I work a relatively safe, but still potentially dangerous, job as a zipline guide making $10/hr. All of the guides here take our jobs very seriously, and I’d even venture to say it’s a pretty specialized position, requiring us to have pretty decent knowledge of climbing equipment and monitor weather conditions (wind direction, temperature, and rain all affect the zipline in different ways.) consistently to keep all customers safe. As great of a job as it is, I still think that $10/hr is a bit low no? Of course pay isn’t the only reason I’m considering it. Our whole zipline course was built out of wood some 10 years ago, and most of it was never weatherproofed. Meaning that most of the course is made from old and near-rotted wood in some spots. It’s not uncommon for us to have to go out and replace a board or two because they’re rotted through. This is really my biggest concern. The entire course was built by an external contractor, so we don’t really get regular inspections (at least not regular enough) since technically the company had nothing to do with its construction, and all course repairs have to be done by either us or our manager. Were we to unionize, we could demand to have the course professionally inspected and repaired, and a pay raise would be nice as well, but I’ve been doing some reading on the potential dangers of unionization to the business overall. Like in the case of Buzzfeed, (yes I know journalism is a lot different from ziplining) where workers fighting for unionization actually contribute to the overall downfall of the company since workers demand things that are in their best interests despite what the business’ best interests may be. I’m not entirely sure if the two situations are comparable, but that’s why I’m asking here.
Safety inspections are also in the customer’s best interest. So is retaining the employees who know how to keep them safe when flying at high speed and well off the ground. If a pay raise is what is required to retain those employees, then it is critical to customer safety. Not having preventable deaths or injuries is very much in the best interest of the company.
If they have been alerted to safety issues and take no action or insubstantial action, that sound like negligence which can be quite costly.
IANAL, YMMV, etc.
The situations are always comparable. I’m a nurse in the process of unionizing at my hospital and I’ll say to you the same thing I’ve said to some of my colleagues who voiced concerns about potentially losing our jobs:
If providing adequate pay and safety regulations is enough to push that employer out of business, do you really want that job anyway?
Might as well try to fix things and see how it shakes out. Because if you can’t force them to fix these problems, then that’s not a good job anyway. And if you force them out of business, it sounds like you’re doing the public a favor.
(And for the record, $10/hour is shamefully low anywhere in the US for that kind of work. You have people’s life in your hands! As a member of the public, I would expect you to be paid significantly more than that.)
Yes. Note that I only read as far as “$10/hr”.
You could always try and make an estimated guess as to how profitable the business is so your demands are reasonable and won’t bankrupt the business.
Get an idea of how many people zip line, what the overhead costs are, how many people employed etc.
It may be the case the business is barely solvent in which case if you go for a pay rise it could kill the business.
It could equally be the case the business is quite profitable and you are getting ripped off at $10 an hour and the safety inspections could easily be afforded.
I’m just gonna say if they’re barely solvent and skimping on safety inspections, they probably shouldn’t exist anyway. Regardless, 10/hr is pretty low. You could get that microwaving food at sheetz.
Yep, too many zombie businesses.
If a business needs to pay its employees poverty wages to stay afloat, it doesn’t deserve to be in business. People deserve a living wage.
If something were to happen to a coworker or customer because of negligence, it would absolutely be the company’s fault. However, I personally would use avoidance of that potential guilt to motivate me to unionize.
In my experience, a union would expect you to do twice the work you do now, lay off half the people who do your job, and spend the difference on a single person who’s “qualified” (someone’s buddy or relative) and is solely responsible for inspections and repairs… that doesn’t describe unions in general, but unionization on a small scale tends to “good ol boy” shit with a quickness.
In your specific case, it’s also very likely to incentivise the owner to sell the business or simply just close it down.
