Not sure if that is a good or bad thing
26 replies (most recent on top)
Well they didnt vote it in. They will never get the chance again, stupid a-- techs, your future is f@#cked
They need to increase the hourly wage to just so the techs don’t leave. The ones with experience already left the building and are now working with our competitors. WS hired over 400 techs this year, some to replace the ones that left and to keep up with upgrade demand. Most of the new hires are young with no experience and are just glad to have a job. It’s an ugly combo , you have BTAC being outsourced to East Jabib that can’t build a cross connect and techs throwing cable pairs because they don’t have an IP.
I'll be waiting for that 8% in January...... Yeah sure.
8% raise to all non union workers will be a good thing. Sure it might a year or two for a states bargaining to come back around, but the union guys will get it too, and then some. When in bargaining, the company always comes out with "this is all we can offer, it's what everybody else is getting". Then through bargaining, the union will get just a little bit more. When everyone was getting only 1% or even none, the company came to the table with 1% and the unions walked away with 2.5-3% each year. If they give all non-union employees 8%, they will have to bring that to the table, if not, then that is a blatant discrimination against union employees and charges will be filed that day during bargaining.
However, just ask the old timers in GA that were promised huge raises and great benefits, etc.....if the union was voted out. After about 4 yrs, hardly no raises if any, and benefits no better than everyone else, and they would go through RIF's that were basically "here's a box, you have 5 mins to get your stuff and then this lovely officer will walk you to your car."
That’s funny 8% in January. They’ll be bankrupt by then.
It is true.. 8% raise for techs in January.... wait & see.
funny but if this is true and the Union techs get word of it look out. They’ll be down to 2 jobs a day.
If a union is voted in, they will just layoff all the techs and sub everything out...be careful what you wish for. And for an 8% raises, pipe dream, they are losing good works across the entire company. Haven't heard of anyone getting a raise and I know a lot of employees there.
You can have your 4 dollar raise. In time you guys will eventually get laid off and the Union guys will still have a job. History will repeat itself.
Yes ... confirmed big raise coming. Sorta confused. The last couple of years we lost a bunch of good techs from separation packages and now the reason is " we don’t want the techs to leave “ ... I truly believe this is a move to give the Unions the finger. I I will be making 4 dollars more an hour than my buddy a town over who is in the union. Sorry friend.
I had always said, "I can't imagine how bad WIN would be without the union". Then, I had to see how bad WIN was with the union. From my experience, 6171 was DEFINITELY in bed with the company. At the end of the day, it all comes down to Benjamins...money. I'm sure there are some good solid unions out there, but if your representatives are weak, then it's going to be a struggle. I had invested well over $15,000 into union dues over the years and the one time that I needed them and had a rock solid case, they crumbled and failed me.
WS has made big strides I getting rid of unions from the beginning,leaving employees with no voice". I would love to see the union to come back strong within this company so we can be assured of a voice. You are right, TT negotiates his golden parachute and his salary as well as those of the his many VPs while we sit disgruntled without a voice and the only response given is if you ar unhappy, the door swings both ways, nothing is stopping you from leaving.
We had a meeting few days ago. Per our LM we will now get an 8% raise every January. Nothing was said as to why other than we have been losing a lot of people & they are trying to keep the turn over rate lower. Nothing was said about an 8% raise now & 2% year over year. It was straight forward 8% every year starting in January.
Agreed. That would be a major labor board charge. Wouldn't matter whose in power in D.C. for that one. People need to know that if the company, in anyway, shape or form, talks about the union to employees that would be organizing, that just the mere "you really want the union", or "if you don't vote for the union we will do......." All of that would qualify for labor board charges. Just having a manager say "well, we probably could do this, but you know how the union is" qualified as board charges. The company can not talk about the union in any negative manner or try and sway a person;s vote.
I think people are to afraid to take stock in this and following through. If the union was notified about every instance of this, and filed charges everytime, I think we would see a little more respect instead of the company thinking they can continue doing whatever they want to do.
Whenever we talk about unions, we always make sure we mention that TT bargains his contract for benefits and pay, why can't we. I've spoke to several old timers that were in management, and the reoccurring theme with them, especially in today climate at WS, they all say the same thing...."biggest mistake we made was going into management and having to turn in our union cards!"
