I have a thing or two to say about the current situation with EWAs. Sending out HR, IT and Finance people to do craft work with only cursory training was rather irresponsible on behalf of VZ mgt. In 2011, the post mortem view was that managers did not possess the prerequisite skills to deal with customer issues effectively, particularly in Installation & Maintenance. So, in all that time, shouldn't Stratton, Mudge and McGuire have come up with a more comprehensive training plan? No! The usual 5-day crash course covering only the basics. In fact, much of this training was conducted over a year ago- no refresher course. After that, the training coordinators went into hibernation and no one heard anything from anyone until a month ago. Then, employees received very short training videos pushed to their desktops. That's it! All of a sudden, these managers are activated for strike duty and are expected to perform miracles! In some garages, the managers are being asked if they can drive a bucket truck. In NY, you need to have training and a license to operate commercial vehicles like this one. Hasn't Verizon experienced enough OSHA violations with bucket trucks and employees getting electrocuted? It is also very unsafe to have managers working over 80 hours in the field and it is a really bad idea sending only improperly trained managers to customer sites without any regard to the technical requirements of the install/repair. Many customers are asking for services that require more experience, and these managers were shortchanged on their training. It really is not right to force employees to do this, they deserve better than a mandatory 84 hour workweek (which sounds illegal to me anyway). To be clear, I am not in the Union, I am a manager that is exhausted, unprepared and annoyed that I am being asked to do half-assed customer facing repairs, most of which are beyond the training I received. VZ Senior Mgt needed to figure this mess out and needed to build teams that were prepared for these conditions. Stratton and team deserves a D- for a half-hearted effort.
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I think part of the problem was that over the last decade, there were employees who came up through the ranks and had some telco work experience along the way. Verizon has RIF'd many of those managers, and those remaining are somewhat insulated from the work performed by the Associates. That said, the VZ leadership needed to recognize that lack of familiarity and should have spent more time preparing the managers for this strike. I think the training needs were sized to accommodate a two-week work stoppage only, with an expected level of repair orders/installs slippage during this window. But now, two weeks into it the training lapses are evident. Many EWAs are frustrated that they were thrust into this strike. Is there a long term plan? Probably yes. More recruits will be drafted and will attend the express training program that will only yield newly minted managers armed with no I&M skills. Who was responsible for this training Reed? Stratton? Who was sleeping here?
Even the assignment was bad. CO Tech in west region was assigned to I/m or Fios while some folks without any experience were assigned to CO...etc.....quite chaos.
I am loving my assignment, but i also grew up helping my father with his construction comany. The biggest complaint I sent to mngt was that we were trained to climb with the buck adjuster strap, but none of the garages have them. Not cool. Hard enough to climb with the scab patrol harassing us, now add in missing equipment and we have a problem.
@H5B7pik-1alm that is very true.
Maybe if you had 20 yrs experience, you would know how to shoot a trouble. I have a feeling that even with the correct tools you would still be hopeless. This job is learned through hands on experience, taught in real life circumstances, from other people who know the craft. You CAN NOT replace experience!
OP comment: I had the same experience with meters. At the class, the Instructor demo'd five different testers/meters in just 15 minutes. On day 3, I was handed a Spirent Tech-X Flex tester and sent out with no manuals, instruction or guidance. I also got a tone generator - same story. Why wasn't this covered in the training more completely, how does one diagnose customer problems? Someone asked why I posted this here. Simple, people need to understand the crap that is going on with this work stoppage, beyond the issue of the Union agreement. The training decisions were awful.
You and your comrades are outside techs now so you suck it up and move on. Also, you could file a grievance on that BS with your EWA Shop Steward.
Not even that we didn't even recive all the tools we needed. I've spent $500 so far at home depot while going job to job.
Talking about safety; we just got 10 of the banana testers (those long yellow things? Hell I'd I know what they are actually called) that we had to hand out between 24 pairs. People still don't have then.
No testing equipment too. You really expect us to troubleshoot without having a flex meter, exfo, or buttset??
It's a total joke and waste of our time.
When you have pole climbing as part of the training, it's clear excecutives have no idea what happens outside. And they believe the union side of the business can be done by anyone. To top it off, they don't care what happens, next man up.
To OP: I'm not sure what part of VZ you came from to cover this strike but I would like you to consider this, 15 days straight 12 hrs a day is "par for the course" for some outside techs who are forced against their will to stay out and complete work assigned. Usually only because of a poorly managed dispatch. Now tack on first level climbing on your back, emails ever 5 minutes explaining how you're failing, surprise safety visits that result in suspensions,pay checks intentionally fouled up so you have to chase your owed $$. I do feel for you, this really sucks I know but remember the horrible working conditions you're subjected to, is business as usual for most outside techs
Be safe and remember all this when its over
They seem to be doing an okey job
Nervous yet?
Re: "i wouldn't disagree with the fact but why did you post here and how did you find time to post?"
I am the OP. I have worked 15 consecutive days with no time off. Several of them exceeded 12 hours. The post took about 5 minutes, so I am not reallyvfollowing your concern.
I will, however, say it again. This problem should not be left in the hands of IT, Finance or other Corp teams. It is unreasonable to for VZ to demand this and it is unsafe to take chances like this. Union people have gotten killed in several states performing field work, especially with bucket trucks. How is a Corp Manager going to identify a 'hot pole'? They can't, that is the selfish part of this executive decision. Sorry that many people do not want to hear the truth. See you tomorrow at 7:00am sharp
Union here, and I couldn't agree more with the OP. What a shameful way to treat any employee. They drill safety, safety, safety, but as we craft employees know they don't really mean a word of it. It's only so when one of us gets hurt they can wash their hands of it by saying we were trained properly, and did something unsafe. I sincerely hope no one gets seriously hurt, or worse killed. It only takes one mistake, for that to happen. Be careful.
Good ole-Bob Maguire-he thinks his training is fantastic! He should be fired.
i wouldn't disagree with the fact but why did you post here and how did you find time to post?