My day-time company was sold last week.. The owner is 83 yrs old & wanted out.. sold it for 2 million cash & whatever is in the bank & billables on Oct. 1st.. probably another 500.K The place has been run into the ground for the last 50 years & NOW its scrambling time to get ever penny squeezed out by Oct 1st.. Core credits, past due & delinquent accounts caught up.. scrap & abandoned trucks to the scrap yard.. ect.. It's kinda funny watching the 83 year old, owner run around TRYING to get the lazy bastards to actually do their jobs.. The average manager/desk worker, has been there for 20+ years & has done basically nothing but collect a check.. Let me put it THIS WAY>> most of them are taking vacations next week.!!! The last friggin week of the old company & its THEIR JOB to get this stuff taken care of.. & they're leaving.. AND it being ALLOWED!! IF it was my company, ALL vacation & personal time would have been cancelled & 10-12 hr work day imposed. The "President" of the co. is a 25% share holder.. so he probably pockets between 500.-700.K after its done.. {The OWNER holds the rest..} AND the new company contracted him for the next 5 years to stay on.. HE"S THE REASON the co is in the shape its in & has to be sold.!!!! What were they thinkin'??? THEY have no idea what they've done..!! Its gonna be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.. Theres gonna be ALOT of desk workers standing in the unemployment line..
Well here's hoping the "new" company is smart enough to see what was going on and make the right changes. Was the buyer a local outfit or some major company on the national level? I'm sure everyone here is hoping for the best for you, it may be a tough few months but try to hang in and just do what you have to to survive.
Wish you the best pumpguysc, I'm sure it will be different with new owners, maybe not better, but different.
Sounds like the VP might have been a politician in a former life!! Mike
The new company is large.. I don't know if you could call them a "National Chain".. Western Branch Diesel.. They have 11 branches & we'll be the 12th.. They don't have a fuel shop & probably spend MILLIONS farming out pump work every year.. I guess we'll be getting the pump work from ALL the branches?? Problem w/ that tho is>> I"M the only one that KNOWS fuel injection.. its gonna be fun for the next few months.. I think [hope] its gonna be "sink or swim" time..
Something tells me you're going to be getting a few trainees... or they might have other plans already in the works... you never know when a company starts growing what the big picture is
Just to be fair to the people taking vacations. When my employer was sold, I lost 5 weeks of paid vacation. New policy and all ...
Sorry, couldn't resist:
No way to really predict what will happen when a company is bought out, I hope it works out well for you. But in any case I hope the pumpguysc is still on HEF, you're a very valuable recourse here and much appreciated.
I second that AusDave
It funnier than hell watching people who haven't done they're actual job or anything for that matter.. pretend to be working when they show up.. & to hear the explination of "what do you do here" should be on funniest home videos.. the studdering & stammering is ridiculous.!!! & THE LIES!! OMG>>> It didn't take long for them to figure it out.. One of WB General Manager sits down in secretarys office.. he's holding an "invoice".. It says here you made 33% on THIS job?? She says YES.. we strive to make ATLEAST THAT.. He then says.. it shows RIGHT HERE, you made 58% on the labor AND 89& on the parts... How does THAT equal 33%?? WHERE did all the extra profit end up?? She looked him dead in the eyes & said>> We've been asking THAT for YEARS.!!!! The GM said, that's all I need to know.. & left her office.. Like I said, It didn't take a forensic accountant to figure out where the "profit" is going.. definatley not in the mechanic pockets.. I haven't had a raise in 5-6 years.. & the "profit sharing" has been a joke for as long as I can remember.. ONE YEAR the Prez & VP stood infront of the entire company.. & told them we had the BEST YEAR since the start of the business..!!! we did 7 MILLION DOLLARS!! EVERYONE WAS STOKED & very proud of themselves.. THEN HE SAYS>> sorry but do to unforeseen circumstances, there WONT BE ANY profit sharing this year..!!!! I said, FU & got up & walked out of the co. meeting.. 2 weeks later I quit..
There is a Western Branch Diesel in my home town. I really don't know much about them good or bad. Its simply a repair shop if I remember correctly. I drive by it twice daily. I guess not hearing anything is good. Good luck to you. My last company of 30 years was bought out twice in 5 years. It got worse both times. I turned in my notice and my final day of employment was my 30th anniversary date.
