union link for installers not tryin to start trouble

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sateck01 said:
u-boat,

yes a union is a bunch of fat b#stards in a room determining how much you will make and how much they will take from you , all the while taking SCRATCH from the company , cases of hooch on the front porch on dec 23rd and fireworks on the garbage cans on july 1.

you are a dreamer, ill go to the greviance man and get this fixed.......NOT


go flip burgers, or work at wal mart and try to unionize them.

i really feel bad for you

i do

sateck,

If I'm dreaming, you must be having nightmares. Lets see here the "fat ba#stards" of the union are going to tell me how much I am or am not going to make, yet the fat b#stards in my company's boardroom are not?
Negotitations over contracts, salaries & benefits will be done by a group of elected employees not a bunch union reps who don't even work for my company. Yes the union will collect dues, a whopping 2½ hours of my salary every month, I'd much rather pay $60-70 per month in union dues than lose $300-500 per WEEK of my salary.

I really don't want to make this personal, but it seems you do. Sorry pal but I have no feelings for you, sad, bad, sorry or otherwise. But I will say this, if you think you stand a better chance negotitating with your employer on a individual basis than you would as an organized group in a situtation such as mine then more power to you. I only hope it doesn't hurt too bad when your boss rams it home. Have a nice rogering mate, gad day.
 
People here have said there will be more crappy installs IF the installers unionize. Well if there are crappy installs now with the installers getting $25-$30 per hour imagine how crappy they will be when the salaries get dropped to $10-$15 per hour. Does anyone honestly believe that the quality of installs will increase with cheaper labor? You can't expect too many vetran techs will stick around for less pay so what will you get, new techs who will do sloppy work. Turnover rates of employees is what causes sloppy installs, that along with improper training and quality control provided by the COMPANY. If anything the quality of installs will increase with unionization, because unions tend to help have training programs. In general unionizing would likely reduce the turnover rates.
 
uboatcmdr said:
People here have said there will be more crappy installs IF the installers unionize. Well if there are crappy installs now with the installers getting $25-$30 per hour imagine how crappy they will be when the salaries get dropped to $10-$15 per hour. .

It depends on who is doing the work. It doesn't always have to do with the amount of money you are being paid. It has more to do with the person who puts pride and effort into their work. A lower payscale doesn't always mean a lower quality of work. Plus people will take lower paying jobs as a supplement to the family income. If they are not the primary breadwinner in the family, why shouldn't they be able to work for less money, if they are willing? Does that mean their work will suck?

uboatcmdr said:
Does anyone honestly believe that the quality of installs will increase with cheaper labor?

It's possible. If I can get an eager person who is willing to work hard for less money, why shouldn't I do that and pass the savings on to my board, shareholders, etc. It doesn't mean that the higher paying person should be shat upon, but maybe put in a more advanced situation where the work would warrant the higher pay.

uboatcmdr said:
You can't expect too many vetran techs will stick around for less pay so what will you get, new techs who will do sloppy work.

Complacence has always been a problem in this country. And its getting worse. Everyone is replaceable.

uboatcmdr said:
Turnover rates of employees is what causes sloppy installs, that along with improper training and quality control provided by the COMPANY.

Can't argue with that. Training is key to any profession. Are there high turnover rates now?


uboatcmdr said:
If anything the quality of installs will increase with unionization, because unions tend to help have training programs. In general unionizing would likely reduce the turnover rates.

Unions aren't the only groups that have training programs. But I can see how a union may help with this issue. Companies should invest in their employees and it sounds like this isn't happening here.
 
