big john

They tried to unionize mechanics in some parts of California several years ago. Instead of getting paid piecework the union shops were hourly. The problem with that is if there is no work you are to clock out and wait or just go home.
Most of my working was piecework with no sick pay, no holiday pay. and a token payment for vacation. A few years ago the state required the dealer to give us 3 days of sick pay per year and minimum wage for the hours we are at work with mechanic's minimum wage double the prevailing minimum because we have to supply our own tools.

This caused some mechanics to be fired if they couldn't break even with double minimum wage. Also, one manager I had put 6 young guys to work as lube/oil change techs and gave them regular minimum. One of them found out about the double minimum thing so the manager supplied them with basic tools so they wouldn't qualify and they all quit the same day.

I worked at a dealer where I could keep up with all of the type of work I did but the manager insisted on hiring a second guy so I quit. After 3 weeks he called to ask me to come back and he would fire the second guy and another guy he had brought in. I went back but he told me I could not take a vacation or even a day off. I agreed to that and stuck with it for I think 3 years until the dealer picked up another line and he hired another tech. Once my pay dropped by nearly 50% I quit again.