You never know what will happen when a company is bought out. The last company I worked for was bought out and I made it 2 yrs and quit, 2yrs later the plant shut down. I was there 10yrs total. The company I'm with now sold last year and I went from wanting to quit everyday to thinking I'm retiring from this place. My job stayed the same but management and their way of doing things makes it easier and more enjoyable to go in everyday. Been at this job 11 years nows. Good luck hope it works out for you. Sounds like you may be in a good spot and have a skill set they are looking for.
Sounds like you're in for a rai$$$$e. Just have to play it well
You're supposed to retain that time, because vacation time is considered time already earned and is hence thought of as a kind of accounts payable. And when a company is bought in anything other than a bankruptcy, the buyer assumes all assets and liabilities. That said, taking the vacation time before the **** with the new owner is probably the best choice. You did have avenues to regain that money, thru the courts and probably the employment security or pay and wages department of your state. But as you can imagine, you will be a marked man if you do that.
They held a meeting w/ all employees & said NOTHING will change.. ALL vacation & sick time will remain the same & is yours.. Only thing is, after 20 years you don't get 4 weeks vacation.. 3 is the cap now.. Nothing was mentioned about profit sharing.. I wasn't at the meeting, I took the day off.Lol.. I only work about 30 hrs aweek & sometimes have to use sick or vacation time to make that up.. THATS how much I hate being there.. IF theres no work to do or my parts are on order for 2 days.. I wont come in.. You can only mop the floor so many times in a week.. if ya know what I mean.. & sitting in a chair isn't an option,, unlike the office workers, who sit & play on a computer 8 hrs a day .. ebay, facebook, amazon, candy crush.. ALL F'N DAY LONG.. BUT let ME sit down for 5 minutes & I get asked>> what are YOU working on?? My standard answer is>> 5:00 ... THEY don't see me leaving early or NOT COMING IN as "a good thing".. THEY see it as a slacker.. while the rest of the idiot who don't have anything else to do either, F-off all day.. & milk the clock.. My thinking is>> EVERYONE WORKS to pay their bills.. Right?? IF you don't HAVE ANY BILLS>> WHY GO TO WORK?? think about it.. GRANTED>> a lot of times, people are counting on you to get something done.. THATS when I'm there.. WHEN THERES WORK.. I WORK.. AND I DONT leave it for someone else to do..
Didn't lose that year's time... The change was vaca time now accrued during the year. 1 /12 per month. Previously, one got all eligible time January first. Situation got to ... whenever a benefit policy change was announced, we wondered what we were losing in the change. And change it did to my attitude toward the company operation.
As I was leaving on Friday, all the office works were standing at the front counter screwin off.. I turned & said<< "y'all don't forget your chap-stik on Monday".. [new owners taking over] There is gonna be so much ass kissin & brown nosin going on.!!! Its gonna sickening..
I think this thread will be an interesting read next week. Good Luck and keep us posted.
looking forward to the brown lip stories
Nothing new to report.. The lawyers were still arguing about the "language" on Monday so the papers didn't get signed.. I heard Tuesday, that LATE Monday nite, they DID sign the papers.. So as usual.. its hurry up & wait.. I'm just trudging along.. but the rest of the clowns are walking around on pins & needles.. It still kills me to watch everyone actually doing their jobs.. Lol I'm sure it'll die off in a few weeks tho.. just as soon as the slackers start recognising the new players..
I've been through buy-out like that before and seen it got both ways. The first time I went through it, it was great, and I would probably go back if I didn't have a better opportunity where I'm at now. The second was a family owned dealer, been in business for over 50 years, great people to work for. The original owner retired and left it to his 2 sons, who sold it to an international chain within a month. We were all hopeful that the national chain would have great benefits and such. They took a week of vacation away from the guys that had been there long enough to earn 3 weeks and capped everyone off at 2 weeks, insurance went up, had people in Florida watching our labor times and calling up if we were low, parts had to be ordered through the HQ in Fla. and routed to our shop in KC instead of direct from suppliers like normal, throwing wait time way out of wack. Guys started leaving to the tune of 2-3 a month, including myself. Now they are down to 2 original guys and cannot get anyone hired.
