Patricia Grisafi
We all know women are often paid less than men for doing the same job. But according to one Redditor who has been at her traditionally male-heavy job as a machinist, a new employee is getting paid more than she is. Feeling frustrated, she decided to look around — and she found a new job that paid better.
She shared on Reddit how her company could have made it right — and also how they’re now stuck with someone who apparently doesn’t know how to do essential parts of his job.
“Female machinist here. Found out today I get paid less to train the newbie to do the job I’ve been doing, straight out of the gate,” the OP writes.
“When I approached my shop supervisor in a respectful and objective way about it, he said he would look into it. It’s been 3 days. On day two, I used the bathroom twice an hour for 5-10 minutes. Today, I just called out completely.”
“After I get paid for my very last holiday pay, July 4th, I will be putting in my two weeks because I secured a $5 more per hour job with an old colleague of mine at a different company today. Had my supervisor made it right instead of stonewalling me, I’d have been satisfied with him matching newbie’s pay, only 75 cents more in comparison.”
“The guy I trained doesn’t know an Allen wrench from a pipe wrench, will not operate a forklift or a crane, which are both essential parts of the job. They’re going to be screwed. This feels like poetic justice to me.”
Redditors shared their support and their own stories of unfair wages on the job — especially women.
“As someone who’s also worked in a handful of machining shops, good on you. Many places these days will try to screw you if you let them and then try to dangle the job in front of your face. I’m glad to hear that you were able to find somewhere to pay more. Places like your soon to be ex-employer don’t deserve skilled machinists because obviously they don’t appreciate them,” said
“It is very common right now that the new people are making more or as much, unless you really love your job or a big wig in your company it would likely be profitable for most people to job hop at least once during this wage war that’s going on. I got poached by the competition about a year ago and got a 10k raise out of it, better benefits and actually less responsibility,” shared
“As a female cnc machinist I feel you. It’s been a hard uphill climb to be recognized. I salute you,” said
“This is why unions exist,” reminded
“Good buddy of mine is a machinist with 30 years experience…the last 20 of which were with one employer (small shop in north Alabama). He was making, get this…$18 a f*cking hour. Oh, he did get a jug of homemade wine at Christmas every year. I been trying to get him to leave for years, and he finally did it last year. Took him about a month to find a machinist job starting at $30/hr,” said
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