I am looking to take a field position job which would cause me to join the Union. I was told by several techs who came over from the XO merger that there time was lost when they joined the union . Does anyone know if this can happen to me if I take this position ?
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You won’t lose time with the company overall, which matters for things unrelated to the union. But if you weren’t performing union work before, your seniority (which is different from your service date) will start on the day you take that job. So for things like vacation, shift bidding, etc, it’s a do-over. And you won’t get the job protection, as any union member entering the union after 2003 is SOL there.
As for the person who commented about Right to work states- that doesn’t matter. Right to work only means you don’t have to pay union dues and be a union member. But the CBA still will cover the terms and conditions of employment. If the CBA says 10 vacation days a year, but you had 15 as a non-union employee, you’re going down to 10 no matter whether you pay union dues. (And it’s a myth that your benefits will automatically be better - many times it’s worse. I had non-union employees decline union offers because of this- ask for a side-by-side. HR will provide this to you.
@4gwu it has always been needs of the business union or not. That is why there are EWD days and short notice days, even unpaid days, as well as sick days. I am no pro company person at all but yes imagine that a world where ADULTS maybe can't take off whenever they feel the whim to do so with zero regard for staffing needs. In any case I have never been unable to take off any truly necessary time when needed over a period of almost thirty years of employment here. There is always a way. Any ADULT should be able to figure out how things work pretty readily.
Imagine being an adult and not being able to take off when you want or without someones "approval".
You will be much better off represented, so what about vacation picks. Where you ever "master of your own destiny" like 4aqn is ? Is anyone or is it an illusion?
You'll be screwed just as the VzB techs were screwed when vzn purchased mci/wcom.
You will have 2 diff start dates - when it comes to yrs of employment with the company, you retain your current start date.
When it comes to any union bargained for benefit, or work rule - your start date is the date you took the union bargained for position.
Keep in mind that all union bargained for position rules are governed by the idiocy of 'seniority amongst your peers within the same title & location/region' . ..you're screwed. You have the least seniority.
You may have 20 yrs with vzn BUT 1 yr with the union.
Welcome to the Kindergarten class rules setup: last to pick your vacation requested for the forthcoming year. No you cant just call out vacation days, 'Stepped/Punishment' for being late, etc etc etc.
Yeah the benefits may be better BUT you lose your adult way of thinking & pride in being the master of your own destiny. And yes Unions have their place and are needed, however the setup in this company is archaic for the time and technology of this era.
I agree with @2dnb, as I’ve seen that very thing before. You’re not surrendering your earlier NCSD. Former AT&T fellows were brought in under the same arrangement, and none of them thought it was a bad deal at all.
@21mm You may be mixing up company time with union time. You would not lose vacation accrual and anything earned by your years of corporate service including retirement eligibility. What you would lose is the ability to be senior to someone in the bargained group before you since you where just that not there before them. The implications are not terrible and you would finally have a defined contract to work under instead of working at corporate whim. You would take your spot and accrue from that point on like anyone else new to the group. The only downside is maybe vacation picks, forced transfers or access to EISP offers relative to those more senior. An example of an odd circumstance for you might be having 4 weeks vacation yet someone with only 2 or 3 weeks could potentially be able to pick before you.
I moved from a non-union management position to a union position and lost the bulk of my time. My time was bridged back to some date in 2014 when vz and vzw consolidated so my "start date" was listed as 2014 even though I had 14+ years. I'm not saying it will be the same for you, but that was what happened to me. My understanding was the company would have honored my time but it was the union that refused to as it would have potentially given me seniority over people who had been union members longer than me.
@afw, so you’re under the impression that if you take a job that’s union represented, you lose your seniority, but if you take the very same job in the very same location, but do not take advantage of the benefit of representation, you retain that seniority?
chuckle
What State are you in? Virginia is a Right To Work State and Union membership is not mandatory.
False @bwx
By the way are there many f/XO employees left after the RIF and VSP ?
XO management employees retained their time, it was bridged, in non union positions. XO techs lost their time, and any seniority when they became union employees, they literally started from scratch.
The NCS date may reset due to the way the seniority rules, pension and step raises are factored by the NCS date. Also are probably going from a non-regulated to a regulated company.
If ou come from XO and you enter a non-union represented position, is your time bridged?