In my opinion, people who work for lower pay, dosent nesersarily mean their work must suck, no. Some people, naturaly put pride into there work, and refuse to work otherwise. What Im sain is that when an employer, drops payscale, when in alot of cases is why some of us got into this was for the money, then what happens is The tech who became accustomed to making this money has bills to pay based on what he was accustomed to making, and so is it fair that because a companys expences goes up that it should come out of the pockets of its employees? It needs to come out of the consumers pocket, by offering them quality product, along with quality service and installation. Even though everyone is attracted to the word free, it dosent have to be at the expence of its workers. Ya, I know, Its big business, AND ITS BEEN GOING ON FROM THE BEGINING OF TIME, OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW. When you are a kid without a family to support, It can seem to pay very well and is acceptable. They will be conditioned to work longer hours for with less benifets, because the only thing that money is going to is self preservation and toys, and maybe some hoochie from time to time. I do belive that the industry as a whole will suffer By paycuts, especially if workloads increase. Its like CHADO said, why wouldent a company hire some one for less pay if they could get away with it. How are they getting away with it? Will they get away with it? I think the results will be vetern techs will end up taking the shaft unless they unionize, there is power in numbers. other wise people crunching numbers on paper will do what they do, lower the expence of production. As far as crappy insalls, that is up to the company, In my company they do quality checks, it which if we do not follow policy and a certain set of standards, we eventually will end up out of the job. The problem is, that when you bring on young guys and when the more experienced techs find its not worth it anymore and move on or get pushed out, then what you have is in experienced installers being pushed to work faster, and get more jobs done that i GARINTEE YOU WILL LOOSE QUALITY OF WORK. aS ANY INSTALLER knows, some jobs take more time and effort to get it done than others may, So If you have x- amount of jobs to do in a day, and you are compelled to finish them all, alls that it will take Is that one job, that requires that little bit of extra time and energy, and the next thing you know, your living to work, not working to live. Big business is a bunch of fat cats who take advantage and oppress their workers, all is in the heart of the heads who run the show is higher numbers, fatter pockets, more money more snach, bigger houses, nicer cars, more power, to gain as much as humanly possiable to the extent of lust and thirst for more no matter to who might get stomped on, pushed out, or suffer, as long as their are more benjamins. Do any of you think that companys would pay anybody anything if they could get away with it? Earlier I thought the word Slave may have been strong,... But now that I think about it,..... No, thats exactly what we are, we get up and do what we are told every morning, to go and build pyrimids for THE PHAROS, Compeled to accept less and less and do more and more until our children grow up as we did, thinking to themselves, that thats the way it is, Slavery, Whats that? Im not a slave, I can walk out my door, or get in my car, and go anywhere, and do anything. Wrong, You need money to travel, you need a passport to leave the country, you need to pay your taxes or uncle sam will stick his foot in your ass, you need to do as your told, dont cause any waves, cause someone who is benifeting from you keeping your mouth shut may just shut u up permenitly, ---IF, THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH IT. yOU GET IN THE CAR, MAYBE BE you saved enough money to go somewhere, great, can you afford the time off, do you have paid vacations, or have they cut those benifets also? Maybe your kids wont complain if they are also programed and conditiond into beliving they are free because when they grow up they can just up and quit and find another entry level job with no possibility of advancement or promotion, unless you do what you are told when you are told how you are told, Or unless you are good at getting others to do what they are told, how they are told when they are told. We are all slaves on one level building or another, I dont care what anyone says, just because they may be on a higher level with more power and or privlige, With less direct concerne ir issues that dont affect them. As for the Pharos,And heads in power, They have created the perfect world with the perfect system where they can get slaves to do what they ever they desire, because their slaves dont know they are slaves, They give us T.V . so we can watch actors pretending to have lives,so we can forget about our ownfor awhile, and we call it entertainment, more like a babysitter, for all age groups and its become a ritual, they give us cars so we can feel as if we can go anywhere any time, and its true, we can,.... But those roads were made to go exactly where they want us to stay.... Right between the lines. A bunch of brainwashing conditioning and programiming masters of twist ing the truth to get a large number of people to do as the smaller number royals say to do. As long as you belive you are free because you have a tv, Fine, then I guess we are all free, and as long as we dont think about it we are a ok. We Who work in this country do not have to accept our work conditions If a companys employees were united, We as installers cant be outsourced to mexico, or the phillipnes, or tiwan. WE are here, our work is here unlike many of our call centers where it is more affordable to hire slaves people at half the pay where to them they are allready conditioned to making crappy pay, but to them maybe alot of money in an oppressed economy. Anyways... Im on a tangent. Without a union or reps who have power to organize a large group of people together in a company where the power and or demands or the majority of slaves can bargain, and comprimise agreeable pay and hours or conditions, The Real fat cat bastards will do what ever they can get away with little by little like sneaky pythons till little by little they have there way, Disposeable employees. Chow....
 
