union link for installers not tryin to start trouble

[rajincajun]

are u really that stupid

i got your broke bastard, i more than likely own much more stuff than you, however that is not the point. i'll ask you just wtf you do at the company that is billable to anyone other than the company? are you really that short that you cringe at anyone actually standing up for themselves?you must squat too huh, voted for bush,,dumbass, you for saying it ,me for doing it, by the way when was the last military battle you took part in? people like yourself who can only be yes men are what is wrong with things now. we understand profit, we also understand dead weight that does nothing and gets paid, at least we can justify our hard work, can you?remember always with the words you speak,,,as you sow, so shall you reap


the more you TAKE the LESS you become

 

[Tobie]

Help!!!! being set up??? Is there such a thing as special cable for a business connection??? Was told by super to tell customer he would need to reschedule under a business connection, and would require special cable to do the job.

 

[Tobie]

Help!!!! being set up??? Is there such a thing as special cable for a business connection??? Was told by super to tell customer he would need to reschedule under a business connection, and would require special cable to do the job.

Ya, God dam f**ker. Its ok, I expect Im gonna be gettin alot of thhis kind of sh*t. Pissed off the boss, by letting him know how it is instead of what he wanted it to be. Tried to write me up for some bull sh*t, till I asked for proof, disagreed and refused to sign,Then he looked up the facts and found my ass to be covered. Sence then, been strugleing to keep my ass against the wall, boss gots a big hard on for me.

 

[uboatcmdr]

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!!

I could resort to using incorrect satirical variations of your handle (user ID) such as you are attempting to do, but why? It is not only sophomoric and childish, but just plain unwarranted and a waste of my time.

Once AGAIN you have not read what has been written over & over AGAIN. We are not asking for more money, and nor is the CWA asking for more money on our behalf. Your just spouting standard company anti-union propaganda and you know it. Just from the wording of your posts I'd almost be willing to bet you are really a B&A corporate winnie posing as a MSP owner/tech.

If the company is moving along just fine now then why can they not continue to pay the rates as they have? They are not cutting our pay based on any cuts Directv is imposing on them, if they were they would certainly let us know that that was the case and lay the blame on Directv.

My fellow techs and I want the company to make a profit, if they do well so should we. But what we don't want is for them to decide they want more profit and then have them to take it from the tech's pockets.

Let me ask you this, today I do a 3 outlet install in 3 hours and I make $110 for it, that technically makes my labor worth $36.66 per hour, what suddenly makes my work worth only $13 and hour tomorrow (making only $39 total for the same job)? Answer= a greedy company who doesn't give a rat's behind about it's workers or their families who depend on that income.

As for the MSP's, if they are set up to handle the installs for retailers then why is it that Best Buy (one of the larger retailers for Directv) installs are now being done mainly by the HSP in our area??? Also, why have the HSP's been doing all the installs at Super Wal-marts (for their Directv demo & sales displays)? Not only that, the local HSP does all the installs that are sold through the area Wal-marts. So, what does D* need with the MSP's if the HSP are doing the majority of the work? The MSP's installs that I have run across are really shoddy and not up to D*'s standards and D* knows this, that is why they are sorry they ever started the MSP program and are planning on phasing it out quickly.

Bottom line is this what does it matter to you if the HSP's go union, if you are really a MSP? Based on your own theorizing that the MSP's are in place to take over if the HSP's go union, I'd think you'd be in favor of the union what with all the business it would supposedly bring you when the union forced the workers to strike and shut down the HSP's. Also if you are an MSP, a contractor who couldn't possibly go union then why are you even involved in this thread? Not being eligible for unionizing pretty much mutes any opinion you might have on the subject, doesn't it? Now if you want to come out of the closet and own up to being the B&A corporate mouthpiece I suspect you truly are, then your opinions should rightfully be heard and I will gladly yield the soapbox to you so you can have your say.

