project engineer

mechanical supervisor

reliability engineer

human resources assistant

process engineer

Amalgamated Sugar Company

I have worked over 10 years at Amalgamated Sugar and wanted to excel and be equally rewarded.  However, the facility managers and certain supervisory/management level personnel chose to malign, to promote false information,  refuse to recognize credentials for excuses or reasons for their treatment of me to keep me from obtaining regular employment status for many years and from being promoted.  Management opinion was used to influence the weak Local 284 G union which enabled them to successfully discriminate over these many years not only against me, but many other employees who also filed grievances against the Company for Contract violations.  When job openings are posted, there are no job requirements or descriptions to evaluate candidates objectively.  Training is subjective and very susceptible to inaccuracies and incompleteness.  Derrelection and sloth are rewarded by the way personnel are managed such that these individuals are often promoted to positions of authority which sustains work environmental dysfunctionalism. In such an environment, excellence and professionalism is reason to keep a person from being promoted.  
I felt very encouraged to go elsewhere, but attempts to land work permanent work were unsuccessful due to a need to stay in Caldwell, age being a factor, a lack of proficiency that comes with opportunity to practice as a licensed Idaho Journeyman Electrician, conflicts with between work commitments, possibly speech impairment, and a number of other factors.  In any case, the Union's requirement the Company offer my job back and it being the best opportunity at the time led to me being rehired by Amalgamated year after year since 2008.  Finally the Union forced the company to rehire me after they just laid me off in February 2017 enabling me to build onto my continuous hours and reach the require 1806 hours for "regular"status. I gained some benefits, but still continue to be retaliated against despite a growing positive reputation. I continue to work at the Company while seeking an employment opportunity in keeping with my background, education, license, skills and abilities.

I feel like the professionalism in this company is severely lacking. There is a strong divide between union and corporate and it's union is ran by the same people, who are very easily persuade and tend to gossip about people's private affairs. The culture is very clique and if they don't like you everyone will go to great lengths to find a reason to fire you. People get hired, promoted and given raises to based on your family/friend association. Strong, hard working employees often get gossiped about if they are given a promotion over someone who has been there longer and will (again) have people go to great lengths to get you fired. Needless to say, I have met some amazing people here and enjoy my job, although it is often boring. Hardest part about this job would be the shift work, usually seven 12 hour day shifts and then seven 12 hour night shifts. Getting on to be full-time can be difficult as well. People are often laid off after (campaign; which is when the beet harvest and slice season is) has ended. It's not hard to get full time, you just have to arrive to work on time everyday, no call-ins, and have to prove you are a hard working individual. They do hire people who have records, which I believe has been a saving grace for many individuals who I have met. They have a decent wage, right now starting at 16/hr and anywhere up to 27 plus raises and such.

The union negotiated benefits are awesome some of the management is really great others not so much. The hr department and upper management has pretty much taken all power away from the supervisors to effectively manage their personnel and I don’t have much confidence in our hr department especially our new head of hr, and the upper management could try seeing us as people not numbers or tools to manipulate. Thank goodness we have a union so that we can have a valid and productive say in what our pay and benefits are, we even still have a pension! which is almost unheard of anymore. The pay is good, but I could replace that, it’s the other benefits that make it worth while to stay. And if you work hard and try to do your job well you will usually get recognized and be able to move up quickly most of the immediate supervisors are good and willing to listen and work with you to make sure you have success and can move up. Overall every place has its pitfalls but at Amalgamated you can make a good career and have lot of opportunities to learn as well as schooling, I’m happy to be able to support my family and be compensated well for the time I’m away from them.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Medical benefits and my work associates. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management and shift schedule. Management is extremely untrained and very biased. As an employee you are not encouraged and rather discouraged from sharing opinions especially if they are contrary to your supervisor and/or management. Management creates a very toxic work environment.
The shift schedule is the worst I have ever seen.   

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As a former 15 year employee, the work environment and culture is very toxic. This is created by the supervisors and management. It would be very easy to reduce this, however, there is no interest from the company to address this.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in. Report to work area. Complete "rounds". Maintain any equipment that is in need of repair, or complete assigned tasks given by immediate supervisor.

