Waaaaay Too many techs sitting around with no work.
34 replies (most recent on top)
You guys saying “I welcome it, I want my severance…..”
You aren’t going to be “laid off”, you will be rebadged and sold for scraps to a company that will not be honoring any AT&T commitments to you.
Perhaps in areas that T isn' investing in. Why would ATT invest millions for residential fiber, ABF, ASE, etc. .. to simply sell it off? PFP's placed a year ago have already had 4-5 splitter expansions. Yet, you claim T is going to spin us off. The cell phone market is saturated, POTS is being decommissioned, and the copper is being mined and sold to pay for the fiber upgrade. What you're missing here, is core wireline folks are tied to local markets, not national teams. FYI: Network C/E has forecasted builds out to 2027. We don't b!tch about RTO because we've been reporting to work for the last 30 years. Some union contracts have successorship clauses in them anyway: So, most of what you stated is DRIVEL.
“Nope. You'd still get your pension but you'll miss the big increase when reaching MR75.“
That’ll be your little secret then because I too called Fidelity and if you aren’t yet 50 years old, but reach 75, you’re not eligible (unless you’ve got 30 years with the company).
I don't believe any techs in the Out of Region areas of the country will get laid off! Unless these VP level managers are clueless, there was never any mention of downsizing while in a meeting this past week. So, I think craft is safe since we're the machine that implements our product line!
Those poor ba$ta-d$ probably chased young tail and ended up with their second family...likely to still have kids in high school! They have no choice but to keep working because they can't afford to quit...gotta pay that college tuition while still supporting the first mistake!
Up until several years ago there was a “Frame Dame” working in Augusta, Ga with a 1959 NCS date. There was several not far behind her so, yes there are employees still working into their 70’s.
You better look at the seniority lists because there are still people working here with late 60’s and throughout the 70’s service dates. I know 1 DT in GA that is in his late seventies or already 80 that is still working. In Florida and other states there are several in their 70’s so let’s look at facts and not your opinion or speculation. Several of those I work with have 1978 service date and I know of employees with service dates earlier than that.
There are two techs at Trade St that are in their 70’s.
I HIGHLY doubt there are any technicians withing AT&T that are over the age of 75 or even up to 80! That's a gross exaggeration! Anyone with an NCS date from the 60s would have to 80 plus in age! Try speaking just the facts here and stop with the exaggerated nonsense!
You guys saying “I welcome it, I want my severance…..”
You aren’t going to be “laid off”, you will be rebadged and sold for scraps to a company that will not be honoring any AT&T commitments to you.
I was a contingency manager in the SE.
Do the CO techs still get tickets sent by automation that weren’t tested correctly, so you just pull it up and run a remote auto test which shows the circuit up, or the problem isn’t in your office so you just close it out?
Or how about when you need a card and it’s an hour away. Go get the card and days over.
One of these tickets a day is all you do?
Sure, you’d get your year salary plus 25k, but you would not get pension, per Fidelity.
Nope. You'd still get your pension but you'll miss the big increase when reaching MR75.
Craft is going to get hit hard this year.
Don't tease me. I'd love my craft severance.
CO techs are already at a bare minimum so I don’t see any layoffs there, IOF has just been reduced and system techs are greatly reduced. Support centers are being reduced all the time and there aren’t many Office Assistant’s left. Outside work has been sporadic for both Construction, I&M and Wire Techs but there should be plenty of work going forward as the fiber network continues to be built out along with all the decommissioning and dismantling of the copper network. DEG has enough decomm work in addition to their maintenance and turn ups of new equipment to keep them bust for several years. Special Services has work with all the installs in addition to some traditional work.
There are still quite of few techs, both inside and outside with service dates starting from the late 1960’s and seventies so there should be plenty of takers if they offer enhanced severance. I know several that are already 65 up to 80 years old. If they offer and some of these SS retirement eligible techs won’t take then I’ve seen them force and balance them in the past to a much further away location to get them to quit. Harder to do in a large group but if it’s a small crew or an individual then watch out.
BFS techs are busy in OOR states, so no layoffs in any district 7.
