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SBC CWA Strike Imminent
Tmack writes "SBC union workers are preparing (again) to strike after negotiations have broken down between CWA and SBC. What this means to the average person? As long as the strike is taking place, orders for new service and repair of existing services with SBC will be delayed as only non-union workers and temps will be around to complete the work. Latest word is the strike is now planned for Friday night through next Tuesday. Check here(1),
here(2), and here(3)
for more info."
looks like one of the major bargaining issues is outsourcing. This is from an interview w/ one of the union members "We recently made 10 test calls to DSL technical support. One went to Florida, one went to Texas and eight went to India," Rosen said. "We would rather see these jobs go to people in Indianapolis than people in India.". Kinda sucks for them.
NOT A TROLL
Nice that you as a "manager" have time to read slashdot. No wonder jobs are being outsourced left and right... Oh wait, yes, you're a "manager" so your job is pretty safe.
For the moment...
My company may send me down there to fill in on the critical stuff if they don't reach an agreement. I hope to hell that they do cuz i would bet the picketers are packin... :P
I was an Ameritech manager in 1995 when the CWA was threatening a strike. It was pretty funny when my manager told me my strike-duty location and I replied that I wouldn't cross a picket line. The concept was so foreign to him, it was as though he couldn't understand the English language. In the end the CWA didn't strike so we didn't get to find out what would have happened next.
Best decision I ever made, leaving that job.
From the piece of the pie or we stick you dept. Thanks Timothy, we know where your sentiments lie, clearly in the camp of the ruling class, not the workers. I can't wait for all the 'unions ar teh suck!' posts.
Unions brought us child labor laws, eight hour days, overtime pay, the weekend, paid vacations, etc. You think the bosses just gave us all that? Hardly. People fought and died for those benefits and protections, and even if you aren't in a union, rest assured that unions and the threat of unions has made your job better.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
As a Brit who lives in America, there are some curious differences between European (or British anyway) and American unions. American unions seem only to be strong in a few selected industries, where British unionization is more widespread. However, where the unions are strong in the US they have a hold like the old pre-Thatcher British unions. Lots of silly rules to protect the members at all costs. If your company does a trade show in a unionized hall you are not allowed to carry anything in and out, you have to wait 2 hours for a union guy to come off his break and carry it for you.
I live in Chicago, and as far as I know, this will affect millions of people from here to Texas. It should at least get an honorable mention for that. Most strikes I hear in the news seem to be about things /.ers don't really care for (not as much as technology) -- you know, mass transit, newspapers, mass transportation... umm... air traffic control (thanks, Reagan. :-( ). Since these are telecom workers, they would be one of the closest parallels to you average everyday software developer unionizing.
There are plenty differences, which I'm sure are to be pointed out in various child posts, but hey, it made front page for some reason.
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
...announcing a strike at the same time Cingular and AT&T are announcing approval of a merger. The "cost" of the merger is tied to the value of the stock. The value of the stock drops, and Cingular loses. The union is blackmailing the company into settling fast and sweet by timing their announcement to knock the stock prices down at a critical time.
If SBC has the gonadal substructure, they'll reply with "Well, with all these AT&T people coming on board, we'll be way over staffed, and we'll have to start cutting some jobs..."
Hey, I'm against both sides. I just enjoy a good corporate bloodbath. Movies are getting too expensive, news is free.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Workers are hired because they create wealth for a company - if they didn't they wouldn't be hired. Since expenses are not wealth created by workers, but rather the material they are adding wealth to, the wealth creation done by a worker goes to one of two places - the workers who created the wealth in the form of a wage, or the owners in the form of a profit. A union, an organized workforce, is a means of leverage for the workers to keep more of the wealth that they created. It's quite odd to hear that an organization whose purpose is to keep more of the wealth that the people working to create it is the "lazy" organization, while the other side, full of idle class heirs like Paris Hilton who've never worked a day in their life are not painted by that brush, but rather they and their sycophants try to paint the workers with that brush. These idle class heir parasites wouldn't know work if it hit them over the head.
> I mean, honestly. Having no technicians to fix things will mean what exactly?
Dan beat me to this one, so I'll second his opinion. The only thing I can't figure out is who's left in the union. Techs, what techs? All they seem to have telemarketers and sales droids. Any technical issues are Your Problem.Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
not having unions also means that your employer can forbid you from talking to your coworkers about how much money you make. Then your boss tells everyone that they're the highest employee in their department, resulting in no one ever getting a raise. It also means that you are essentially at the mercy of your employer regarding overtime, and basically makes it impassable to negotiate contract terms (after all they can just find someone else.) Unions put the workers on the same footing as their employers.
You may be better at your job than the idiot in the next cube, but seniority policies actually protect workers. They help prevent the company from hiring someone into a higher level position based on their (supposed) experience. There's nothing worse than having your new supervisor hired from outside, finding out that his qualifications are b.s. and then being stuck with him until his contract runs out.
