CWA Organizers

[deezoneezo]

If my technicians joined the union they would have to be paid far less.

Why?

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Because our pay plan is very generous. I understand that a union may be a good idea for satellite technicians in general, mainly because of the low pay, but in my company no one would want or need to join a union.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[uboatcmdr]

If my technicians joined the union they would have to be paid far less. We love our satellite technicians and provide a safe, respectful, friendly and well compensated workplace.

Most satellite technicians are underpaid and not appreciated enough. Just imagine, you need to be physically fit, technologically intellectual and mechanically handy and skilled. Plus you need to have good communication skills and get along with the general public. Not many people can handle a career as changeling as a field service satellite technician.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

I think what you meant to say was your technicians would have to be getting paid much less than they currently are to make them even want to join a union.
I agree, our technicians didn't even think about a union until just recently when things started to go down hill rapidly. Now with some major changes looming on the horizion, we are scrambling to get the union in place before it is too late (we know we will be unable to stop many of the planned changes, but with the union in place we will atleast have more power in the negotiations over pay & benefits).

 

[uboatcmdr]

Because our pay plan is very generous. I understand that a union may be a good idea for satellite technicians in general, mainly because of the low pay, but in my company no one would want or need to join a union.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

I just want to say one thing about Robert, if he is even only half as nice to his techs as he is with his customers he must be a great boss to work for.

 

[LonghornXP]

I just want to say one thing about Robert, if he is even only half as nice to his techs as he is with his customers he must be a great boss to work for.

He sure does find the time to do everything he does and that is amazing. Heck I spend 20 minutes trying to find my car keys.

 

[newsattec]

Not all companies need a union. Some owners/managers actually care about their employees and others are smart enough to realize a company is only as good as its employees.
I once worked for a major SE bank and their approach to keeping unions out was to provide decent benefits, pay and work conditions.
A union would be good for some of these HSPs. It would help them retain the quality techs.
Robert - can I come to work for you?

 

[LonghornXP]

All this talk about getting paid less if a Union gets in by Robert is a little stupid. If you really do pay good and your installers are indeed happy I don't see why you couldn't bring in a union yourself and keep things the same. That alone would make your installers feel more secure in their jobs. Now the only thing I would consider a good reason to not want a union is if your installers would become employees but that alone shouldn't add extra cost to prevent the change. Even if your workers are employees that doesn't mean you have to offer health insurance, pension and so on and so forth. Now if your guys are happy and being paid well and things will stay that way I see no reason for change.

The only reason to not allow a union is if a company is pushing every penny for a profit and that means by cutting pay among many other things from installers. My thinking always has been if you as an owner don't plan on screwing your workers and you pay a fair wage you have no reason to fear a union and that union won't cost the company much extra and in truth its the employess that pay more in union fees.

 

[phatnuts]

Like I said--The only company that has a union needed one!

 

[uboatcmdr]

Like I said--The only company that has a union needed one!

True, we never even thought about a union until we saw the big weenie heading our way. I can see LonghornXP's point as well, there are other benefits of having a union other than protecting the workers from the employer's greed or wraith. They can help set up training programs to assure the employer that they are getting qualified people. I know that I don't want to have to keep going behind some FNG goof who doesn't know a satellite system from a bass fiddle, so it is in my and my union brothers' best interest that he get proper training before going out in the field. This would help take some of the worry and expense off the employer when he hires workers.

 

[madpoet]

I'll try and tread lightly here because I understand any time you bring up Unions, there is a LOT of heated feelings on both sides. I have lived through unionization on both sides of the fence with different companies. And honestly, in both cases I was puzzled WHY a union was needed. As a worker, I was fairly badly harrassed when I voiced any opposition to the planned unionization. I'm not going to name names or companies, but it was ugly. I was left scratching my head, because honestly after dues and all we'd be making less money than we were before.