“ Not sure about DEG techs,”
Looks like any group that depends on copper is on the chopping block. Know that in my area Air Pressure crews have been decimated. We tend to look at the larger groups but the smaller groups are really taking a beating which includes their support personnel. AP and DEG at one time had a lot of center support who worked 24/7. Wonders how many of those folks are left?
The Prem Techs are busy, which is where the company is assigning all the new fiber work, at least in my AO. Core install/repair is extremely slow, by design. Construction/Engineering is swamped, and will be busy building Light Gig through 2027 in certain areas. As for layoffs: Varying by contract, if an offer/layoff is in play, it affects the entire job title, which affects both departments. And, no one cares. ATT hasn't hired anyone into core group 1 titles since 2002 where I'm at and attrition has taken is tole on outside titles. Most of the techs in my area are vested, MR75, with a large percentage of having either the age, or 30 years. Tech layoffs in the midwest has been a thing for the last 15 years and those who are left DGAF. Lay us off. And good luck to the Prem Techs. You can have it all, at your existing rate of pay.
Nothing has changed. Always had way too many craft employees for the workload. When will the company get serious and reduce total T headcount to 60K? They just keep nickle and diming which leads to little to no reduction in workforce.
Good! With the contracts settled for the remainder of the year, LFG!!!!! Surplus the heck out of them!
“ Nope. Union protected.“
What a mouth breathing simpleton.
Shocking? Naw, I’m ready. Offer me 12 months pay and 25k!!! I’m your huckleberry.
Just Comm Tech is not being offered at this time.
It will be shocking, but it looks to be about 35% - 40%.
Good luck.
“This is why District 9 has voluntary retirement offers. “
Correct, and today is the final day to put in for it. Huge word of caution- make absolutely certain you meet the rule of 75. Several people under 50 years of age were listed as eligible when they were not. Sure, you’d get your year salary plus 25k, but you would not get pension, per Fidelity. Incredibly shady that it’s nowhere on the package. Unless you are keen on how it works, you’d have no way to know just based on what was given. Call Fidelity first if you plan on putting your hat into the ring!
Dallas NOC center is useless.
Ask me how I know?
Rumor that CO and DEG techs will be offered VSP. District 6. Not sure about DEG techs, but in the CO we are razor thin already.
I believe in Florida they just surplussed over 300
That surplus of 300+ was across all of D3, and the hardest hit city was Birmingham, AL with about 100 of that.
Before the strike, there were techs in D3 that only had one or two tickets a day. Said last week it's back to 3-4.
Call Centers?
San Diego?
The local let SBC move NOC work to GA.
The dummies didn’t think they would be next?
The Company was only waiting for the 10 year lease of Trade St to expire.
NOC work was high paying jobs.
Me? Just make me that old 4+4 and 30,
This is why District 9 has voluntary retirement offers. There is not as much work as there was a few years back, especially in areas with 50%+ fiber. Yes, district 9 has strong contractual surplus language, but it's not ironclad. Money is not an object. The local President in San Diego use to boast to members how the company would never close the San Diego call center because it would cost them millions in severance. Guess what, they closed them and paid millions. In district 9, the voluntary offers are the first step. Then the consolidation of garages, from leased properties to owned properties, will be next. Then they will announce an excess of techs (surplus). Since they will likely not get a lot of takers, they will start laying off premtechs. Uverse TV will no longer be serviced by premtechs past June, so no more need for them.
I believe in Florida they just surplussed over 300 , announced back on March 15th so yeah the union can’t protect jobs, just seniority. Also I hear they are planning to eliminate the systems technician title completely. A technological surplus is coming for them.
Way too expensive to lay off craft. They won't pay the < 6 months severance to cut management. They definitely are not going to be in a hurry to pay craft 2 years+ severance. This is the whole reason AT&T is in the constructive dismissal game in the first place. Making people quit saves millions over laying them off.
Not gonna happen, we were told just yesterday by our 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels that we are growing our business. The word layoff was never mentioned one time, not even part of the convo!
Plans are already on the board. Unionized employees absolutely CAN be laid off, the contract provides severance payment details.
Nope. Union protected.