 

[belawrence]

You also have to look at the risks involved in our jobs. We spend countless hours every year crawling under houses & trailers, running across every kind of critter & bug you can imagine, not to mention crawling through dirt, mud, mold and only God knows what else. I have had more rashes, bug and spider bites on my body than I care to relate. We also spend a lot of time in attics, walking on ceiling joists where one missed step and you'll find yourself back on the ground floor in a hurry. And after rubbing against any insulation it seems like the itching will never stop. We constantly have to climb ladders, walk on steep roofs and do so in all kinds of weather

Sounds exactly like my job as an alarm technician. And we're unionized where i'm employed.

 

[sateck01]

u-boat,

as a trained and certified directv tech and a former hsp employee, i feel just fine posting here. been doing this 5.5 years.

as far a being a corporate mouth,,,,i dont even know what b&a stands for. they must be one of the smaller hsps.
as far as shoddy work, that is everywhere, as is outstanding work.

btw, 3 hours for a 3 ird job?, no wonder you prefer to quote in hourly wage. you sure as hell aint gonna make it in piece work/bonus plans.

im going to pm you something, take a look at it , you may need it later in your struggle.

 

[rajincajun]

msp what

damn dude you talking about msp likes it is the save all,,i have a copy and have read the msp contract from p-10,,,what a joke that is,,,question, as an msp how can you survive with all the infra-structure as an hsp by getting paid 80 for a install, that's right 80. prices set by p10 and dsi, not d*..i know this would be asking a lot from someone like you satech,,THINK,,,with your own mind and not let them tell you what to think, do some research on one of the msp "masterminds" woody and see how he ties in to the hsp owners who control half of the hsp's.also you will see ,if you so chose, that b&a is one of the largest, hell they are all together and watching the plan to fail msp program and are circling waiting for feeding time it is easy to find, i'll even point you cablesux. , don't be afraid..it's only truth


THE MORE YOU TAKE,THE LESS YOU BECOME

 

[uboatcmdr]

u-boat,

as a trained and certified directv tech and a former hsp employee, i feel just fine posting here. been doing this 5.5 years.

as far a being a corporate mouth,,,,i dont even know what b&a stands for. they must be one of the smaller hsps.
as far as shoddy work, that is everywhere, as is outstanding work.

btw, 3 hours for a 3 ird job?, no wonder you prefer to quote in hourly wage. you sure as hell aint gonna make it in piece work/bonus plans.

im going to pm you something, take a look at it , you may need it later in your struggle.

B&A stands for Bruister & Associates. They most definately are not "one of the smaller hsps". There are a total of twelve HSP's in the United States, of those twelve B&A either directly or indirectly (under a varity of names) has ownership in six of them (see now why they don't want the employees getting a look at their books?). If you were an HSP employee anywhere in the east then you most likely were employed by one of B&A's companies.

3 hours for a 3 ird job, is a round figure I threw out. The CSG system actually allots 4 hours to do a 3 ird install. They have a figure on the CSG workorders that when multiplied by 15 (¼ hour incriments) gives you the number of minutes the job should be alloted. As a tech of 5.5 years you know that not every 3 ird install takes the same amount of time.

Your correct, shoddy work is everywhere. Our HSP has lead techs that inspect the techs work and makes corrections where needed either through retraining or by terminating the tech. I don't think the local MSP ever goes out and inspects. None of our techs that had worked for that company in the past has ever heard of them inspecting jobs either. From what I have seen of their work it is a real wonder they are even in business. I have been on a number of service calls where they have left the customers house without completely installing and activating the system. When I had Voom installed at my house earlier this year, the local MSP was the one handling that install. I had pre-wired everything and even put up a mast. All that was needed was for the tech to place a dish on the mast, align it, put the ird in place and activate it. It took three reschedules and just over two hours for the tech to do that little bit of work.

