. I walked out of the review and right out the door.

a machine operator in a machine shop... very boring work for $1.05/hour  wrecked my car and couldn't get to work

Coors Container working in a can plant... hard work, VERY VERY noisy, great pay.. the teamsters were trying
to unionize the place.. after a couple of encounters with union goons I moved on.

a water well drilling company in Colorado.. very hard work with very hard men. I loved it, but fall came around
and the boss asked when I was buying a wetsuit cause I'd need it come winter..
I decided it was time for college

first a local community college, then Colorado School of Mines. I dropped out the end of my sophomore year failing due to too much dope and girls and not enough study time

USMC.. 4 years included a repair shop machinist class  .. got a part time job in a radio control helicopter shop
my last year.  Discharged from El Toro in SoCal

Sherline lathes in San Marcos fun work.. lousy pay moved back to Orange County for better pay

got the better pay at a nice shop in Orange.. the owner was addicted to teenage girls and cocaine
and destroyed his business. In was early 80's  no work anywhere.. cocaine boy gave us a house to live in
and paid us every couple of weeks.. I'm down on the bankruptcy filing for about $15k in missing wages
One day all the machines disappeared, He told the cops I helped steal them. I took a lie detector
test and the cops let me go.. It took me 6 months but I found the son of a bitch at his new shop
I walked in and said hello then called the cops and the insurance company's detectives.. no idea what happened to him.

me and the foreman started our own shop.. he put up the $$$ I put up the work..we built it into a pretty nice business...  20 years work, 3 Haas VMC's and  couple of Takisawa 8" CNC chuckers.
This is where I started messing with PC's and CAM software..I was supposed to buy the business when he got older but he gave it to one of his sons.. his idea of a hard day at the office was 3 hours on the phone planning his next river trip. I sold out while it was still worth something and moved on.

Then it was a place called Outland Technolgy. A startup trying to develop a new kind of pump for the natural gas industry. It turned out it was a penny stock scam. The Canadian investors were straight shooters, but the guy running it in Cali was a con man. One morning I came to work and there was a woman holding a shotgun blocking the door,
She informed me that the business was closed and to go home. The Canadian investors had hired a law firm in Cali
to get the business back from the con man and they hired a bunch of moonlighting LA PD to do it.
I sat home for three months with pay, then worked for three months helping the Candians pack up the wreckage
and ship it home. as I said, the Canadians were straight shooters and did right by their employees.

Next was a big shop in the Inland Empire which shall remain nameless.. worked there 5 years and loved it.
but got tired of vendors asking me for help getting paid.. Then a bunch of pay checks bounced at Christmas
and it was time to go.

next was an engine builder.. he built race engines from billet. I worked there 2 weeks and quit after seeing how
he treated his people.

then  Loud Engineering... a once profitable company specializing in landing gears
the owner sold it to investors who ran it into the ground then sold it to more investors who drove it into a pit
A Foutune 500 company bought it, and that's where I came in. Worked there 8 months. spent half the day in 
meetings and the rest of the day in trouble cause my work wasn't done. There were a whole lot of dead beats
working there. I actually got threatened with a beating for turning a 1 part a shift job onto a 3 part a shift job.
That place is gone now.

Which brings me to my current job..been there 15 years and will probably retire from there.

[TSmcam]

1) Apprenticeship at Hamilton Jet. Make Marine Waterjet Propulsion Units. Four year apprenticeship then about nine years as a tradesman. Started programming on paper tape and pen and paper in the last year of my apprenticeship. Total of 13 years or so.

2) Technical Rep with Sandvik Coromant. Great learning experience. Two years

3) Went into business with a (then) good friend. Worst mistake of my life. Found out how some "good friends" aren't really. About four years there.

4) Local engineering company. Was going to be a tie over job after 3) but stayed longer than I short. Totally disorganised but some interesting work.

5) Back to Hamilton Jet to run the programming office. Back there for six years, and really enjoyed it, but got tired of the upper management politics. Left when I was made a good offer by my biggest contract programming customer, and because I had given up on a senior manager.

6) Current job. Programming, Design, Technical stuff. Free to come and go to do my contract stuff and software stuff. If it gets too much, I can just drop my hours. Really little to no restrictions.

Towards the end of 1) through to start of 6): Contract CNC programming etc. Contracted to local Mastercam reseller as sole technical support rep/training/installation/post processors etc. Mastercam decided to make me a sub dealer, reseller didn't like it, and showed his usual colours and cut me off (most of you know the story)

Start of 6) to present: Reseller of TopSolid, Vericut, and Cimco. Contract programming, training, technical stuff. Dealing with some great customers, who I really enjoy working with.

Pretty much sums my working life up. Not sure where I will retire. Maybe at my day job, or maybe I will just drift into full time contract stuff/software until I tire of it (no sign of that yet )