Was told today there are talks of getting rid of Power group in SE and moving responsibilities and techs back under 4 wall management to reduce inefficiencies. Anyone got any info on this?
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As a CO Tech, it made no sense when they took the Power Routines away from us. Our work workload was already decreasing with all the new fiber and reduction of legacy products (POT's DS1/DS3 etc..). They put an unnecessary burden on the Power Techs and gave us "4-Wall" techs even less to do.
There was a balance that had the 4-Wall Techs doing the less "scary" routines that didn't really involve the High-Voltage and Battery stuff. And, the Power Techs doing more of that.
IMO, it made sense to have the 4-Wall techs be somewhat engaged with the everyday workings of Central Office Power plant. We are the so-called "Boot's on the Ground" in the CO's. We should at least be familiar with part of the workings of the Power Plant.
Now, the Power Techs are running around, playing catch-up at the end of the month to get their routines done on time when they could be focusing on existing Power Plant issues. Much of which could have been done by the 4-Wall Techs without any real burden. "They" always seem to make the wrong decisions. . .
They would be able to combine the work again and allow 1 tech to do everything in that office. The current way is not efficient.I don’t think the union contract restricts this because they are the same title .
We went to "4 wall" a few years ago. Didn't care much for it. The only good thing about it was that when I was in the basement running the backup generator or doing maintenance, my cou phone didn't work.
Come back up to the first floor and my phone is very festive with missed messages. T mobile circuit down at different office, some other ASE 1gig circuit down somewhere else, yet another GPON down, 64 customers OOS.
Oh well. It's late. No overtime in our budget. Boss is mad. I don't make the rules, I just follow them. I'll be back tomorrow.
Teamsters is very corrupt and headed by organized crime figures. Trust me on this, I know what I'm talking about! I was not only Teamster in my youth, but also worked directly for the Teamsters! It's corrupt as he-l!!!
Switching unions easier said than done:
https://uniondemocracy.org/legal-rights-and-organizing/questions-and-answers-about-legal-rights-and-union-democracy/how-can-we-change-unions/
Yes CWA capitulated years ago. It’s really pathetic. Employees should try and dump CWA for teamsters.
Preach it @tv!!! ….also the cherry on the top in the new agreement, is that these DTs that are doing Wire Tech work every can’t bump a Wire tech.
Yep. It seems the company is really pushing for DTs to do it all and have one truck roll. Company is also contracting out a lot of the systems techs work , in clear violation of
Its agreements with the union to give first right of refusal to cpe group. The union seems content to go along with all of this. There’s zero fight in the union. Instead of protecting jobs and the work , the union is only protecting seniority. In the new 2024 SE contract , a lower rated pay title can now bump into a higher pay scale , simply for having for seniority. Skill set doesn’t matter. Union has officially sold out. I mean they sold out years ago but now they don’t even pretend to fight.
Pe+1,
Yes, you are spot on. 2 contract negotiations have now passed with the failure to address DTs doing Wire Tech work for DT pay while Wire Techs are doing the same work for less pay & also DTs doing System Tech work while we now have System Techs on the surplus list. I hope the power crew makes it through this with the best possible outcome
Well there is a thing called a contract which is where any changes should have been negotiated. Not a big fan of any MOA because they usually leave out the actual union members from being able to vote their opinion, it’s decided by a few for the many. It also is why union leadership in past decades becomes corrupted like what recently happened with the auto worker leaders
….yeah good luck with getting either side of the fence to accomplish anything involving job titles/family of skills/jurisdiction of work.
They need a title change to Power Technician because they don’t do any other traditional CO work. It’s also a potentially dangerous job which involves commercial power, switches, large engines, battery strings, various fuel sources, drums of oil, etc. It’s regulated and monitored by federal and state agencies. Everything is documented and all sites have monthly routines and engine runs.
Yea you should totally trade 20 years experience for no experience. The things that have to be done quickly during a BOD are dangerous.
“What we heard is someone up the line has identified that a tech could do both responsibilities while saving the company money and better utilizing their manpower. An entire management tier could be eliminated….”
Wonder what will happen when the right higher ups figure out that over half of BFS DT work is what Wite Techs should be doing?
@d7 Elon is a spoiled rich dork.
This all needs to go to contracted labor or management. Way too much spending on the union side and there is very little accountability if the routine tasks are not documented correctly. Most power techs have 20+ years which means that union labor treats the job like a government project. So much waste with this company. Where you at Elon?
What we heard is someone up the line has identified that a tech could do both responsibilities while saving the company money and better utilizing their manpower. An entire management tier could be eliminated and responsibility would fall on 4 wall management. The 4 wall did power for years and was changed a couple of years ago.
Every 10 years this happens. Power crew keeps things running smooth for years, does this weird thing called proactive maintenance.
As a craft tech that worked in a dedicated power crew, I only wanted to be known to my manager, no one else.
If I did my job right, the phone factory stayed out of the evening news.
New bean counter-- Why do we need a power crew???? They don't do anything!
The power techs will still do power but will work for the co manager I bet.
probably wouldnt be a bad idea. when the 4wall techs were doing the power routines items were actually getting documented, repaired and completed on time. the first month they took them back, there were loads of past due routines , cracked batteries leaking electrolyte all in the floors, etc.
Electricity and engines.
What could possibly go wrong.
Like the 4 wall tech in Ohio that was running an engine and working a case of trouble.
Yes, there is a difference between a\c and d\c.
Yeah drag some 4/0 fifty feet long.
I could go on,but won’t.