 

[kbohip]

Why is UPS not having these problems. They offer tons of benefits and very very high pay among many other things. With all that said they no doubt make a profit quarter after quarter while their S&H rates aren't any higher than FedEx and USPS and they quite often partner with say Amazon for free shipping and such. I think I read an article about Amazon customers can pre-order the new Harry Potter book and they would get it shipped for free on the day of its release. I ended up having to buy three of them so I don't have to deal with the stores and have the kids yelling nonstop at me.

I'm just sick of hearing that prices would be passed on to customers and the company won't make profits and so on and so forth. Every decent sized company that has a union in place today is doing very well. I just wish people would actually do some research instead of always posting what they believe to be true but isn't.

I don't know where you're getting the rates at Longhorn but UPS is a ripoff compared to FedEx Ground. They also have an uncanny ability to break and lose packages, at least in my experience with them.

I would have to say UPS was a better company before they unionized, at least for the customer anyway. Their prices increased shortly after they unionized and have increased ever since. Now part of this increase is due to the fact that fuel went up, but nonetheless FedEx Ground is MUCH cheaper still.

I no longer use UPS for anything unless I absolutely have to. FedEx Ground is a much better and cheaper alternative.

 

[sateck01]

Help!!!! being set up??? Is there such a thing as special cable for a business connection??? Was told by super to tell customer he would need to reschedule under a business connection, and would require special cable to do the job.

it is called PLENUM cable. in case of a fire it doesnt smoke or burn. when we wired the blockbusters with the directv kiosks we HAD to use it.

 

[newsattec]

If B&A is as big a player in D* as it seems, that would explain all the management-type drivel posted on this thread. The techs are talking sense and management is feeding us the standard anti-union bull. All the real techs on this site should consider just how powerful any company like B&A probably is and carefully decide if representation is needed to improve working conditions. I'm taking the nay-sayers comments with a grain of salt.
BTW, the BellSouth workers I have talked to in the field are satisfied/pleased with the CWA.

 

[phatnuts]

SATECH01 Bonuspay?? WTF is that Ive worked here for over 3 years and have never seen a bonus check.I thought my bonus was actually getting paid for all I do, or what B&A makes me do.
Please explain this bonus pay.And by the way how come B&A will tell us all that the CWA stuff about official's pay scale and not one time about B&A officials pay?? And besides hourly pay that is below 27$ is a rip-off Why should I work all week for less than I can make in a day or 2? Im sorry if herbs yacht payment is due, he should spend his money more wisely.What about all the techs and thier families that are going to go bankrupt because of this ridiculous pay cut?? Why sont you give up 25 grand like you want the rest of us to do?? One more thing-every bellsouth employee I have talked to has said nothing but good things about CWA, I even talked to a retired bell south manager and he did not have anything bad to say about CWA? Whats up with that? The office I work out of runs on the good-ol-boy system if you aint in your just trash, at least thats how my local office is run. seniority doesnt meen sh*t to you people, never has. B&A has lied to us from day 1 and we are supposed to believe you/them now?? DONT THINK SO!!!

 

[sateck01]

phat nuts,

will answer later, taking the boys to the fireworks. but dude, if you dont know what piece work and bonus rates are. b&a must be the ONLY HSP not paying that way!!! maybe you should get a union. as bad as ironwood is , they pay bonus.

 

[uboatcmdr]

phat nuts,

will answer later, taking the boys to the fireworks. but dude, if you dont know what piece work and bonus rates are. b&a must be the ONLY HSP not paying that way!!! maybe you should get a union. as bad as ironwood is , they pay bonus.

