Construction linemen are going the way of the dinosaur. The weak unions are just stealing your money and you get no protection. Go get a useful skill!!
28 replies (most recent on top)
@ZzBiQmL-xrw - as you “Rejoice” in knowing you have the upper hand on a Core Field Tech that was downgraded into your job title... it won’t take them long to get up to speed... ... yet the true reality of such a situation is... ... you get pushed down one notch in Seniority ... one step closer to the door... ... and that could be the difference in you staying or going.... so be smug....
I have been asking for years where this “prem tech” bumping is stated in the contract.
When the kicked off Uverse this rumor started but I’m not sure it has ever been tested.
I know Core techs who were surplused and became prem techs but I have never seen an actual bump.
And yes once the core techs moved to prem the worked the same forced OT and 6 days as everyone else.
If someone actually gets the choice to “bump” a prem tech I hope they post some information.
@1ysz....and the union got what they wanted out of it too, more $, even though they took work from WS 30 ST and gave it to the lower WS WT/PT
Lol so the guys who build the fiber network. The physical topology. Read prints and Throw counts and splice are the joke
Because you say they cant connect A end to Z end.
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Not difficult to read. But this sense of entitlement like your job is so much harder then anyone elses and know one has the mental capacity to do it. Because with out doing there job you feel its beneath you and they are all mouth breathers.
The guy talking about setting 5 dtv boxes. Yes your a satellite guy and could make more money has a sub. You have that choice. And are free to go do it.
The guy talking about showing customer how to use modem and tv.
1 welcome video showing the modem lights what to do etc
- A welcome video giving you an interactive tour of your new tv service. And anyone under the age of i dunno 55 can figure out how to use a tv . yes you need people skills. But how most of you talk about each other and how stupid customers are im guessing you talk down to your customers while explaining it. Nothing like treating a grown person like a child and scold them.
With trying to minimize what other people do. You also minimize what you do. Divide and conquer. The split has fractured the union and the company got what it wants.
Yes let the anger run through you
Good.
Everything in this: Post ID: @ZzBiQmL-xyv is true.
I have no dog in this clusterfu<k. I've been though surpluses and fortunately my craft title was not affected this go around.
I know what the prem techs have to suffer with and I know what core techs have to deal with, and I will tell you one thing. The prem tech position for a young man that has no family, it has no security, and no retirement benefits. I only know of very few prem techs that got hired in 2007 that are still here.
Sales lie to customers all the time promising the moon, prem techs have to explain none of that is happening, customer goes berserk, manager flips out because the tech could not produce the impossible. THIS COMPANY IS DYSFUNCTIONAL....
How many of us core people still work with people that hired on 20, 30 years ago? How many of us core techs have been able to put their kid though college so they won't have to work at a chithole company that AT&T has become? Well none of that exist in the prem tech world.
This is what happens when AT&T management gets to realize their wet dream.
I’m glad the truth is finally out and I will be sure to share that with the rest of the lowly prem techs.
When you bump down to prem tech I sure hope you won’t need a god damn thing from us because we will not be there to help you. And don’t celebrate too long because I’m more then willing to bet that managers will be on all of you who move down to make your prem tech experience special so I hope you are ready for a fun ride.
I’m a lineman and I’m sure that Prem/Wire Tech is just as challenging as what we do, and the same goes for FT’s and ST’s. One thing for sure is that I would absolutely hate the level of micromanagement that goes on with Prem Techs. The baby bells treat them like absolute sh*t. As far as the bumping issues, we basically can not bump Wire techs at all, even though it is supposedly in our contract.
All you linemen talking trash about the Prem Tech position have NO IDEA. Ask someone who has done linework and I&R and been demoted how sh!tty life becomes when you're demoted to a Prem.
No more voluntary overtime when you feel like increasing your paycheck, you WILL be working 'UNTIL THE LOAD IS CLEAR' 5 or 6 days a week, forced, You WILL be doing two times the work if you were I&R, three times if you were line, under stressful conditions with constant monitoring and a multitude of impossible to meet performance metrics thrown in your face every day while constantly treated like a piece of dirt. I&R has some experience dealing with that, line does not. Your days of leisure will come to an immediate end.
And because of your new position as a Prem Tech, you will find that the union is not there for you like they were before. Core technicians who have been surplussed into Prems are absolutely miserable and b!tch nonstop. Prem Techs hate there job but never having had anything better are used to it, Core seems to have a lot more trouble adjusting to their new working status.
By bumping a Prem Tech out, you guys will be able to keep your employment and pay level (frozen), but you're sure not going to enjoy it.