I'm in your boots right now. I can totally relate to what you're going through. The company I'm with isn't being bought up per se but the parent company that owns it is rebranding it with their name. So now we have to integrate fully into their company. This means all the idiots are scrambling to justify their jobs and we have to join the union now too. Oh joy. I get to donate 1.25 hours of pay per month to some useless union morons for the privillege of being able to continue my employment there.
I hope you give the union a chance before you write them off. Having benefits that you are holding instead of the company is a good way to insure that you have a fairly good chance to get it. Due to the Federal law that lets companies invest 90% of the pension money back into the company has resulted in many thousands of hard working people getting 10 cents on the dollar on their pensions. Companies take the pension money, go bankrupt by transferring the money to another branch, and then open back up with lower pay and less benefits in addition to the stolen pension. I do believe the laws intent was good to allow a company to have funds to expand but corporate greed found a better use of the law. EDIT: I just noticed you are in Canada. Your pension laws are probably different. I hope they are better protected for the working man than they are here.
Our pensions are all DCPP type plans through a 3rd party. I was actually a member of the same union at a previous job and I wasn't overly thrilled with it to be honest. Reason I'm 100% against joining the union is that our senority will be backdated to our start dates. I was the 2nd to last guy to be hired 2.5 years ago. Instead of my job security being based around job performance, I'm now being shunted right down to the bottom. Just puts me at a huge disadvantage.
You aren't makin me feel "warm & fuzzy" about this change.. Lol They are painting the building, not nec.. repaving the parking lot, not nec.. & redoing the security fence around the property, also not necessary.. What do ALL these cosmetic changes have to do w/ MAKING MONEY?? especially when your SPENDING almost a MILLION to do "cosmetic" changes.. I found out, they DIDNT BUY the building or land.. only leased it.. for 3 years.. THAT ALONE doesn't make me feel good.. You cant turn a business around in 3 years!!!! I guess I better order the plywood for my shop this morning.. lol
From what I have been reading about your situation pumpguysc is that you don't need them (your employer) they need you. Order that plywood for your shop. Then work there full time !
What Tinkerer said plus maybe they'll come along and buy you out for a million or so lol.
I was fellin a lil' blue this afternoon & during my break time.. I read my emails.. I read what Tinkerer had written & JUMPED UP & ordered the ply wood.!!! THAT brought me right outta my slump.. THANK YOU for that.. I needed it.. They don't know if they can deliver it tomorrow or not.. & we have rain for the next 3 days starting Saturday.. dammit.. It sure woulda been a nice "rainy day project" for the weekend tho.. I met the NEW, BIG BOSS today.. hellava nice fella.. We talked diesels for a few minutes & I asked some intelligent questions about "his" fuel injection experience.. He has very little.. THATS GOOD for me.. lol I asked around & said, he MUST HAVE a "dark side"..?? EVERYONE said, NO.. Then he MUST be surrounded by real Aholes then.. cuz you don't get to be a multi-millionair & fly around in your own jet, by being NICE.. Or atleast, that's what I've heard.. lol We'll see what happens.. I'm still going to move forward w/ my plans.. no sense in sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop..
There is no seniority in construction unions in the states. I don't think I would like that either. What is a DCPP plan. I am not familiar with them.
It is a Defined Contribution Pension Plan. In the states we have them as 401's etc. On retirement, you recieve what you put into it, as oposed to a defined benefit plan where you recieve a defined amount, normatively based on your years of service. In the US, defined benefit plans are almost only the domain of older union members and the government. Unions are desperately trying to remove themselves from the quasi-scheme of defined pensions.
PumpGuy. My experience with most rich people (who are actually rich) is that they are pretty nice. For those who have really made it. Money is just another tool like a wrench. Most of the Aholes are people who think they are rich or moreover want you to think they are rich. I can point out many super nice rich folk in my area and many Aholes and the nice ones are richer than all the aholes. Funny how that works.
And Scott, it's only the real rich who can afford to look poor.
