The company needs to stop making old, fat people climb poles. Someone is going to die...
27 replies (most recent on top)
I’m a 50+ desk warrior so, I’ve been preparing by stretching & exercising nearly everyday for when the inevitable strike happens. It’s actually given me motivation to better my overall heath. I hopefully won’t pull something or worse, if or when I need to do some physical work, if it doesn’t happen then, I still have benefitted.
I have found exercising regularly has helped me physically, my flexibility, mentally and I have less stress and anxiety so, it’s been a positive experience. It takes a while to build up to be consistent and sustain the habit but the benefits have been worth it. Give it a try!
"Looks to me like it probably costs about $5K per employee roughly, if not more. If 10,000 were trained, that’s $5 million right there."
Uh, check that math.
Joe says; Look…….uhhh, we beat Medicare!
The contingency team is in play, company leadership & negotiators have decided to drag out D9 (West) bargaining. The union has been working without a contract since April. That can change quickly because D3 (SE) contract expires August 3rd so, if the company doesn’t come to an agreement soon, there could be a very large strike about to happen. A few close friends who are still craft has told me, they are prepared and fully expecting a longer strike this time. D3 went on a short strike the last contract so, they have proven they aren’t afraid to go out again.
Now isn’t the time for leadership to be playing chicken with labor. It’s been previously stated and true, the majority of the contingency AFO team is no longer made up of former workers who climbed the ranks. Most who were skilled have been out of the field too long, it’s changed a lot in just the last 5 years. You think there are service interruptions or outages now, just let the network be largely unattended for a short while and see what happens.
I personally am not going to get seriously injured or worse by trying to do a job that I haven’t been adequately trained or prepared, sorry Mr. Stankey but those are the facts. Videos and a few hours of hands on training, doesn’t make up for years of training and experience to do these potentially very dangerous jobs. I’m not even prepared for the summer heat, let alone the physical nature of the job. Hats off to those in labor who do this every day and here’s hoping for a quick resolution soon!
Someone did die at the Jacksonville training facility. He has a heart attack climbing the training pole.
40 hours of excess training multiplied by X number of managers making in excess of $10,000 per month. Looks to me like it probably costs about $5K per employee roughly, if not more. If 10,000 were trained, that’s $5 million right there.
@wri+1teNw8Wx, agree with the sentiment it is an outdated practice, but contingency training was never meant to threaten craft, it was for continuity of service back in the day when we were a regulated telco. In wireline, the network staff organization was predominantly made of men who had held craft positions and were familiar with that work. The same was true for operator services, billing and collections which was mainly women who had done those craft jobs prior to management positions. This is no longer the case in today’s AFO and Care organizations and leadership, and broad groups of men and women from all different backgrounds and skills fill these management roles. Contingency money would be better spent elsewhere. There hasn’t been a strike that lasted more than a week for almost 40 years now that I can recall.
A lot of managers have no idea the dangers or physicality of the job for construction, installers and repairmen. I haven’t heard of anyone dying in the office due to an accident but there has been plenty of techs that have over the years. I personally know a few that have since I started.
Just to clue everyone in, poles aren’t the only thing we (craft) climb. We climb ladders in and out of manholes, high on the side of houses to attach service drops and run inside wire around the house or business’s like warehouse's, access attics, in and out of dug pits to access fiber, pic or copper cables, been in some as deep as 12’ with a metal box placed for safety, it’s so the dirt doesn’t cave in while working, access dark crawl spaces and barely have room to backcrawl under to work, not for the faint of heart or those scared of spiders, snakes, rats, cockroaches, etc…
Some pole lines are off road and go for a long ways so, you have to either carry climbers or a ladder to reach the pole and cables, some cables are across the side of bridges or across water so you have to access them with a boat. Others are on the sides of mountains or cross ravines.
Welcome to our world!
Workers in India can climb the pole.
At least if someone ever asks you what kind of company would force a 120lb woman to haul an 85lb ladder across a Georgia field in 97° heat, you know the answer.
lol - this is probably the only reason they keep people around so they can threaten the union with replacement workers. what a great environment and management is clueless and theives.
"In response to: "Making? We applied for the job and agreed to the climbing requirement. Somebody’s got to climb. If your too old and fat to climb then your a boss.""
Nope. Hired as a software engineer. "Climbing requirements", or anything other than the ability to design, write, and test code was discussed. I'm not too old or fat to climb. However, in my contingency assignment training, I was asked to carry a very heavy ladder. I weigh 95 pounds. I would never be hired for that job if I applied. Trust me, you don't want me installing any of your equipment. The contingency assignments and associated training are a bit ridiculous and are undoubtedly a waste of time and money for the company. Because when I'm off on contingency assignment or training for one, I'm not writing code. That's what I was hired for. BTW- I have great respect for the techs and what they do. But they've never been asked to fill in for me.
“I I did not agree to this, as it was never a topic of discussion when I was hired.”
Job requirements change over time.
have never known a tech to climb a ladder, let alone a pole.
You know good and well most techs don’t climb poles. They will get a bucket truck before they will climb a pole. Please
In response to: "Making? We applied for the job and agreed to the climbing requirement. Somebody’s got to climb. If your too old and fat to climb then your a boss."
No, I did not agree to this, as it was never a topic of discussion when I was hired. No, it was not a requirement that was put in writing either.
Making? We applied for the job and agreed to the climbing requirement. Somebody’s got to climb. If your too old and fat to climb then your a boss.
Contingency training is waste of time, money and resources. Back in old days its purpose was to threaten union workers and intimidate them that if they go on strike managers can take over their job. This is no longer a case. Union is not brave enough to strike and everybody knows that managers can’t do craft job. Time to change this practice.
Amen! I'm definitely old and fat but lucky for me have a crippling fear of heights.
People have died training to be pole climbers. I know of at least one.
Give them a job cleaning toilets and emptying garbage cans.
I'm not climbing a ladder for Contingency. I'll drive. I'll carry a toolbox. He-l, I'll even carry the ladder. But I'm not touching a customer's house, any wiring, or climbing a ladder.
Let Stankey climb his a-s up the ladder.
I agree, as an old & fat person.
Are u kidding me.....that is every tech we have, old and fat!
This is the only occasional exercise a lot of employees are getting.
LMAO!