That is bullsh**. There are no 8-10% raises coming for the non union techs. It would be a federal violation for WS to do this since a union vote is coming up in two weeks. WS is not allowed to make changes to dissuade employees from choosing the union. Stop fabricating BS
Hot of the press. The Union subject is gaining a lot of attention. This isn’t sitting well with you know who. There has been meetings the last 2 days with LM’s on ways to keep Unions our. So the plan is to call the techs in next week to announce new wage scales. The non Union techs will see a 8-10 % instant increase along with a yearly increase of 2% in their pay and be warned not to accept any offers from Unions. Let the games begin.
In my group if the word 'union' is even mentioned people hide under their cubes. Most would not vote to join the union. Excuses like, " I only have a few more years before retirement and don't want to rock the boat", I also hear " I just wanna ride under the radar and stay as long as I can, " another favorite is I have a family to raise and can't afford to lose this job, as c-appy as it may be". People are scared and will not stick out their neck even if it would help them in the long term. I wish it were different but it is what it is. And just wait for TT to start his threats, " if you unionize we will have to cut more jobs to pay for the increased pay and benefits, or my favorite " if you unionize we will sell off or contract out your entire department. I am even shamed to say I would probably vote against the union as I need to also fly under that radar for 3 more years :(
Since the question was asked.......
https://www.cwa-union.org/join-union/contact-cwa-organizing-department
Contact them. SC is in District 3. They are also the ones organizing GA right now. AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, PR, SC, and TN are all covered by D3. An employee or group of employees from the state that is interested in organizing will need to be "in charge". The district will put together informational meetings and help anyway they can. When the time is right, they will send out a petition to organize, and if enough signatures are gathered, then there will be a vote. Once a vote is completed and is passed, then the new "Local" will enter into bargaining with the company, either by ways of new contract from ground up, or piggy backing off another Local's contract in order to get started.
There will be faults with anything, but let's face it, it's nice getting a guaranteed raise each year. Nice to have your pay not dependent on your mangers yearly evaluation of your performance and how they feel about you. It's nice knowing that things aren't going to change everytime the wind blows and management changes their mind. Plus, the big bonus, is the union is there to fight for you. Non union only has HR to go to if things aren't right, and who do you think they are going to side with? Yes, your manager might do something stupid, and you might get in trouble.....but knowing you have the full force of the union that will go to bat for you, and even take it all the way to court (and/or the labor board) if the company refuses to make it right, is very comforting. Plus having a guaranteed severance clause and minimum of a 30 day notice to anyone that might be affected by RIF is a little less stressful than wondering if your door code will work tomorrow.
Is it all peaches and cream at the end of the day, no. But it does provide security in knowing there are things that is happening everyday in non union areas, that can't happen in union areas. So if you are serious about what it would take to organize, hit up the D3 office in Decatur, GA, or the CWA in general. Or you can reach out to any of the other Locals in WS and they would be more than glad to help point you in the right direction. 3174, 3371, 3372, 3511, 3683, 3684, and 3716 are all the locals in D3. A quick google search will give you the contact info for each.
I can’t believe more areas within the WS footprint haven’t gone Union yet. Benefits and wage scales are inline with non Union but if you like job security and like to sleep at night definitely go Union.
How do we go about bring them to sc
I had CWA with South Central Bell/ BellSouth.
I felt that the union was in bed with the company but...
my thoughts:
I would not want them to go away.
And the contract was a good thing. Everything was black and white. Everybody was treated equally for the most part.
You are going to have teacher pet anywhere under contract or not.
Just have to remember the company is still in charge of anything NOT bargained. For example, our bosses used truck assignment to reward or punish, truck assignment is not bargained.
That is what terrible leadership at the state and corp level gets you. Cut workforce to the bone and make the ones left work 24/7. These leaders should save Windstream the trouble and leave on their own. The McB is the worst of them all.
From the folks that gave us the weekend, good move for GA field techs!
Talks with representatives have been going on for a little while. petition is coming shortly
Is there a news story or article?
Don’t see how this could be a bad thing for them. Good for someone finally standing up to this place