I think you may be right Scott.. EVERYONE has nothing but kind words to say about the man.. He MUST HAVE some real "go getters" on his team.. I DID meet the "general Mngr".. NOW THERES a ballbuster.. My kinda "no-nonsense" fella.. He has questions.. VERY SPECIFIC questions, & you better have an answer.. It doesn't effect me just yet.. its ALL about the "billing & procedures" at the moment.. But I'm sure in a couple of months it'll trickle-down to the mechanics.. asfar as, time spent on jobs & shop supplies.. & WHY is "the pump guy" outside ALL DAY smoking..?? lol My standard answer is> because I can.. Good thing I got the wood for my shop walls ordered.. lol
I'm glad you ordered that plywood pumpguy ! Your going to start feeling real independent when it starts going on the shop. Whatever you do don't allow a drop of rain to get on it. It will warp like crazy.
I know what ya mean, Tinkerer.. I got the 1/2" BC. sanded on 1 side.. I just hope they're smart enough to hold off delivery till the rain stops.. THATS WHY I wanted it delivered on Friday but it was a no-go.. I should probably go update the other post about THE SHOP & leave this one for the BUSINESS.. Just wanted to say THANKS for the kick in the pants.. lol
OK, That makes sense. After a lawsuit of which I knew nothing about until it was settled, I got a letter from the pension board that stated that all of our defined years of service was changed to where we got paid based on our actual hours worked. My last 7 working years was already that way. As I had 9 years of 3,000+ hours a year (highest was 3,412 hours) previous to that, my pension took a very favorable jump. Previously I had lost everything over 1,800 hours a year. The guys that only worked 1,200 hours a year, which was the minimum took it in the shorts, but it is the fair way now. Some of the people that are getting less are offended that my pension is "to good" but tough sh*t, I put in every damn hour to earn it while they sat in front of the television.
I worked for a number of larger companies over the years where in the end I lost most everything as to retirement accounts to the imaginative book keeping and leeches that came thru with forced mergers, buyouts or the bosses kids that took over to run out the profit lines to new toys. Managed to get a decent level 401K built up, hit 59.5 and moved a great deal of it into a guarantee retirement payment account with additional accounts put back to survive after retirement, got a lot of physically broken **** fixed up then retired. We will not be rolling in the dough but comfortable, may take on some small time part time work but managed to get to this point by perseverance along with a little disgust for the big boys that toy with our funds and retirements as if they are a burden to themselves. Hope you do well with this until you too can get out just be as wary as you note you have been for so long.
My impression is that IRAs or equivalent self directed where you can see it and take it elsewhere if needed are the way to go...I mean who else to trust with your own money? I guess every man needs to realize he is his own independent business, like it or not, and nobody else can be trusted to look out for his security.
Truer words than many would like to believe
This had the look of a good story............. So what's happening? Joe H
To my disappointment NOTHING!!!! The company that bought it is still sorting things out & show up once a month & meet w/ the existing management & leave.. The mechanics never know when they showed up or who they are.. All WE HEAR IS> after the 1st of the year.. after the 1st of the year.. WHAT after the 1st of the year??? & we get no answers.. I'd LOVE to report back that they "cleaned house" & all the managers were sent packing.. BUT sadly, no such luck..
Seems like the problem, or at least much of it, is that no matter how good intentions the new owners might think they have they are letting their view of the company be filtered by the old bosses. And every time there is a new level of management the "filter" becomes more restrictive. To me this is one of the worst things about large multilevel corporations. Back when I started at the quarry in 1968 local plant supervisor reported to one guy for the whole state who then in turn reported to the top man in the company. Now plant supervisor report to a guy who runs half the state who reports to top man in state who reports to man in northeast section of company who reports to main office in Texas who then reports to upper management, I believe is in Germany, who then are under control of the board of directors. I'm sure I have left out some levels as it all becomes a blur after a while! Each level of this pyramid only passes up the ladder what makes them look good to those above themselves. And any good intentions from above are diluted at each step back down the ladder till you get to the bottom.
"Only passes up the ladder what makes them look good" IS A FACT.. The boss, former 1/4 owner, walks around bad mouthing these new guys ALL THE TIME.. doesn't have anything good to say about them.. BUT when they get here.. OH BOY what a different story..
Two faced will backfire on him.