On the management side, I was again amazed at how hostile the situation can be. I felt like we were a good company, we tried to treat people with respect, and still we were getting calls to unionize. And make no mistake phatnuts, the fact is that some poeple will ALWAYS call for a union regardless of whether you need one or not. It cost us more, I felt like the workers were getting the wool pulled over their eyes, and it really ticked me off. Being forced to unionize in some cases means rewarding the lowest common denominator, and often eliminates the possibility of honest reward for production unless you reward everyone else as well.

I'm not saying unions are evil, or never necessary. I am saying that the process of unionizing can be ugly and damaging, and can really divide a company. I honestly lost friends over unionization because they considered me a "traitor" for being opposed. I will say that in the larger unions, I think there is a degree of corruption. The money flowing to political campaigns that local members have no say over, the money spent on administration, etc; is all coming out of the pocket of average workers.

One final thought... my brother in law is DIE HARD union and we have agreed not to ever mention them again in each other's presence . He actually works as a union negotiator, and even he has to admit that sometimes the union rules make little or no sense. He had to represent a guy at a union hearing who had showed up drunk twice to work and threatened to kill his supervisor, but couldn't be fired under the union rules unless he had gone through counseling for his problems. It gets silly. So I hope everything works out well for all of you, but any time anyone mentions unions around me I'm a little skeptical.

 

[uboatcmdr]

I'll try and tread lightly here because I understand any time you bring up Unions, there is a LOT of heated feelings on both sides. I have lived through unionization on both sides of the fence with different companies. And honestly, in both cases I was puzzled WHY a union was needed. As a worker, I was fairly badly harrassed when I voiced any opposition to the planned unionization. I'm not going to name names or companies, but it was ugly. I was left scratching my head, because honestly after dues and all we'd be making less money than we were before.

On the management side, I was again amazed at how hostile the situation can be. I felt like we were a good company, we tried to treat people with respect, and still we were getting calls to unionize. And make no mistake phatnuts, the fact is that some poeple will ALWAYS call for a union regardless of whether you need one or not. It cost us more, I felt like the workers were getting the wool pulled over their eyes, and it really ticked me off. Being forced to unionize in some cases means rewarding the lowest common denominator, and often eliminates the possibility of honest reward for production unless you reward everyone else as well.

I'm not saying unions are evil, or never necessary. I am saying that the process of unionizing can be ugly and damaging, and can really divide a company. I honestly lost friends over unionization because they considered me a "traitor" for being opposed. I will say that in the larger unions, I think there is a degree of corruption. The money flowing to political campaigns that local members have no say over, the money spent on administration, etc; is all coming out of the pocket of average workers.

One final thought... my brother in law is DIE HARD union and we have agreed not to ever mention them again in each other's presence . He actually works as a union negotiator, and even he has to admit that sometimes the union rules make little or no sense. He had to represent a guy at a union hearing who had showed up drunk twice to work and threatened to kill his supervisor, but couldn't be fired under the union rules unless he had gone through counseling for his problems. It gets silly. So I hope everything works out well for all of you, but any time anyone mentions unions around me I'm a little skeptical.

In your case a union may not have been a good thing. If the pay was good and no one was getting slipped the big weenie then you probably didn't need a union. Our case is different. We are currently averaging $30 per hour using our own vehicles and providing our own gas, insurance (vehicle), cell phones and tools. The company want to give us vehicles, gas cards and a cheap set of Chinese tools (we will still have to provide our own cell phones) and then cut our pay to about $10-$15 per hour based on the number of years you have been with the company. Our pay is being cut in half and it has been assured that our workload will be increasing but the company is not going to allow overtime. Our union dues would be 2½ hours of our pay each month (if we were being paid $20 per hour that would come to $50 which is a fair amount). I know I'd rather pay $50 per month to have a union back me in my fight to get $20 per hour than accept the $10-$15 per hour screw job my company wants to put on me for free.
Trust me if your boss walked in this afternoon and said, "starting tomorrow we are giving all the employees cars and gas to drive to work, we will also be cutting your pay in half, and by the way you will be required to do 30-40% more work each day", you'd be scrambling for either a new job or to get a union in place.
We like our company, we like our work, we do not want to have to go find new jobs, but we also don't want to get screwed.