(WNY News Now) – New allegations have been brought forth regarding Cummins’ workplace culture as the company is faced with widespread discontent and resentment among its workers.
Following allegations of mass walkouts among its assembly line workers, more Cummins workers have reached out to WNY News Now on the condition of anonymity to shed light on their experiences with the company. All information shared are allegations and should not be considered objective fact.
Multiple workers working at the factory have revealed that a major source of resentment among employees comes from a wage disparity between current workers and new hires. The company was allegedly offering new assembly line hires a starting wage of $22.38 per hour, as well as a $2,000 signing bonus. This led to outrage among many current workers, whose own wages are $2-3 less per hour despite their years of employment at the company.
This disparity is likely due to the way that employee raises are structured, according to one worker. Cummins allegedly makes the requirements to receive more than the standard $0.60 per hour annual raise exceedingly difficult to achieve, keeping the cost of employee raises to a minimum.
Another worker revealed that the discontent is not limited to assembly line workers, and that workers from various other departments, such as machining, are also on the verge of quitting, even those in leadership positions.
A third employee shared a litany of shocking allegations about the company culture. They stated that while overtime is an attractive aspect of the job at Cummins, it is lacking in moderation, with many employess working more than 25 hours of overtime every week. They claimed that the company is shorthanded because the existing work conditions are causing worker retention to decline.
The physical toll may be adversely affecting employees’ health as well, as the worker claimed to know 5 other workers within the factory who have suffered heart attacks since the beginning of the year, alleging that the intense work schedule may be at least partially to blame.
They also alleged a darker side to the company, stating that the company uses propaganda through its philanthropic endeavors to create a disconnect between how the community as a whole views the company compared to how its workers perceive them, to prevent discontent with the company from spreading beyond its employees. They likened this use of propaganda to North Korea, who created a fake village on its borders to deceive onlookers into believing its citizens live in abundance.
Cummins has also been alleged to engage in deceptive hiring practices, where prospective workers are told that they would be subject to a regular 8 hour work day, only to find themselves working 11+ hours once hired.
But that is not all. According to the worker, Cummins employs retaliation against employees who they know have spoken out about their experiences, finding reasons to justify firing them even if such reasons ostensibly do not exist, creating an environment where employees are afraid to speak out lest they risk jeopardizing their employment.
WNY News Now reached out to Jon Mills, Director of External Communications for Cummins, for comment. Mills responded, letting us know that the company had nothing to say on the matter beyond what had been told to us last night, affirming that Cummins leadership is working and communicating with employees to address their input. The full statement can be read below:
“We value all employees at JEP and appreciate their continued contributions to our success. We are actively recruiting top talent to join the JEP team and we want to ensure that we retain the top talent we currently have. We are evaluating the best way to ensure employees across JEP have equitable compensation and will make adjustments as needed. We welcome and value employee input into the best ways to create the right work environment for them and the business. We appreciate our employees and their contributions and will work collaboratively to reach outcomes that are in the best interest of them, JEP and the greater community.”
Leave a Reply