Youtube video ..... would be a shame to get "sent" to one of the new guys
Maybe they are listening quietly to the old bosses, sooner or later they will say enough to hang themselves (hopefully)
The former owner came down from his IVORY TOWER last week to tell the office workers that "they"[new company] now have control over the cameras & are monitoring internet usage.. "so be careful".. So in other words> HE KNOWS that they sit there ALL DAY & play on the internet: games, shopping auctions, whatever.. Had he put a stop to it 3 YEARS ago, the place wouldn't have been for sale!!! Its SAD I tell ya.. DONT tell them to STOP.. just tell them "to be careful",, WHAT A JOKE..
I'll have to come down and take you fishing..... then if YOU miss a bite, I'll chew your ***! That should set the world straight for you.
And if you can send me a copy of the video I could forward it to them so as not have it linked to your address!
Be careful of the metadata.... Many cameras add info of where, when, camera info, etc. to the file. That's how a gov't contract employee got caught printing secret documents. (I do hope she gets the max sentence)
It could be good for you if they see that you're not one of the ones on the internet and actually doing what you're paid to do.
My company, ~500 on this site, watches the internet usage fairly close. One young guy got caught watching utube videos all day, got fired. Said he didn't have any work - wrong answer! A guy I worked with was watchin p*rn, got fired. Caught at least two people copying their hard drives after they put in their two weeks, got escorted off the property. The best part is that the company sends out a notice every year that they can monitor any and all computer activity. And at least every day a notice pops up in Internet Explorer saying the same thing. Some ppl aren't very smart. ISZ
YUP> the boss's brother watches utube ALL DAY.. & the parts mngr watches p*rn.. He even put in ANOTHER monitor, so he can have it running while he's doing something else>> SICK. BUT let me sit down at BREAK TIME to check my emails & all he*l breaks loose..
Quick Google search shows this: https://superuser.com/questions/767544/how-to-remove-title-and-other-metadata-from-video-files
If i'm thinking of the same one, she got caught b/c all color printers make a yellow dot matrix that shows printer S/N, time, and some other stuff. The people that received the documents scanned the pages and didn't sanitize the watermark area. Another good reason to keep the 90's laser jet around. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_steganography
Owners flew in yesterday.. Wanted to be here for our Thanksgiving lunch today.. Said they visit ALL their shops [12] between now & Christmas to share a meal w/ us pee-on's.. The BIG BOSS[owner] gathered us all in the main lobby, made a real nice speech & gave us ALL Friday OFF!!!! 80% of the company NEVER showed up the day after Thanksgiving anyway, but we had to use "vacation or sick time" if we wanna get paid.. NOW it's a PAID day off.. Thursday AND Friday.!!!! I "think" I'm the only one complaining about it?? I had "personal stuff" I wanted to get done.. Lol Its getting to the point where I think I'd complain, if I won the lottery..??
Geez, you gonna complain about beer too cold, too many fish biting, weather too nice? Kidding around. Just keep your head on a swivel, sound similar to the last two shops I had sell out. First one ended up great, second one, they gave us a couple holidays to make up for taking the old timers extra week of vacation (dropped them from 3 to 2 weeks after they had been with the old company for 20+ years). Keep your chin up and drive forward
Been involved in two "friendly" 'Mergers' one hostile takeover and a merger gone bad as the previous owner died. NONE of which worked out well. The two friendly mergers made a couple of shops basically combine workforces with the subsequent lay off of the lesser shop(generally mine), the hostile take over was just that where we were Union but to shove us out they laid us off for a minimum of two years and then the morons tried a recall at Less pay/benefits but the majority were either already working elsewhere or retired and they lost the skills level leading to a failure of their company in short order(they could not recover the skills sets lost no matter the numbers hired and lost the customer base). The lease company merged from a full service lease into a finance lease corp. they never understood the other and as such the mechanisms to make either work. Then our owner died from old age and the finance lease corp. not understanding how to deal with our end sold off that division to a competitor.
Funny you should mention too many fish...I took my grandson fishing one hot day this past summer, just after lunch...he hooked bluegills every cast ( I had to remove the hook and re bait); so we switched to lures for bass, eventually using plastic worms and he pulled one out about every third cast until we both got tired of the routine.
PJ> I heard they dropped the 4th week of vacation time after 20 years.. so now its 3 max.. That didn't sit well w/ anybody.. the average employee has been there 20 years.. I don't pay any attention to that stuff.. I do what I want anyway.. if I wanna take off, I'll take off, pay or no-pay..