The union is concerned with their well being not yours, they are in on this face the facts this couldn't happen without the unions cooperation. I will have all the info next week, and then they will have to answer to membership. GOOD LUCK CWA! This will be the largest scandal of 2016.
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Good Company Salary + Good Local Salary + Company 401k + Local 401k + Generous Use of a Credit Card + Being Permanently Off the Load + Travel + Meals + Drinks + Hotels = WINNING! No wonder these guys and gals cling to their positions for dear life.
They're tight-lipped about their compensation package so it's difficult to verify but, it's my understanding that, in addition to the member-funded 401k the executive board of my local enjoys, there's also a credit card at each of their disposal that pads their salaries and 401k's nicely. There's at least one Local where the each member of the e-board gets a salary in excess of $150,000.00 annually, on top of the salary they receive from the company, from what I've heard. It is very hard to decipher the annual budget statement put out each year as an astounding amount is claimed as miscellaneous, and there's no individual breakdown of salaries. I would feel it's more transparent if the annual statement were a tad more specific, so that the members could gain a true perspective on what's transpiring financially in each local. I do not begrudge them the salary they draw from my hard-earned dues, I simply want a clear accounting of it, rather than the hazy figures I'm handed each year.
If what I've been told is true, two 401k's, one company-funded, the other derived from the local members dues, must make life somewhat more bearable. The ultimate, an 802kk! Only in America.
Cry me a river union rep. This union is in the state it is because of it's decision to represent down to the lowest worker. When this union started to allow substandard workers, company abuses , "Local agreements" .How you guys will protect a guy that has been suspended more times than anyone, Got fired when found he had no drivers license do to DWIs. And the union fought to get his job back because the company didn't have breath check interlocks on a company van! An almost institutional ol boys network. Ask the members of 1108 how union bosses friends and family were protected from a major transfer to nyc.
You bitch about having to go to conferences? Wearing fashionable shoes? Put steel toe boots on when it's 100deg in NYC. Forced to wear shirts that don't breath / fit well , Forced to a new location where your commute went from 15 mins, to 1 hour in the morning- if you leave at 530a then at least 1 -1 1/2 hours on a good day home 4 + hours in bad weather. Then deal with the shit product of VMS. TRying to explain face to face to the customer why the piece of crap doesn't work right. oh but get your 4.0 done for the day.
You folks in the field have no idea how hard it is to represent you. It's easy to bitch but you cannot understand our existence if you've never walked a mile in our moccasins. Ask any retired union official if, given the chance, she'd do it again. Traveling all the time, away from loved ones, attending conference after conference all over the country, constantly on the go. Calls at all hours of the day and night from whiners who think they've been wronged. Yeah, I know your job can occasionally be hard and, on occasion, you're out in terrible conditions weather-wise. It's not like I was never amongst you toiling on your level. Let me tell you this. I would take physical labor any day of the week over my life, a life where you need to use your intelligence and constantly be on the ball. No more jeans for me, the days of throwing on clothes and dressing like a slob are a thing of the past. I can't wear whatever I like anymore. I need to present a professional image at all times. Try wearing uncomfortable "fashionable" shoes and see how your feet feel at the end of another endless conference in Vegas or some other far flung location, away from everyone that matters to you (aside from the union brothers and sisters that accompany me on these never-ending treks). Anyone who thinks this is easy is out of touch and deluding themselves.
"Exceptional talent is rewarded" - are you kidding me?
Cut throats, back stabbers and thieves, how arrogant you think a lot of yourselves clueless BSers
There is the problem, you think your YODA, your not the cream of the crop not smarter than everyone else try listening for a change.
Exceptional talent is rewarded. You cannot rise through the ranks within a Local's hierarchy unless you're sharper than most. There is no way. You gain the necessary skills, such as negotiation, over many, many years, under the tutelage of others until the wisdom they've imparted becomes part of your own repertoire. Yet you also must be predisposed, having been blessed with a natural, innate talent few possess, before those inborn skills are precisely honed and refined further. The creme inevitably rises to the top of any Local's echelons, while those that come up short do not make the cut. One need look no further than how elections inevitably go. The frauds are weeded out through the election process. The membership knows what they want and the Local offers gentle guidance, helping the member recognize and distinguish the real deal from the fraud, the charlatan. Look at how professional BA's behave. It is a gift, no doubt about it. No one sneaks through until they've proven themselves. Believe me, I know. There are safeguards to protect that from ever occurring.