uboatcmdr said:
sateck,

If I'm dreaming, you must be having nightmares. Lets see here the "fat ba#stards" of the union are going to tell me how much I am or am not going to make, yet the fat b#stards in my company's boardroom are not?
Negotitations over contracts, salaries & benefits will be done by a group of elected employees not a bunch union reps who don't even work for my company. Yes the union will collect dues, a whopping 2½ hours of my salary every month, I'd much rather pay $60-70 per month in union dues than lose $300-500 per WEEK of my salary.


uboat,

i wasnt trying to get on your bad side. i have been in several unions namely, american glass and ceramic union (at corning glass), steelworkers (at wheeling pittsburgh steel) and the teamsters, the biggest and most powerful union in north america (at chambers development).
i have seen first hand how they work, both in good ways and bad. i have seen honest grevience men and ones who took kick backs. same with union presidents, good and bad.
so please do not fool your self into thinking having a union is some kind of guarantee. it isnt. ask the good folks at u s air.
if i were a tech still working for an install company, i would take piece work with bonus over hourly wage, even during the slow periods.
and i doubt the boss is going to ram it down my throat, im not double jointed, i own the install company. you see i worked for excalibur cable (one of the best and best paying in the industry) doing primestar conversions and installs. they merged into the joke- viasource , which went under and was sold to connect 180 out of Canada and operates as ironwood communications. at that point they slashed bonus and work rates.....i left and started my own small company. it was scarry, im not gonna bs you. today i have 3 techs and myself , we do msp work for above the average, we are a first line contractor, not second or third tier sub-contractors. we are a ship to location for the 9 county area (pays 5 more per job) and i am the area manager for the msp (more??)
there are always ways to stop the pay slide, dont be afraid to go it alone, small business is the backbone of America.

one more thing , you never did answer . why if the cwa is all that, did the comcast workers de-certify them here in pittsburgh.

I really don't want to make this personal, but it seems you do. Sorry pal but I have no feelings for you, sad, bad, sorry or otherwise. But I will say this, if you think you stand a better chance negotitating with your employer on a individual basis than you would as an organized group in a situtation such as mine then more power to you. I only hope it doesn't hurt too bad when your boss rams it home. Have a nice rogering mate, gad day.
.
 
so mid-guided

i have sat here and read some of the posts that look like the were written by the companies man, probably were,point is this,,,,,, the hsp owners don't give a rats ass about the welfare of the installer and their families. if they did they would not be cutting throats the way they are. the dtv mandate says new or like new damage free white vans, there is no mandate it be co owned. when we win our election the books for the office we work in will be opened for us to see just how much money they make off of us. we are not asking for more, just not less. hell i'm tired of paying for everyone elses luxuries while i do without and still work my ass off. as offices around the country stand up we can change the face off things. and yes there have been questions about the union, the employees are the union, we will do what's best for us, and no-one else. july 13 b&a will vote the CWA in, we can make ourselves heard nationwide if all stand and yell.. vote yes, vote often, ask your empoyers to do something they have never done.............TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THEMSELVES!!!!!
 
All the dudes posting here about wages getting too high are the folks who AREN'T worrying about getting their pay cut. All the dudes posting here about getting a union are talking about protecting what they have -- maybe including a bit of dignity -- NOT whining about more money.

The usual case when organizing a union makes the most sense.

As for bragging about runaway shops? Well, I hope your job moves to China, bro! My kin in the Carolinas don't seem to have acquired better schools or job security -- with the fastest disappearing employment base in the country. Or don't you remember when the Carolinas had textile plants?
 