I don't know whether or not some of B&A's other HSP holdings pay bonuses to techs. They very well may, but in B&A itself they do not. The B&A office managers and lead techs have been promised bonuses for quite some time. But B&A has attached "terms" to whether or not those bonus payments are actually made. It seems that B&A more often than not, finds a way to weasle out of paying those bonuses. But even when they do make bonus payments the techs get nothing extra. Oh there have been occassions were the office manager gave a tech a flashlight, a coax locator/toner or ratchet wrench because a customer took the time to call in and say how happy they were with the tech, but if they want to consider that as a bonus they can keep their trinkets (what do they think we are some primative savages who have an island to trade for a few strands of glass beads?).
We currently get paid by the job based on how many IRD's we install. But unlike contractors, we don't get paid extra for pole mounts, phonelines, wire burial, attic or crawl space work. We usually do get a few dollars more (a lot of contractors only $50 per install $15 per extra IRD, we get $60/$25). A lot of contractors have to pay for thier own wire & small parts, we do not. We don't have it bad now, but once B&A goes to hourly pay the nearly 50% paycut will bankrupt a number of the techs. As I have said before, IF I took three hours to do a three outlet install I would be making $36.66 per hour for a total of $110, under B&A's new pay rates I would make $13 per hour for a total of $39. Same work, same worker, same amount of time, but a difference of $71. What makes me worth less tomorrow than I am today? Nothing, except my employer's greed.

 

[phatnuts]

nicely put uboatcmdr.

 

[phatnuts]

isnt ironwood comm a company that used to be apex digital?

 

[uboatcmdr]

If B&A is as big a player in D* as it seems, that would explain all the management-type drivel posted on this thread. The techs are talking sense and management is feeding us the standard anti-union bull. All the real techs on this site should consider just how powerful any company like B&A probably is and carefully decide if representation is needed to improve working conditions. I'm taking the nay-sayers comments with a grain of salt.
BTW, the BellSouth workers I have talked to in the field are satisfied/pleased with the CWA.

I did a ton of installs for Bellsouth employees last year and they were all surprised that we were not a union company. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but then again you never think of such things until you really need them.

The motivation behind all the changes B&A is making started last year when D* stopped sending out signal to the P3 cards. At that time the bottom fell out and we got flooded with more work than we were staffed to handle. Our office only had about 17-20 full time techs. After the rush started they brought the tech staff up to 60. We now are back down to 45-50. But B&A saw how much the techs were making during that busy time and decided they wanted a bigger chunk of what was coming in, hence the planned changes from per install pay to hourly pay. B&A may tell a different story, (different is right) problem with their story is that it is different every time they tell it. In one sentence they say D* is mandating these changes, then in another they say they have looked at other HSP's who have tried hourly rates and they (B&A) have decided to try this for themselves. They have also said that D* is demanding a phone be installed with every IRD, strange how D*'s own CSR's will tell the customers that phonelines are only absolutely necessary for Tivo installations. Could the reason B&A is saying the phoneline MUST be installed with every IRD is because they (B&A) are getting paid extra by D* for them? Possible. Also is B&A adding fleet vehicles so the company will have some REAL assets to show? A bunch of phones and old computers in their call center are not real assets, but a sh*tload of equipped worktrucks are. And is B&A cutting pay to boost profits so they can show a potential buyer how much the company is worth if a possible sale is in the works? Could be, a very profitable company whose payroll is basically the same every week is much easier to market and sell than one whose payroll fluctuate a great deal (anyone who knows anything about the installation business and getting paid by the install knows your pay can fluctuate a great deal from week to week). Bottom line is this, if the company cares so much for the workers and are looking out for them as they claim in the anti-union garbage they are distributing to the employees, then why are they so afraid the employees might find out how much the company wheels make, or how much the company gets for our work. I know we would be fighting amongst ourselves for work if their was no company to organize the work, but the people in the head office wouldn't have a nice air conditioned office, big cushy chair or a polished mahogany desk to rest their feet upon if it were for us grunts down in the trenches sweating our collective asses off everyday including today, the 4th of f*cking JULY, a holiday I should have been spending with my family, gathered around the barbeque instead of crawling around under some nasty ass trailer out in B.F.E. (Bum F*ck Egypt)!
Sorry, had to rant a little.

