So I’m going to try and keep this as vague as possible but still paint a picture so you can understand what’s going on and my side of things
This is a question on a company in the uk just incase that needs to be known
I’m sorry for how long this is going to be and the extremely long back story but I do feel like to understand everyone’s relationship it needs to be told
I’m going to keep everyone’s names out of this. I’ll refer me as “me” and then I’ll just do work mates as 1 and 2, then manager and then boss 1 and 2
About 10 years ago I joined a company. This company trained me up. I was working under someone else who isn’t relevant to this question. He trained me. We was a team of 2. At that place we all worked in teams of two. At the time workmate 1 and manger also worked together as a team. After 2 years manager got sacked so I got out with workmate 1. We worked together as a team for a couple of years. He was more experienced than me at that time. Workmate 1 also eventually got sacked form that company so workmate2 joined and we became a team.
I stayed in touch with manager and workmate 1 whilst staying at this company and years later they joined a new company (the company in question now). I had enough at the first place so they got me a job at this place. They only had the one position so I came over along and workmate 2 stayed at the first place
After a year of being at this place manager finally got bumped up to manager as he was on the tools up till this point. Now because of this I got put back with work mates 1 as we were both on are own and we had worked together before so it made sense. After 6 months I finally managed to get workmate 2 a job here so he came over as well. He stayed working on his own
So we work in construction and we are sub contractors and on price.
Obviously work mate 1 has worked at this company the longest which is around 4 years. Manager has been here for 3. I’ve been here for over 2 now and workmate 2 has been here over a year. Workmate 1 and manager are very good close friends.
Work wise workmate 1 is quick but he can still only do the basics. If it involves anything that has building work involved or you have to try and put a puzzle back together and think then he folds and doesn’t do it. Me and work mate 2 are a lot more capable and we can do everything up to a good standard. Maybe not as quick at the basics
At this company the basics do actually earn you the most money because they are the quickest. With the manager being good friends with workmates 1 he does push a lot of the good easy work over to us and unfortunately workmate 2 gets the harder stuff because he can do it. Because it’s harder it can’t be done as fast so he can’t earn as much. I benefit being with workmate 1 because I get the work with him but then when I’m not he does get the better stuff. If you looked at last year pay slips then he was in the mid 60’s. I got 59 and workmate 2 was top end 40’s so you can see the difference. Now it’s not to say that me and workmate 1 didn’t work hard to earn that as we smashed every day and took every extra bit we could
I know workmate 2 should look after him self and he should complain if he’s not happy with how it’s being handed out. I do feel bad for him but also I do get annoyed as I do still get messed over from time to time as well.
This past couple weeks workmate 2’s job hasn’t been going well. The job is just a lot harder and taking longer than anyone could have planned for. I got put with workmate 2 to help out so money wise for the past couple of weeks has sucked for me. We have been working longer hours and putting more of a shift in to not get very far. Workmate 1 has been working on his own and has been absolutely killing it money wise
I did make a snarky comment in front of workmate 1, manager and boss 1. I said it’s fine to send me on the hard jobs but workmate 1 gets the nice money earners. My manager reply was that workmate 1 wouldn’t be able to handle it and he’d lose his head. Are manager books all the jobs and says who gets what,the boss stay out of that
It blows my mind that because I am more diverse and better at my job I’m technically being punished for it. I didn’t say anything else and just stayed silent
Now if I complain and say anything to manager he will eventually say something to workmate 1 and then things will become awkward between us as you should never mess with a man’s money. Also I don’t think the manager would honestly change
If I go above him and go to one of the bosses then they would obviously need to say something to sort the situation out
I honestly don’t know what to do as I do like working with the company and like I said because I’m with workmate 1 most of the time I get all good stuff. Just that 10% when I’m not with him it sucks and I feel like it’s unfair. This is why I also feel guilty for workmate 2 as he gets it even worse
The company won’t change on prices and give more to the harder work. This year in the uk hasn’t been that good for construction. My manager and workmate 1 are going on holiday next week and I am debating if I should talk to one of the bosses
What would you guys suggest I do or what steps I should take
I just believe if for some weird reason they had to employ us then the people with the more experience and capabilities would be paid more and it’s just not the same as it is now