Prem tech or core techs does it really matter? The same D***k is going up every ones Ahole. At this point it’s pretty much how much lube or if any is used.. instead of fighting each other about who is better at what, because lets be honest we have some really lazy dumb prem techs/core techs on each side that we all look at and wonder wtf are they doing when they go to work. We should focus on the real culprits, and in my opinion that would be the union.. They allowed the company to pick us apart, regardless of tittle and tenure..
@jch... every job out here is good, but when u take the worst case scenario as far as physical labor for each individual job, line crew would probably be at the top. When the bucket trucks only purpose is to get you to the job site so u can park it and then start hoofing through the woods and hills and hollers hooking and passing a lasher, them boys are earning it. Second would probably be air pressure, some of them holes are nasty and tough to work in. Working in an attic or a filthy house isn't fun, but to imply that linemen can't handle physical labor is a joke.
The big question is not if they can or if they will, but if they would want to.. after decades of milking the cow, would they really want to go work. And by work i mean physically, prem tech work is no joke especially when you get that 4-5 box DTV install that requires a non pen with bricks up a 28ft ladder.
A lot of areas don’t have rear easement. South Florida is the only place I’ve seen a lot of it.
In short the answer is yes.
We all knew this day would come and there’s no use to pretend otherwise now. This is exactly what we bargained prem techs for a nice job security cushion for us and a more cost effective way for t to roll out uverse.
The position is serving its purpose.
Sorry but we all knew it and anyone who was here thru it is lying if they tell you otherwise.
@bbm/lhz....don't know any DT's who went to linecrew. Most everybody outside who wants to move up wants to make DT. Every job in the field is good and has its pros and cons. I've just never been out there swapping out a mux card or connecting a fiber circuit in July and thought, "man, I sure do wish I was hanging some rear easement today." Maybe there was a surplus situation where a DT would move to line crew?
how things go from a ds0 level all the way to oc48 gige etc and why.
I can guarantee you there are a lot of Core techs who have no idea of how that works either. Why there are built in processes to kick to DEG, Cable, CO, SS’s etc. Just like the Prem techs...
Lmfao so you craft guys can rack up all that knowledge, but can’t even get the fiber hooked up at an mdu to match records so every single count is now off.
F...ing whiney hypocrite.
Obviously you think you are far more valuable and a better man then me. I put my head down and work hard everyday for my family! Probably the same as you so F off you pos. Bump any one you want because your day is coming too!
Prem techs. You mean modem plugger in guy. Run a wire A to B and act like some one couldn't figure that out . ( glorified cable guy working from the tap in)
Ask them how long it took to get good at your job. They say shoot 6 months. Right there says it all. They dont do anything with network topology. Live at the very bottom of the o.s.i. model but have this attitude that they are irreplaceable. Even though they talk sh-- about their peers and how they do sh-- work. I have worked with countless ex prem techs that struggle with basic cable repair. No clue how anything actually works. Telephony basics tdm vs packet . how things go from a ds0 level all the way to oc48 gige etc and why.
And have the stones to talk about another mans craft like they are somehow better.
Not an attack on all prem techs. Just the ones who think they are above all who came beofre them and other craft is inferior
Line has been contracted out in the Midwest for the over 15 years..... be glad that it lasted this long. That is why the cuts were so huge in the other districts. The Midwest line crews were gutted years ago.
More so than the training, the company probably doesn't want to pay them there $40 an hour pay or so working Prem tech hours and OT. That's an extra $30k a yr, not including OT doing Prem Tech work.
Midwest contract (expired) places a limit of 10% can bump. I’m guessing it’s to avoid the enormous amount of training it will require to bring a lineman or splicer up to speed.
The customers are able to understand grunting ok, it’s the overseas tech support that’s hard to understand.
Yawn...... Who cares. Lineman, splice, premtech. LOL Sorry bunch of manual unskilled laborers.
Wow, you are extremely arrogant. Most linemen are in great shape, they need to be, they work their butts off hanging lines.
Some are also former digital techs who know far more than just setting up an internet connection, and far more than the vast majority of prem techs. They have worked on circuts and SLC systems for years.
Get a clue!
Wow, you are extremely arrogant. Most linemen are in great shape, they need to be, they work their butts off hanging lines.
Some are also former digital techs who know far more than just setting up an internet connection, and far more than the vast majority of premium techs. They have worked on circuts and SLC systems for years.
Get a clue!
Cable Splicers becoming Prem Techs?
Hardy-har-har!
First off, someone will have to teach them how to bathe on a daily basis.
Then there's the beer gut problem. How in heck is BudLiteBob gonna squeeze that gut into an attic or under some mobile home to run new lines?
Don't they realize that they will actually have to talk to people and teach them how to use their modem or their DTV? Before you ask - the answer is "NO" - just grunting like a caveman won't cut it.
So what will happen to us lineman
No, only cable splicers