Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

TFS/IEFS scheduling work rule change needed for better safety/ work/life balance

We need a change in the scheduling work rule that allows linking two weeks together. It results in a Tech working 10 + days in a row plus forced OT added. This used to be the exception but now it has become a common occurrence. The plus sign is because 6th or 7th forced days can be added.

It’s a big safety issue due to Techs becoming exhausted & not being able to spend quality time with family and assist with home life. It increases the chance of driving accidents, personal injuries, stress, illness, etc.... it creates the appearance of a sweatshop mentality, that the company only cares about the bottom line.

Easy fix: make a small schedule change that would allow each tech to have at least one weekend day off. Only link the two weeks together when a declared emergency or service requirement ie.. natural disasters, war, etc... this should be the exception. There are enough techs in each workgroup to make this happen.

This would result in the following benefits for the technician & company:

  1. Safety
  2. Family/Home time
  3. More production
  4. Less sick time
  5. Less stress
  6. Better morale
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| 1132 views | | 14 replies (last September 17, 2019) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+114PQEii

14 replies (most recent on top)

It’s called greed. Work harder, longer, faster. My bonus is depending on you. Who cares about your family, we will get ours and then leave with our golden egg. Haha!

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Post ID: @1xbv+114PQEii

Hopefully this micromanaged environment will make a change for the sake of all hard working employees still working. There has become are too many challenges and roadblocks to overcome now.

Customer facing employees are doing all they can to give the best service with the challenges they face. At the end of the day, the customers write my paycheck. All the burdensome policies, added task & long hours won’t change that dynamic.

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Post ID: @1ypj+114PQEii

If they don’t lower medical cost, it’s a no vote. CWA better get it done.

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Post ID: @1uwe+114PQEii

In the interest of worker safety as well as simply having humane working conditions, the union needs to be looking for ways to limit forced working hours.

Unfortunately, the time to do that would have been BEFORE bending over and agreeing to a new contract that improves nothing for its members.

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Post ID: @1zmo+114PQEii

I don’t believe double time is much of a deterrent as it used to be, we have worked many forced off days & 12 hrs forced OT in the core. I heard of one core tech that has worked several 13 days on with 1 off. I worked for several years on the late shift and had to catch late tickets until I hit the OT cap.

It’s still cheaper than adding people because of benefits. We are just as burnt out & exhausted as Wire Techs. Money isn’t everything when you can’t spend time with your family or have a life. Remember, we get the SLA tickets and have to work late too on top of our regular load that is bulked every day.

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Post ID: @1sjz+114PQEii

It is common knowledge and widely known by organizations (other than this one) that exhausted, burnt out workers are A) FAR less productive and B) get in a lot more accidents.

In the core contract, after 49 hours your pay goes to double time. The union fighting for that one change for Permtechs and Wiretechs would have done much to fix this situation.

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Post ID: @1iaf+114PQEii

I’ll still stick with the Union, even if some things need to be improved. Ask any manager right now how secure they feel in their collaboration zones? Long hours, long drives, small or no raises, told where their next “challenge” location will be at someone’s discretion. Dave, Sue, report 2 states over if you want to keep your job.

There are too many positives to list here that we have because of the Union Negotiations. Is everything perfect? No, but some of these work rules can have ongoing negotiations for a better resolution thru a memo. That’s why the Company/Union committee has an ongoing meetings to address issues as they arise and it is in the contract.

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Post ID: @1obm+114PQEii

Remember when the Unions would claim they were responsible for a 40 hour work week? ........not anymore.... Union leadership failed again

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Post ID: @qzr+114PQEii

No to the TA, pay isn’t everything. This bean has a vote. Work rules matter too!

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Post ID: @pql+114PQEii

Sometimes it’s small changes that can make big impacts in employees lives and it wouldn’t affect the company’s commitments or service. Let the lower managers manage the day to day business

It’s just getting thru the layers of management to have a change. We are top down managed & meetings in excess without any improvements. Analysis paralysis.

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Post ID: @rrd+114PQEii

You would think the DOT would have something to say about techs working/driving so many hours and so many consecutive days.

Guess that’s why the safety incident numbers have increased. You would think the company/safety dept. would see the correlation. There have been a few accidents where techs have died the last couple of years. One recently in Georgia driving late at night between CO’s. Look it up, we never heard the reason, only it was being investigated

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Post ID: @vhe+114PQEii

Advise: go out on stress... ... report the Company to the Labor Relations Board... ... pull the “I don’t feel safe” routine....

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Post ID: @dxh+114PQEii

I agree, the “normal outside tech work day” on the job is 9 hrs, lunch Is the extra hour. Throw in drive time & any forced overtime my day is usually a minimum 13 hrs plus.

Also as OP stated, forced days off added to OT doesn’t leave a lot of time for home life. We also aren’t told about our daily force until after 2:30 pm every day. Kind of hard to plan anything.

So, probably a no vote on TA from me. In addition to raises going toward healthcare, ie.. premiums, deductibles, out of pocket, d–g scripts, etc...

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Post ID: @fsp+114PQEii

Yea I agree. I’m exhausted and can’t get anything accomplished outside of work.

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Post ID: @ied+114PQEii

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