 

[sateck01]

isnt ironwood comm a company that used to be apex digital?

no

ironwood history:
excalibur cable holdings, an hsp in 7 states and rtk communications out of jersey merged with 3 western companies to form VIASOURCE, at the time the largest HSP in the country. they did an ipo and raised 44 million dollars, it was GONE in one year!!!!! ironwood is the us division of connect 180 out of canada , which bought viasource for pennies on the dollar.that is when i quit, the place was going to hell. no ground blocks or ground wire. no split bolts and limited work. we used to have to write on the w/o "no ground due to lack of eq" :shocked

apex i do believe was bought out by halstead. the hsp in the carolinas, which made sense as apex was based in tenn.

BTW connect 180 is a privately held canadian company , owned by one family, think adelphia !

i do hear that B&A, from sources on other sites, is in trouble, financially and with directv. true or not? dont know! this guy is a vp and trainer for one of the competing HSPS in your area. that sir, is why the pay cut may be looming.
and if that is the reason, union representation wont help a damn.
i do feel for you guys, i made a hard decision 3 years ago, leaving viasource. it worked for me, for you , i have no idea.

good luck

 

[uboatcmdr]

no

ironwood history:
excalibur cable holdings, an hsp in 7 states and rtk communications out of jersey merged with 3 western companies to form VIASOURCE, at the time the largest HSP in the country. they did an ipo and raised 44 million dollars, it was GONE in one year!!!!! ironwood is the us division of connect 180 out of canada , which bought viasource for pennies on the dollar.that is when i quit, the place was going to hell. no ground blocks or ground wire. no split bolts and limited work. we used to have to write on the w/o "no ground due to lack of eq" :shocked

apex i do believe was bought out by halstead. the hsp in the carolinas, which made sense as apex was based in tenn.

BTW connect 180 is a privately held canadian company , owned by one family, think adelphia !

i do hear that B&A, from sources on other sites, is in trouble, financially and with directv. true or not? dont know! this guy is a vp and trainer for one of the competing HSPS in your area. that sir, is why the pay cut may be looming.
and if that is the reason, union representation wont help a damn.
i do feel for you guys, i made a hard decision 3 years ago, leaving viasource. it worked for me, for you , i have no idea.

good luck

I doubt B&A is in any sort of financial trouble. They relocated a number of their offices/warehouses within the past 6 months to larger long vacant facilities in industrial or manufacturing parks. Judging by the size of the places they moved to they are planning on some growth, either that or they did so to impress any potential buyers. Besides if they were in financial straights there again they would let us know they were doing poorly and use that as one of their excuses for cutting the pay (this company has no shame). You'd have to work for B&A to really understand what I am saying. And if the money for pay wasn't there where did the money for the high priced lawyers they are using to fight the union come from? I'm not saying that the depth of their pockets are bottomless, but they are not anywhere close to shallow and empty either.

 

[phatnuts]

Bruister & Associates is the most incompetant company I have ever worked for in my life. Yesterday I called the office and let the phone ring for a total of 6 minutes with no answer so I figured I was not routed for the 5th, so I took my family out to watch the fireworks and got home around 1:30 am. Woke up this mourning and called the office to see if I was routed and guess what? I was infact routed not just a coup[le of small jobs either so now I have a full route with 1 job that I have to do because of a field trainer, LOL, that really screwed up a service call. So I have to go out on minimal sleep to deal with all these customers. My office has put techs in these type of positions ,lead tech, field trainer, and so on not by seniority or qualifications but because the techs were the boss's ass kissers. One instance is we had a dispatcher that was married to a tech, the tech made her quit so the boss put that tech in a field trainer position to make up for the money he was losing by having his wife quit-while she was working he had the best jobs because his wife would pick his route. yes I'm pissed off and I think I have the right to be after being passed up for both positions 2 times for lesser qualified people. This company WILL HAVE A UNION IN PLACE. There is no getting around it and if they close there doors good, another company will come in and take over so I am not worried. to hell with Bruister & Ass.