Will I Have A Job Tomorrow??

If this darn wind would ever calm down today , I'll be doing my first paying job on the Kubota . Over the years , I've been purchasing whatever implements for the tractor that I envisioned could make me $$$ in the future . Now is the time to start . If I can't make buck on my own , I still need the tractor and implements at home and at the property up in NY . I have to give it a shot , retirement is close .
 
The company I retired from was bought by a Brazilian company. Nothing changed for 2 years, till our labor contract ended. Their demands for a new contract were outrageous, we ended up on strike for over a year. They finally settled, but it cost them over a billion$ in losses and costs trying to operate as usual. Didn't work. They basically tried to break the union. When we came back they told us they run the show , and just do as your told, don't think, or we'll fire you. After 2 more years of low production, high costs, they changed their tune and started asking for employee input to put the company back in the black. that was back in 2009-2010. Still not a good company to work for, glad I retired 5 years ago.
 
We know that Brazil based company. Tried the oriental business method.
 
You might find yourself in the situation of being retained long enough to train your own replacement. The replacement will have 4 years of education and zero experience, so he will be cheaper than you and he will think he knows more. If you smell this on the breeze, run! Let those capitalist hogs eat the place into swiss cheese, but don't help them do it. Grab your check and let them figure it out for themselves. What, did you think you would get a bonus for being complicit with the handover?
 
I had my meeting, to say I’m not impressed would be a major understatement. They were vague on some questions, somewhat evasive on others and from initial impressions is they are not really sure what kind of company they actually bought. They are basically a hedge fund operators/private equity bankers.

My impression was they think they bought a cash cow, but they have no concept of the industrial boiler business, the cyclic sales patterns, the effect of weather, the technical expertise required, the required DEC/EPA ramifications, etc, etc. I believe they saw the top edge of the cyclic cash flow curve and really did not go much in-depth investigation. I guessing they will be shocked, shocked I tell you, when reality finally sets in.

All ready they are talking about improvement to the profit ratio of the service department, they implied they wanted guidance in who could be either replaced or made redundant, I explained I would not be a hatchet man for them. They were quite firm that my employment was key to their future plans, even offering me a substantial pay increase and a guarantied 5 yr work/employment contract (No firm terms at this point)

At this point I don’t have that required “warm and fuzzy” feeling.

I know I have approximately another year, of booked work, that I have to perform, after that it’s all open, the rest of the servicemen are basically on a day to day status now. I expect that the story is going to move into a downward spiral from here on, I‘m not real optimistic.
 
You have to consider your situation independent of what they say - will you be happy to stay? If you want to stay, (and credit to who mentioned it above), play up how you can make them money, since that's all they understand.
 
Watch out for a non comp. They cannot stop you from working in your trade unless they pay you during the time of the non comp.
Pierre
 
I had one employer that tried to get me to sign a non comp right after the time they were laying me off. Like that was gonna happen. Their competitor was going to be my first stop with resume in hand. They even tried to tell me that there was a LAW that said I had to sign it. :face slap:
 
I know a couple guys who were being pushed and found that the law was on their side not the employers. Judge told the companys to either pay up or go away.
Pierre
 
Those corporate raiders are the scourge of the working man. Very few co’s have been taken over because the pirates have a passion for what the co was doing. Cash cow with a pension plan they can liquidate in the two personal experiences I’ve had.

A good friend had a company he and his brother had created and even though they were small they had tech that was way ahead of all the others in their field. Raiders came in and basically told them they could sell or it would be a hostile takeover. So they sold but were retained because the raiders didn’t know squat. Within 6mo they had basically destroyed the company by basically their greed. They wanted to get rid of 60% of the employees and put the brothers on salary. They both were working 3x’s as many hours for 1/4 the pay. They both left as much as out of disgust as for their health.

The last wage slave tour I came in 10yrs after the co was bought out by a foreign co. I called it a reputation laundering scheme as nobody would buy the foreign machine but would buy the American made model. More and more they kept squeezing us on the floor taking away benefits (they had kept the original pension for the legacy guys and only offered 401k)and then the final straw happened when the owner installed his son as CEO and he started squeezing out our manufacturing of our mods that made our version of their design popular. All they wanted us to do was install the machines they sent us. Then cut benefits and doubled our portion of the cost. That was the last straw.
 
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