With D4 still without a contract and D3 ending in a couple months, banding together and joining forces seems logical. An immediate strike would shut down both the midwest & the southeast and be detrimental to the company. Of course, this is providing everyone sticks together and the scabs of right to work states don't step in with contractors and hastily trained managers. Granted this may be a longshot and the workers last gasp, but stranger things have happened.
19 replies (most recent on top)
What? Cell phones are the reason we are in this position , wake up folks, its a new day , sorry , internet is not a money maker! Time to move on !All those jobs are gone!
@gys....we're fighting the company and the union. Sad truth is as someone stated earlier, T is in a downsizing phase. It doesn't matter how much money RS makes or how big of a tax break T got. With what they are doing now T can get by with 1/2 the folks they have on the payroll. This is the most assanine time to think about walking. Do I like some of the c-ap they shove on us? No. Should T be able to better take care of a reduced work force? Yes.
As far as the union goes, you can be as active and fight and scream all you want, but when your no vote turns into a unanimous yes vote then I have no solution for you, but I can tell you that until there is 1 national contract date for T employees don't expect any change or leverage.
If the union were truly serious about fighting for its members, it would be communicating with them. It would be telling members to build their finances up for a strike, it would be signing people up for strike duty, it would be building morale for a fight.
Instead, here in D4 where we've been without a contract for a year, it has been completely silent. Crickets. Business as usual. It's almost like we don't even have a real union.
You’re fighting a downsizing. There’s a reason for it. The workforce is larger than necessary. I see post after post saying the wireline and all that supports it is dead. Yet we want them to hang on to everybody. The problem is attrition.... nobody at the top of seniority is leaving. There are 70 year old technicians. Managers work around them and non productive employees to accomplish the workload. The “phone company “ was a great job that would give you the opportunity to retire young and enjoy your life. Today at the top it’s greed and every man for himself. You see it here with the “buy me out” posts.
Actions speak louder than words at this point. Stop showing your cards. Best of luck.
The union is just another department ran by the company. The company says “sit” and our union reps ask “ on what D***K . If you actually think the union has any power you are naive. The days of the union fighting for the betterment of those they are supposed to protect are long gone, now its just alot of old farts being yes men, collecting their paycheck (union dues), and waiting until they are able to retire. We are nothing more than sacrificial lams..
If we strike, the company will lock us out, bring in the contractors, and never bring us back.
I am in d4 and would love to walk with d3 they fired half their mgrs tine to retrain the in home sales experts to climb they are useless anyways f**k att hopefully everyone has sone money saved up from the last time we walked
@bpc....well said...craft no longer has an incentive to do a good job either.
I too am a manager and most of us “managers” manage no one at all. It’s just a title to keep us from being union represented. I’ve been given “pole climbing training” online lol. Apparently the company feels that prepares me to climb a pole during a strike. I’m not climbing a pole, im not going into a manhole. I’m not risking my life just because the company thinks I’m somehow qualified from an online course. I have no clue how to do any technical work and I don’t care to learn. I’m far from alone. Us “managers” are not going to do the work in the field. Yeah we’ll show up. We have to; buy nothing is going to get done. We have no incentive to do a good job.
I have worked in the SE for 21 years and we have never walked for even 1 day. We met with the Local president during the last contract talks and suggested a 1 day strike because of the increasing cost of health insurance. She said "Oh no, the managers might get mad at us" The CWA is in bed with T and laughing all the way to the bank with our $$$.
I’ll be damned if I’m gonna strike and lose the money I would get before I’m surplused in September. We have been getting screwed contract after contract and we haven’t had one single serious thought of strike in the 15 years I’ve been here. There is one good thing about being surplused, it gives me no option but to take the next step I’ve been to afraid to take. Going into another line of work. Good riddance to this sh-- show. Randall Stephenson can s--- an egg!
Ive been saying this for yrs and always wondered why we never have long term strikes. Truthfully people are to fu**ing stupid and really dumb with money I'm not sure how people in craft especially find it impossible to live within their paycheck save money and prepare. The union doesn’t have your back they are ones whispering in the background seeds of doubt the employees will never truly realize that they have the power to make this company better through long term strike because corvettes and 60k trucks with useless lift kits are more important.
@ZA80PU6-gkp is very correct about something. I am a "manager" (no one reports to me, so that's pretty bogus anyway.) and have a strike assignment while waiting to - likely- end up being surplussed. Don't assume that when we show up and cross the line that we have any intention to be very useful. For me, I'm going to play dumb, not remember any of the useless "training" we are being given and do as little as I can get away with.
So just remember that for us, a strike assignment is involuntary and comes with a constant stream of threats to fire us if we don't fall into line. Every simple commu8nication I get ends with a threat to fire for code of conduct violations if we don't play their game.
I'd FAR rather be union, but ATT and CWA played a game of carving out non-union bogus "management" jobs so I don't get that choice.
1 AT&T, 1 union, 1 contract date, 0 excuses...Until then we have no true bargaining power. With the layoffs just announced last week, the company sees they don't need 1/2 of us. Now would be the most unimpactful time to strike ever. A unified contract date should have been priority #1 for all of the CWA & IBEW districts at the 1st post merger contracts in 07 but it wasn't . Look to the right side of your paycheck to see your district's #1 priority. The only thing you will get out of a "feels good" strike.is a few weeks less pay.
The union won't ever call a serious long-term strike. What short-term strikes have been in the last 25+ years were choreographed with management and promptly settled. The union is there as a partner to manage the work force and to give assent to the work rules and to help regulate the layoffs at this point.
No one wants a strike but it feels different this time here in the southeast. Many are prepared for one. It’s not about pay and benefits. It feels like it’s about respect. Everyone is sick of the constant harassment from upper management and the mood is let’s make the company feel a little pain even if it means going without a paycheck for a month or two. I agree with the other poster. It feels different this time. Many seem ready to sacrifice to send the company a message. It will only work if D4 and others unite with us though.
No I agree. It would be devastating for the company to have a nationwide strike. I’m in D3 and I can tell you that we all are hoping that D4 and legacy T and any other district holds out until we are out of contract too. I can tell you that most of us are fed up and eager to strike. Many of us have been saving up for this day. Last time , however, the company offered D4 , and D4 accepted , a contract right before ours expired. The company will likely deploy the same tactic and offer D4 a serious contract right before D3 expires. My hope is D4 waits for us.
A few things to keep in mind. Yes, most Managers assigned to specific work titles are ill equipped to do the job but there will be a handful that were promoted from that job title that will be working the essential jobs. Next, the rank and file must realize the Company is prepared to hold out for 3 to 4 weeks. Which means the Craft Personnel must be prepared to sit out at least that long. I have experienced walk outs from both sides of the fence. For the Craft, the first week is a party. Everyone enjoying themselves, eager to carry their signs, chant and walk in circles. The second week concerns of financial obligations start creeping into conscience and chatter of having to cross back starts up. The third week comes and the weak start saying they’ll go back if it doesn’t settle since mortgages and other bills start to loom. Few people are prepared for a long term strike. The management are working mandatory 12’s 6 days a week. Only difference is, they have to show up and do their time. Contractors will only be brought in to work essential jobs that need to stay on schedule. The key to winning the strike is to stay unified. Most managers don’t want to see union members cross back into their jobs. The good Managers will advise their direct reports not to and emphasize the ramifications if they did. The Union must emphasize the strike isn’t play time. I’d suggest the union Members must also realize there are Managers on the front line that support their position and are sympathetic to the cause. Yelling SCAB at them only makes them not support the Union. Good luck, be strong, be unified.