I like to arrive at 6:30 shift begins at 7am. After given my assigned duties for the day I do them. They vary from Inventory Control, to counter sales to Shipping and receiving. There are times when I operate a forklift or a tele handler, loading and unloading semi trucks. There are many functions of the day its hard to explain them all. 
There is a rotation to cross train folks building a stronger crew. So I have spent 2-1/2 years of the 5 there involved with the procurement process. Creating quotes from requisitions and then after a selected vendor, print and email a purchase order via JD Edwards as our computer operating system. 
This winter looks to be a Day Clerk position. Which will work directly with Inventory Control and have other duties such as inventorying and ordering all the chemicals needed for the sugar process. As well as other responsibilities throughout the day.

Amalgamated was a great company to work for as someone with only a few years of experience. You can get experience in so many areas which has been a benefit for my professional career. However, corporate level management changed during my time with the company and it has been downhill since for company culture, morale and respect. The local management team was also changed during this time and the new management structure is not good. Managements’ ego blurs the vision of the company. There is little respect for employees and advancement is not an option unless you know someone in the management structure. Corporate management answers to no one and they know it. Unfortunately the growers are only shown the “show” of the company. They don’t see the “behind the scenes” day-to-day operation of the company. If they did, they would be very disappointed. It is unfortunate because great talent leaves the company as soon as they understand the culture and see few paths for advancement. 

The pay is certainly one of the higher paying jobs in the area and you’ll rack up overtime in no time. The dump site I worked at was very small and felt understaffed very often. Breaks are rare and short because no one was there to take your position, unless the foreman volunteered to take your place for ten minutes. The employees themselves were pretty alright to work with, but the fact that we were constantly understaffed made for a very stressful and uptight environment. Early mornings were freezing cold, and we were given hand warmers to keep warm, but they did little to nothing. Proper work gear was provided but the low temperatures were absolutely horrific. The ONLY reason I took the job or have considered working coming seasons is because of the pay. The paycheck is better than most jobs, but feel like the bare minimum for what you have to endure at work.

The shift work from night to day is ridiculous! It's hard to have a healthy sleep schedul and family.Their excuse is, "you get 7 days off in a row."  Management doesn't care about your personal life and only wants production.  They wonder why Everyone's sick time is so high. Shift work like that will make you sick all the time. They think the free Health insurance is the Gold Pot. Too many Supervisors and not enough Factory workers.  Brand new office and they don't have enough room for the supervisors, so they bring in double wides. Money is being spent on nonsense, but when it comes to the employees actually doing the work, they come up with excuses to not give you a raise. You give them a mile, and return an inch. Focus needs to be on Employee Morale.  If the Employees aren't happy, the production isn't going to be up to par. They need to get a clue.

A typical day at work includes having to fix broken parts that we have no replacements for in the storeroom. I’ve learned how to go more in depth with rebuilding particular items. The upper management in this facility is a joke. No respect for the workers on the floor let alone any care for anyone but themselves. There are 3-4 upper management personnel who are worth anything. Workplace culture is decent. Still toxic like everywhere else. Hardest part of the job is dealing with never having any parts to fix items that you are being told is your fault for not working. Probably the most enjoyable part of the job is the immediate co workers. 

The work schedule is terrible switching from days to night all the time (campaign schedule is 12 hour shifts, 4 nights, 3 off, 3 days, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days.) 
 The people working in the factory are generally freindly however management on company side is unfriendly. The company has a  repeating process of hiring people at the start and through campaign, then firing people at the end of campaign and start of M&R. The Twin Falls factory is always short staffed and have unfriendly HR department. The breakroom overcharges for everything (HR does this to buy employees food once during summer, personally it sucks)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Project engineer 1 salary reported	$82,500 per year
Mechanical supervisor 1 salary reported	$85,328 per year
Reliability engineer 1 salary reported	$83,333 per year
Human resources assistant 2 salaries reported	$46,153 per year
Process engineer 1 salary reported	$96,500 per year

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