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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Ashmunaday on 2025-06-27 22:16:06+00:00.
Right after finishing my training, I landed my first full-time job in quality control at a mid-sized chemical company. The team in the lab was five people - me full-time, the others part-time. The company always claimed that even though they were not part of the union, they still paid according to union contracts (I am from Germany, many industries are unionized and generally all employees get the contracted pay, no matter if they are members or not). It was good money at the time, I had no reference and no reason to doubt. Until I got engaged 7 years later. My fiancée had the exact same training, worked for a bigger company and they actually followed the union contract. The starting wage was the same, but real union contracts had pay raise after set times. This led to a difference in 600 € per month. I was a bit upset, to say the least. I was looking for a new job, but a 3-months notice period was too long for many possible employers. So, being frustrated and not really attached to my old job, I was free to comply maliciously in a way I would never recommend to anyone who wants to keep their job. I copied the part of the union contract with the wage table. There was a nice little relation between training level, tasks and wage ranges. armed with this and a secret weapon I asked for a talk with my manager. In his office I laid the union contract on his table, showed this nice little table and said something along the line: "You always tell people the this company pays according to the union contracts. Look at this, there is a gap between my skills and tasks, and my pay. It's a 600 € gap. So, to comply to your statement, there are two ways to fix this: First, I get 600 € more, Second, I stop doing many of my tasks. Which one should it be?" He wasn't thrilled. Said I was "really leaning out of the window with that statement" (a German idiom, basically: getting bold). I replied: "30% of your department's manpower is sitting in front of you. My fiancée is getting paid the real union wage and we are looking forward to move together, question is where, as we live 120 km (about 75 miles) apart. My biggest obstacle is my 3-month notice period." Then came my secret weapon: I pulled out a fully written letter of resignation and asked for a pen to sign it. Long story short: I got the 600€ raise. I stayed there for another year. So basically I was malicious and my employer complied. Hope this qualifies.
TL;DR: Boss said we follow union pay. I showed we didn’t. Gave him the choice: raise my pay or reduce my tasks. Had a resignation letter ready. Got the raise
P.S. I do not recommend pulling out a resignation letter unless you really mean it. I did.
P.P.S. Yes, this formatting is intentional. just to be safe.