I’m just sitting here reminiscing about the past 37 years working for Nynex/NYTel, Bell Atlantic/Verizon. The union, while certainly far from perfect, got me enough to get married, buy a house and raise 4 kids into adults while allowing my wife to stay home and raise them. Did they blow it with the tiered compensation/benefits for new hires? Yup. Did they bone over retirees with crushing health insurance costs starting in January? Yup. Could they have done better with pensions and lump sums? Yup. Did they spend way too much time and effort defending slug members who should have been fired? Yup. But overall It’s been a good ride with a good group of coworkers. Not sure if I’m gonna bail before August or hang for a bit longer, but either way it’s gonna be on my terms. As for the recently layed off folks, I feel for y’all - this company is as ruthless as it’s ever been and this guy Dan ain’t gonna be a bag of laughs for any of us. Cheers and good luck. AGB
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@qj oh yeah so clueless because this sh-t is so hard lmao. I could train a 5 year old to be a tech come on man.
@bj yes, the new hires ( not all but most) work harder faster - they’re working harder because they’re clueless and faster because they’re doing absolute sh-t quality work. They’ve become basically cable running for their jobs because they don’t have the job security protections
@bp awe, lil one seems very triggered. Yes, I “string wires”. It’s great work done by real men with work boots and hard hats and testosterone. I also paid a union to negotiate my compensation package and working conditions for me while I worked decades of 40 hour weeks, overtime weeks with good benefits and working conditions and never had to worry about being laid off or wrongfully terminated.
@bp, just so you’re aware, our entire business is based on “ stringing cable tv lines “. Those are the lines all of our services are carried on. Voice, data, tv, wireless. Without us, you’re nothing. But I suspect you’re a big nothing anyway.
@bp your just jelly of the union guys and gals cause you can get laid off for drinking the koolaid all your life.please
@ae How is it going for the 13,000 managers ? How did representing themselves work out ?
@bp funny, take a look at what they make over you. Doing a job that is defined and being compensated is the norm. Not backstabbing and kissing behinds to get a raise or stay relevant. While we pay dues and someone makes a living for managing the organization, it’s not at the level of cr-p you get from the CEO and down. Think about it, you pay dues one way or another. I just rather be safe and secured. The union is not for everyone but stop and get the facts. Reach out and talk to someone who works for Verizon union. Better yet, ask management to shadow someone from union. Then you will see.
Typical low brow Union mentality. If you had any real talent or skills you wouldn't be working stringing cable TV runs!
Only weaklings need someone to stand up for them.
@ap which is not fair to us new hires who work harder and faster than the semi-retirees that are on their way out.
@ae Don't know about you, but every strike duty I worked since 1982, I got a nice chunk of overtime $ to the tune of 32 hrs extra per week for the duration of the strike.
Still wasn't worth it. 72 hour work weeks for weeks on end doing a job you don't want to be doing su-ks.
I started my career in craft and I should have stayed there.
Yup agree OP
@an in case you need a reminder, the union makes sure someone who gives 37 years of their life to a company is among the absolute LAST people to lay off.
@ae lol.... Union serve no good purpose... Tell that to the 13,000 people that lost their jobs on Thursday... The union was definitely a better place without a d-mba** like you around....mafia?!..puhleez
The Mother company was AT&T which when the Bell System was broken up on January 1, 1984 created seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), two of which included Bell Atlantic and NYNEX who covered the Northeast part of the country. The RBOCs were local telephone providers and were also granted cellular wireless licenses. From there it was one industry merger after another.
In actuality, the Union really serves no good purposes. Most of the Union leadership are corrupt getting rich themselves at the expense of their Membership. Often there are Mafia ties with skimming of Members dues. Unfortunately, most people in the Union are not business minded people so they easily are swayed by the Unions deceptive talk.
Why do I say all this? Simply because the Union did more damage to its Members who would have been better off as non-Union shops.
Over the years when the CWA and IBEW held strikes it just served to put people temporarily on the Unemployment line. Often even after settling their Membere made less overall than if they just went to work everyday and were rewarded for good performance just like any other person in the workforce.
During those strikes the Managers had to cover for striking Union workers. Often keeping the company operating during the day and doing their regular jobs as best they could at night. Frequently strike assignments were in other regions and states taking the Managers away from their families, communities and churches. No overtime pay was provided the Managers.
As you can tell, I have no sympathy for either the Union or their Membership when positions are lost throughoutsourcing, automation or cutbacks. Wish you the best in your next chapter of life but definitely know you got the short end of the stick by the Union (as did Managers).
Hey, if it's any solace, my mom was part of Bell Atlantic during the Verizon merger, and you know what we both have in common? We were laid off by the same company! Like mother like son 😂. Think of yourself above all in what you decide. You owe this company nothing.