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Cleaver-Brooks

i came to cleaver brooks from a job i enjoyed for more money.  horrible mistake.  right off the start i was being deceived by management.  (was misled about raises. as we were a union shop what you start at was what you stayed at, was made to believe there was progressive wages.)  from there it just got worse.  there are some good people on the floor. but management is incompetent office is over flowing with underquilfied staff.  ( it took our "lean manager" a yr to pick new gloves and got it wrong. not only that but something as simple as replacing gloves with ones with better cut resistance. turned into almost a two yr ordeal because floor employees had to fight to get proper gloves back on the floor. )  upper management, spends so much time concerned with employees vacation and attendance.  that the fact that boilers will sit sometimes piled up 7-8 at a time waiting for parts that should be always stocked is completely ignored.  issues with suppliers never get fixed. we worked with blue prints out of date and invalid.  one of the first things i was told was you can look at the blue prints but they are incorrect and dont really help.  what once was a good place to work. is now a dreary depressing dead end job. and union seems to be place for company men as they dont fight for the employees.  just use there positions to help them selves.  management seems to walk all over them in grievances and contract negotiations.  best thing i accomplished there was that i left.

Do you like time off between june and September? Do you like to work hard and advance for a company that makes million a year? Do you miss more than 4 days a year due to children or sickness? Do you like never being able to make more money than 2 dollars more an hour than you started at? If you answered yes to any of these this is not the place for you.  Do you like seeing your friends fired because they maybe dodnt swipe out at lunch(yup happened this week to a coworker)Please save yourself the headache and move on. The union has 0 pull with the company and the guys are walked all over. Half of the workers dont put in a days work and get away with it daily. Management will harass you for notes and documentation after your 4th eday of the year. You have to have your holidays in for june july Aug and Sept by the end of march and you probably wont get them because the high seniority guys get those first. It's an awful environment but the people a great to work with.

This place is ok to work at in regards to the work and not feeling like you're being told to work faster. This place use to be one of the higher paying places in town. Not anymore. Based on the the fact it's a custom fab shop and everyone on the floor is basically doing skilled work they don't pay enough and somehow whine and cry how they can't get good employees anymore and want the workers on the floor to help them get new employees with referral signing bonuses. All while not willing to reopen the contract and just raise the wages. They'd rather be in desperate need for labour and lose existing employees  and lose out on orders than pay anybody more, and they don't seem to realize this is why . Not to mention this place makes very good profits and has no issue paying people double time pay for OT just to get work done. 

There is truly nothing positive to say about this place. They can't hold on to people here anymore. Management, office and floor staff are leaving in droves. Production manager is a petty little man that is mostly concerned in holding grudges. I've seen 4 Plant Managers leave within 6 years. I've seen 4 new corporate owners in 20 years and each comes in and cuts capitol investment to the point where the roof has been leaking for years on the plant floor. New hires lately have no skills and those that do, waste no time leaving once they see what is going on. This is a company that is dying by a 1000 cuts. All self inflicted. It won't be long before the doors are closed for good. This is a long way away from what it was when I started here.

This is one of the most ridiculous places I've ever seen or heard of. If you're a guy/girl that loves hanging out in the crapper for hours a day or comes in just to hangout and produce 0 this is the place for you. Weve doubled our worl force in just a few years and 0 has happened to change this. The majority of the guys are great to work with but they dont actually work... supervisors and management rip and grind the workers while everyone else just hangs out and pretends to hey something done. If you're a good worker and work hard move on this isnt the place for you. You'll be expected to do more than everyone else. Management has 0 respect for welders and their trades. We have numerous people that just stand around because theres not enough work.

A typical day would have a meeting and hopefully have enough work for the shift , which was a constant no. I learned that its a great place to work if you are lazy. Outdated systems in a outdated company,  They due not communicate issues at all just let them accumulate. Management sucks as well as supervisors and lead hands. Most trainers did not know what they were training you for. Hardest part of the job was finding work as they had not enough fora full shift. Work place culture sucked only good thing about the place was the free coffee.    

Great place to work. The people are nice for the most part. 
The pay and the benefits are above average.
Cleaver-Brooks is a conservative US company, own by an private investment group (Harbour Group) looking to make maximum profit with minimal investments.
Departments are working in silos. This creates some conflicts where the objectives are different. There are a company Mission, Vision and Core Values in theory but there is not enough will to implement them or to live by them. It would help to resolve some conflicts.

Honestly, there's good and bad. First off there is some really great people to learn from. Some guys with a lot of experience that can teach you a lot.  But the equipment isn't great and the ventilation is almost non existent. You're gonna be stuck on afternoons until you've got enough seniority to go to days which is gonna be a few years minimum. Despite passing qualifications there is long wait periods between raises due to the collective agreement. 

Really good place to get your feet wet if your new to the welding game.
lots of room for advancement when you start but once you've got all of the in house tickets there is no more room to progress.
wage could be a little higher across the floor, but especially for the welders.
Crew is really good to work with.
Supervisors as well.
Management has changed a few times since i left so wouldn't be able to tell you accurately. but most of the office staff are friendly and good to work with when solving a problem.
I highly recommend working here if you get the opportunity.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Best working environment in all departments 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Time line of orders, but everyone is most helpful 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Friendly and family kind of approach from Management 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Normal and existing, as the nature of work is like that

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