Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

" They have target's that are unreachable using correct practices in certain areas. "

The first thing a Company will do in an effort to get rid of someone is to give them an impossible task. If a miracle happens and you DO happen to get it done, they'll just give you another one until you fail.

When you inevitably fail, it's the only excuse they need to move the work elsewhere and / or replace you.

@10IALV0R-vtb - The advice is to know the expectations. If a Daily Vehicle Safety Check is expected yet YOU as a Tech don’t perform it by choice and there is a serious accident that would have been prevented had it been done, who do you think is going to have trouble? The Tech or the Supervisor? We all know things don’t happen. That is your choice if you’re the Tech, and it falls on you when things happen. If you don’t perform the required and expected and things go sideways, you’re the one with the suspension. You’re the one getting fired. There are things that get skipped because it’s safe to assume you won’t get caught. But when things go wrong and the investigation is done and it’s determined that the Tech chose to not perform a simple task because they didn’t feel like it, accept the consequences. Dude, you act as if Prem Tech is the only outside job, it’s the only one getting eliminated. It was created as a temporary job and will be completely eliminated within 5 years. I agree you work under horrible conditions yet here’s a first, NOBODY CARES. The Union’s hands are tied, they can’t improve your situation. There are no jobs to transfer to. Prem Techs are stuck, here until they are gone. Get mad, it’s the truth. People try to give you advise yet you can’t take it for what it’s worth. You have to spit in the advisors face and say you are different. You are, you are on a short list that has to fight to stay. Yet you have no help. I gave some advice to help if considered yet you make lame accusations that I’ve never been a Prem Tech. I’ve Managed them. Ive seen first hand the expectations they work under. Ive seen the forced overtime. And I’ve heard first hand from Prem Techs how they won’t pick up tickets because they are not going to do more than 4 tickets a day when they’ve completed the 4 tickets in 4 hours. A whole yard has that attitude and there tickets in the bucket, you get forced. I’ve been a Tech, I know the game. If you don’t know how to play you will pay the price because denial and ignorance will not protect you.

i can tell @cig is not a Prem Tech. We do NOT have time to do the job right and follow all safety procedures or do vehicle inspections in the morning. Ever.

As it is, about half of our garage is on a Performance Improvement Plan for not working fast enough. Yet, at every farce of a crew meeting we're required to say the safety creed about 'taking the time to do the job right and work safely'. This company is an absolute, mismanaged joke.

Do a daily vehicle safety check ? Hell in my yard you better watch your a$$ or you’ll get run over by a p-ss-d off splicer leaving the yard.....yea morale is good

After 40 years in this industry- this is worst I've ever seen moral, and it reflects on customer service.ATT decision makers don't understand that a Happy work force is a productive work force. ATT needs to back up the days of South Central Bell when employees were happy, customers were happy and the company made Great profits

Don’t worry, all managers will be fired soon. Automated dispatch/ scheduling has been implemented and theres is a dire need for expenditure reduction. Those in the upper echelons have decided to start with managers. Se la vie monsieur paresseux.

Interesting post. Both sides have good points. My career was both as a field tech and as a 1st level for the same job title. The one thing I will say is “know the expectations.” As a tech, get the job completed by or before the due date. Do what you’re supposed to do, whether it’s to do the daily Vehicle Safety Check before you leave the yard to notifying your Supervisor when jobs go sideways. Regarding lost tools, I’ve seen 30 day suspensions for using unapproved hand tools on the job discovered after an injury discovered during the Safety Investigation. If your Supervisor refuses to replace a lost or damaged tool, note it on your daily timesheet then log it in a journal. Go talk with your Union Rep and file a Grievance. Bad Managers need to be held accountable. Along with that a good Manager needs to be worked with. Being employed in a big Corporation should be a business partnership between Craft and Supervisor. As a Manager of a Crew, I took a lot of heat from upper Management for shortcomings of my Techs. Most was for not meeting monthly metrics. I tried to minimize the advised discipline and work with my Techs to streamline the processes. I emphasized the Techs had to meet the expectations and understand the consequences that would come if we didn’t which included “Disciplinary Action up to and including dismissal.”
The Company is no joke. If you ain’t doing, they will replace you. For a Union Member it’s all about documentation. For a 1st Level Manager there is no protection. For Techs, you’ll have a million Managers, The good ones are far and few between. If you get a good one, work with him. Help him learn his job because the better he gets the easier it is for you. For Managers, your Techs can make you or break you. Work with them to help them do their jobs. Protect them if you can but help them understand what’s at stake. Do your job so they can do theirs. It ain’t easy. Good luck everyone try to realize you’re in the same boat. Make it float or sink .... together.

@10IALV0R-cam,
first of all, who talks like that ? “Image” this and “image” that. You must be one of At&t’s new automatons lol

Second , you completely missed his point. The issue was not disciplining someone for getting a speeding ticket , the issue was the reason for it: He took a whole two days to report it. THAT is ridiculous. The tech DID in fact report it and he reported it in a reasonably timely fashion but needed help submitting it. It’s one of many examples where at&t management are just f—ing a–holes. They are miserable with their jobs and they find joy (and bonuses) making techs’ lives miserable.

So, you use a speeding ticket as an example of bad management. Seriously! If you drive a company vehicle then your driving record is company concern. Image if an employee wrecked and k–led someone and it is discovered that the employee had a history of traffic violations, image where this will go.

Is AT&T management of Craft bad (s—s), YES! To say that most manages and employees don't turn in traffic violations is wrong. Many in the public believe Unions are out dated and only exist to keep lazy and incompetent workers employed. Is it possible that the sentiment espoused by the OP is one of the reasons why.

There is absolutely no aspect of the company that doesn't involve profits or f—ing over their employees. We have been told by first level managers that if we lose a tool, "Go buy it at Home Depot; I'm not paying for a new one!" And then woe on the guy who does that, "You are working without company approved tools, I'm writing you up!"

I had originally wanted to get into management but I'm trying to just leave at this point. You would expect after 8 years, I would be SOMEWHERE but aside from a title change and a bit more money, I do the same thing but with more duties, for less time. What really did it for me was our first huddle in the new year and our 1st level repeating for an hour how we need to either make our new numbers, quit, or he will fire us. Way to inspire, buddy.

Some managers seem intent on proving they can make their employees as miserable as possible. Most managers I've met were genuine decent people who wanted to do a good job without dehumanizing the people under them. Lately it's become more apparent that those decent managers are being crushed under the same weight of toxicity in the company culture, while the bullies thrive. That's fine, if corporate wants to run things that way then nothing much can stop them. The customers suffer most when their services rely on broken employees spat out from the meat grinder.

OP. Good post. I have had a couple of tech friends go into management, Both were miserable. Coming from technician backgrounds, they knew that the metrics and disciplinary actions that they were told to take against their techs were all BS. One could no longer deal with how he was being asked to treat his techs and took a management job without subordinates. The other had two heart attacks and left the company. I worked with both of these individuals. They were stellar technicians and would have been excellent managers at any other company. AT&T upper management has fostered a truly sick culture in this company.

@fmt.. ..and they are an ILEC...those pesky employees, doggoneit!

One of the best posts I’ve read. Truth is At&t has apple envy. It wants to be free of techs and trucks to roll. It wants to be in the magical cloud only and collect revenue. Problem is they don’t have the talent.