sateck01 said:
Why did those Comcast guy decertify the CWA? I don't know, could be for any number of reasons. I have never said the CWA was guaranteeing anything. In fact they only thing they have or will promise is that if the union is voted in we (a group of elected workers from my company) will have the opportunity to sit down at the bargaining table with our employer and try to hammer out a contract for a fair wage & benefits. Seeing how our employer will be lawyered up for these negotiations the CWA will help us out with some legal aid so we won't get hoodwinked into signing something that contains more loopholes than a congressional document. The CWA is not the new savior of the world, but they are a legal union which, once voted in, our company has to recognize. If we try to group together on our own and negotiate with our employer he will just throw us out of his office and put pink slips in our pay envelopes. With the union behind us he pretty much has to take us seriously.
I just feel (and I am not alone in this at my company) that my co-workers and I stand a better chance of keeping more of what we now have with the union than we do if we just let the company give us what they want too.
And you are correct, not all of our techs are going to company owned vehicles, but those that do not will only get the leftovers. How many jobs will be leftover is unknown at this point. The company originally said they will bring in more vehicles after the first of the year, but have since backed off that statement, perhaps they have changed their minds or most likely they have decided to try and feed us a line of crap in hopes that this union thing will get voted down. It won't get voted down, we currently have 80+% of the techs in favor of a union and I'm sure it would be closer to 100% except that some of the newer guys just haven't been given the info about it yet.

So, you are an MSP? I hate to tell you but from the info I have gotten from my company over the past couple of months, it is expected that Directv will be phasing out all the MSP's within the next two years. True or not? I don't know for sure, I do know that my company hasn't always given us the full truth on every subject. But they have hit the nail on the head a number of times regarding changes within D* (i.e., when D* brought most of the call centers in-house). And keep in mind that if D* was planning to phase out the MSP's they would give some warning to the HSP's so they could man up to handle the extra workload.
 
Cwa

There are many problems with CWA. I deal with the CWA allot. there biggest problem is they wont stand-up for the Employees its a company Union to allow them access to union only job sites. So before you look at them find out what you can and don't let the CWA push a contract on you, there best line is we have to help the company stay competitive, when the CWA companys are the losses paid people, with no benefits.
 
rajincajun said:
i have sat here and read some of the posts that look like the were written by the companies man, probably were,point is this,,,,,, the hsp owners don't give a rats ass about the welfare of the installer and their families. if they did they would not be cutting throats the way they are. the dtv mandate says new or like new damage free white vans, there is no mandate it be co owned. when we win our election the books for the office we work in will be opened for us to see just how much money they make off of us. we are not asking for more, just not less. hell i'm tired of paying for everyone elses luxuries while i do without and still work my ass off. as offices around the country stand up we can change the face off things. and yes there have been questions about the union, the employees are the union, we will do what's best for us, and no-one else. july 13 b&a will vote the CWA in, we can make ourselves heard nationwide if all stand and yell.. vote yes, vote often, ask your empoyers to do something they have never done.............TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THEMSELVES!!!!!


where did you ever hear that the company has to open its books?? only during a protracted strike and always by court order. some time during that 6-9 month period the hsp contract would be cancelled due to non compliance for failure to get the installs/upgrades done in a timely manner. and the work would be handed to the waiting MSP as long as its numbers were superior to the non performing HSP, and directv would have a legal OUT

remember one thing, directv gurantees no one any amount of work, they can give your HSP one job a day and abide by the contract

just some thoughts,,,,,ive been thru this, it isnt pretty
 
rajincajun said:
i have sat here and read some of the posts that look like the were written by the companies man, probably were,point is this,,,,,, the hsp owners don't give a rats ass about the welfare of the installer and their families. if they did they would not be cutting throats the way they are. the dtv mandate says new or like new damage free white vans, there is no mandate it be co owned. when we win our election the books for the office we work in will be opened for us to see just how much money they make off of us. we are not asking for more, just not less. hell i'm tired of paying for everyone elses luxuries while i do without and still work my ass off. as offices around the country stand up we can change the face off things. and yes there have been questions about the union, the employees are the union, we will do what's best for us, and no-one else. july 13 b&a will vote the CWA in, we can make ourselves heard nationwide if all stand and yell.. vote yes, vote often, ask your empoyers to do something they have never done.............TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THEMSELVES!!!!!

raincajunin,... with you on this one Bro, we shouldent have to pay our employers to work, or pay to improve company image or effecenty.
 
Chado said:
Dude that is one bitter monologue.... I guess you see the glass half empty??
Im only seeing what there is to see, a bunch of empty promises, and bs were supposed to eat up like mushrooms, just because some one says so. Show me, then I will belive. Ive heard too many empty promises, desinged to pacify.
 
kc8txw said:
There are many problems with CWA. I deal with the CWA allot. there biggest problem is they wont stand-up for the Employees its a company Union to allow them access to union only job sites. So before you look at them find out what you can and don't let the CWA push a contract on you, there best line is we have to help the company stay competitive, when the CWA companys are the losses paid people, with no benefits.