Inept functionaries, hand chosen and useless. Yet they think they understand unionism and see themselves as people doing a good job. Union leaders of even just 20 years ago would throw these clowns out of my Local's office. They let everything slip away and then declare victory in the form of, "It could have been worse". Stop collecting dues if you've ceased to operate as a union.
In my part of the world, CWA local leadership has by and large become nothing more than a bunch of unintelligent, uninspired, spinless autocrats concerned more about protecting their own positions than doing the day to day work of looking out for the best interests of their members.
There are no longer elections, but instead coronations, where people are put in positions because they are not a threat and will not rock the boat. Everyone's looking to protect their particular perk that the hall's bestowed upon them. Now we're left with business agents that couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag, and chiefs who have a tighter relationship with their manager than with the people they're being paid to advocate for.
It's disgusting.
How about if we strike just long enough, so that the union doesn't have to pay anything out to it's members?...... or better yet, not stay out on strike for another week, even though we know a catastrophic storm is about to happen, that would just about guarantee us whatever we ask for? Sorry, my mistake, that was last contract. This contract, the union is going to allow Verigreed to run everyone into the ground, and get as much work done as possible before deciding to layoff more of our members by spring of 2016. Another shitty contract will then be agreed to by our fearless leaders and they'll tell us how "hard the fight was" and that we "won the battle". Bend over!
I like turtles.
Unions, Unions, surplus declarations everywhere.. AT&T. Sprint, first quarter 2016
Company got exactly what they wanted in 2011, check to see how easy it was to get what they want. Now they know and they are not budging. A lot of cheap talk from cwa/ibew folks here. Typical rumors and nothing new.
Yeah. Just like they 'knew' in 2011.
I don't think the company is scared that there will be a strike.. They know there won't be one. The union keeps getting rumors going that there will be a strike to try to get the company to budge but there not budging, its ridiculous either strike or shut up
Tedious! Reading, grouping, then entering into excel, ratings on comments I read from these communication blogs. First job at investment house, foolishly thought I'd be learning strategic, or at least tactical investment policy. $150K for this? Wish you Union types would get on with it, whatever the IT is? Could do with a break from all the white noise bloggers here make, coupled with no do-do, hence "Acta non verba" Thank goodness Xmas coming, boyfriend and I going sking. Oh shoot! Gotta go managers coming.
old news,
I'm out the door on 12/31, so I do not plan to climb another pole or cross box ever again. No matter what happens over the holidays, NDT and pixelization will no longer be part of my vocabulary. Thanks for new boots though. They are a lot nicer than all the other pairs.
Not part of the union, wireless, but if you want to pi$$ off VZ go on strike NOW before they can get VZW replacements trained, Training for most of VZW is in January
The company is scared that you folks are going to walk during the holidays and is sending panic emails to make sure everyone is ready. Too bad many of the ready will be gone on 12/31.
Heres something funny....I bet there is nothing to back up this accusation, but at the same time I believe its all true. Something stinks.
Your right something stinks, and its coming from these bogus negotiations, they need to get some stones with this company
Anyone hear from the union leadership
Has anyone heard anything from union leadership
What vote, we rejected last contract somehow its ratified go figure.
Didn't we vote to strike?
Someone explain why we didn't go out on strike?
You are completely out of your mind if you think the Union is in on this. The only group in on this are the millionaires on the top. The union is fighting for our lives and future.!! To suggest something like this without any proof is insulting and dangerous !
Shill!
I think its unethical and illegal, sounds like its true, I don't want to believe it but it sounds correct.
More RIFS today
They can make all the deals they want but it still needs to be voted on by the membership, and this time nobody is settling.