I like making the title of my posts contradictory, so that they don’t make sense thus lowering one’s expectations for the post itself. The title of this post should be no exception, except it perfectly illustrates the situation that came up today.
I have been working for the same company for years and my wage has grown alongside me, until I moved to Quebec and saw it get cut by $2 per hour. However, this was something I knew prior to the move and I was okay with taking a pay cut for the change of scenery.
My hourly pay is now almost back to what it was before I left Vancouver, but it will never match. The pay cap, which I reached about six months ago, means I can never match my Vancouver-era “wealth”. Except, ever since I took on the role of a bike mechanic, I was eligible for a “mechanic bonus” which was dependent on how well the shop performed, as well as my productivity. I have yet to receive the bonus from the 2017 season but I have been told that it is about $1500 to $2000. In other words, it’s the equivalent of a new bike which is what a bike mechanic always dreams of.
Today, I was told that they were axing the bonus in favour of increasing the mechanics’ wages by a dollar per hour. Save for the six mechanics nationwide who have already reached the pay cap. My hourly earning won’t go up and I won’t be getting a bonus for the 2018 season.
I immediately thought about a meeting I attended in Vancouver a few years ago when the company decided to increase the pay of all British Columbia staff, except for those who were already at the top. I asked a friend who was just about to reach the pay cap how he felt about the news and he said something along the lines of, “I think it is great overall, but I feel let down knowing that the next pay increase will be my last.”
This was also my initial feeling. I am happy my colleagues will start to see a better bimonthly paycheque. I always thought they deserved to be paid more than the other employees as because the role of a bike mechanic is not one that can be filled by any new hire after two weeks of training. I am hoping that this pay increase will ensure that the current shop staff will stick around rather than flee, leaving the more experienced mechanics to train a bunch of green employees who aren’t sure whether a 10-speed shift lever would work on a 11-speed bike (it won’t).
On the other hand, I was essentially just told that I would be making lessmoney this year which is very different from simply not seeing a pay increase. What the devil?
I don’t know what I can do about this. I could let my productivity drop, but it is hard to do less work on purpose. Also, it would be a dick move.
Advice, anybody?
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