A "company" union??? What have you been smoking? If the CWA is a "company" union as you claim then why is our "company" hiring union busting lawyers and spreading all sorts of propaganda (even here) to try and persuade the employees to vote "no" on the union issue? The CWA isn't going to push a contract on us, "we" the employees (a elected group of workers from our office) will be the ones negotiating the contract. The CWA is not going to tell us what we do or do not have to accept. They will advise us, but they will not tell us what we have to do. The union isn't making a bunch of empty promises (unlike the company which has & is), they are only promising that with a union inplace that we will have th chance to negotiate for our wages & benefits. That's it, and frankly that is all we want, the chance to negotiatem not just accept whatever meger pitance the company wants to pay us. Trust me if you were facing a nearly 50% pay cut like I am, you'd be voting in favor of a union as well.
The company and their legal lackies are tell us that they know what is best for us workers, and that if we vote the union in the CWA is going to lead us around by the nose. The only ones trying to lead us around by anything is the company itself. The union didn't come looking for us, we went looking for the union.
 
Hey u-boat, Has corprate came down there with there coffee, orange juice, and donuts yet? How about the GPS, combo vcr-dvd, or digital cameras with docking station gidts as prizes yet? LOL there killin me with this stuff up here. Not to mention making me late for am appointments!
 
They gave us a listing of the union officials pay for 2003, But did not give us one for B&A. WTF is up with that??Im still waitin to see the man I actually work for after 3 1/2 years. you would think he would make an apperance instead of sending people that have to read off of a sheet of paper every meeting. to everyone who is anti union here, this company is going to hell and I just want a life preserver, not more money!!!
 
all is staged

all the rhetoric being passed is generated by the company attorneys, to be read by the charlie brown teachers in the meetings. of course we will spray water to rinse off the bravo sierra that spews from the company pie hole. uboat good to see u this past, i'll e-mail response, phat ur's in the snail. i agree, is he a real person or like carnival,,,,"management?"
if there was nothing to hide why do they hire baker&donelson tp protect them? yes baker is the howard baker, reagans pal, mr trickle down,,they took trickle to drop,drop,drop,drip drip....all that and all the money for the people who they think can't think without them doing it for them, guess asking for the truth was a threat to them,
 
Hey where is my DVD/VCR combo??? Does it come with fries and a large drink? They haven't started giving away those types of things here, yet. All we ever get are toners, cable wrenches or miner's lights. They used to give away a Lowe's & Home Depot giftcard (each worth $50) every month, but they opted last year to start drawing for more items, all small stuff. Seems like they are blatantly trying to bribe the techs by suddenly having drawings for big ticket items. What next are they going to have a drawing for HDTV big screen the day before the vote?

Can't you just feel all that love the company is putting out to the techs? Why today it brought a tear to my eye, oh I'm sorry that wasn't a tear, that was actually a gallon of sweat running down my forehead as I was working in an attic while it was 95 degrees outside (and trust me it was much, much hotter up in that attic than it was outside). All those "we care so much about you guys" corporate winnies need to spend a little time in a crawl space or an attic around midday. Some of them claim to have at one time been techs themselves, if so then maybe it's time for them to re-visit their roots and get down in the trenches with the grunts. All those years sitting in their air conditioned offices has made them soft.
 
admiral nimitz (u-boat commander)

have a great july 4 holiday.

now a question to you and the CWA.

where does your work come from? directv thru the CSG system, correct?!

your contract is with / will be with your company and the employees, correct??!!

so how if you company needs more money to survive after paying your union rates, and directv is paying a set max across the nation , do they get the money??

the company is in business to make a profit, your job means nothing other than output. the company has people who invested their money and want a return on that, if they hadn't done it you would not have a job.

and the idiot that was talking smack on trickle down, i've never seen a broke b#stard create a company and give people jobs. typical liberal demoKrat.

again, why do you think the MSP is in place?? why do you think they are all contractors? NO UNION POSSIBLE!!
 
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