Hiring all employees at the same wage, and then giving them regular promotions and raises, prevents elitism in the rank and file.
Unions by being able to negotiate with authority protect workers, provide protection, and create a sense of brother-ship instead of competition.
--this has been my pro union party line. I've worked in union and non union environments and I must say that I much prefer union.
Well art is art isn't it, but then again water is water; and east is east; and west is west; and if you take cranberries
How few people here know who SBC is, I mean they are only in 13 states but still, SBC is one of the larget telecom companies in the US.
There are some particularly interesting things to note about this strike (for the record I am one of the replacement workers set to go in to work when they go on strike, alongside alot of out of town SBC managers and some retired SBC workers).
First off, the original strike deadline was set for the 7th of May, for some stupid reason the CWA decided to work through the deadline even though next to NO concessions were made by SBC, thus weakening their position.
Second, as if it didnt seem dumb before, this isnt the first time the CWA tried this tactic, they previously did the same thing at Verizon last year, not suprisingly they ended up getting squeezed on most issues, including a ~$1 billion healthcare package.
Third, the strike is, if you can believe this, a 4 day only strike....to quote a CWA spokesperson "this will show SBC how seriously we are taking this issue."....right....so, to show how serious you are, you worked through one deadline....set another, and then openly told them it would last no more than 4 days....thats serious folks.
Also for what its worth the same spokesperson said the move was only 4 days because they dont want to inflict permanent damage to SBC's business, however at the same time they are mobilizing a carrier switch campaign aimed at persuading SBC's business customers to switch over to AT&T (who does business in 11 of SBC's 13 operating states).
Personally I think the CWA workers have a D@MN good job, and even with the increases laid out in this plan have some excellent healthcare plans....however I feel bad for them because it appears their negotiators have their heads firmly implanted in their rectums.
I honestly wish I could get by without taking this job because while I disagree with the unions I dont neccisarily like the idea of being a replacement worker, but apparently unbeknownst to the CWA workers, the economy sucks and IT jobs are about as scarce as it gets. But either way, as long as I make enough money to keep a roof over my head and they get enough of their demands met, I guess its a win/win.
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
The SBC workers in the CWA who are threatening to strike are being rediculous if you ask me. Their big sticking point is that they do not feel that they should have to pay a copay on medical visits. These workers all get FREE healthcare (NOTHING is deducted from their checks) and are complaining because the company wants to raise their copay to $20 for the next 2 years, then 25 for 2 more, and then $30... But again.. they pay nothing but copays.
SBC non-union employees pay about $500 a month out of their checks and already have a $20 copay.
These guys have cushy jobs... What other job can you stretch 4 jobs out over the course of a day, sit in your truck and read the paper for 4 hoursm and then collect overtime to boot?
I'm not an SBC employee, but i know that as a VP @ a NYC brokerage firm, I pay $450 monthly for medical (that doesnt even include dental) and have a $20 copay.. And i actually have to work for a living.
These guys need to come back to reality and stay at work. If it were upto me I'd fire all of the ungrateful bastages, and give the jobs to those who are out of a job. People whine about the economy, but it cant be that bad if these guys are crying about a $5 raise in their copay
Just my $0.02
SBC is also the company that employeed Scott Adams (author of Dilbert).
There is a lot of push in SBC to cut costs without any real understanding of what they are doing. They pay more to move old sparcs than they would if the just junked them and boucht new. They mandate flying policys for "cost savings" that cost 2 to 3 times more than taking a regular direct flight.
They will ship a reem of paper UPS across the country rather than let us buy local because volumn purchasing "saves money"
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An SBC employee posting anonymously so I don't get fired.
No, no.
I miss the name, not the service. I'm fine with the service upgrades, but there was something kind of pleasant about the name Michigan Bell.
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
It is not the technician's place to decide what service level a customer is to be offered - that's a policy issue. The only decision they have to make is are they willing to deliver that service or do they have some objection great enough to cause them to part ways with the company....
Thanks for this. Just yesterday I had final words with a subcontractor. I watched him dick around in a cherry picker for almost an hour looking for the "right" place to mount an aerial. Then he came down and said he wanted to have a custom mount made. His arguement was he wanted to do the best job he could. I had to lay down the law on this - when I have fixed install costs and scheduled delivery times, I can't have a bespoke installation done. There are a dozen variables involved in delivering telecoms service and there are tolerances everywhere. In order to keep a company alive, they need to be taken advantage of to a reasonable extent.
Today was my last day as a 411 operator with SBC. Starting a new job next week. Yay, me.
Anyways, SBC is fucking cheap. They make mad profit every year, but they can't afford a single water cooler for our little 90 person office on the shoreline in Connecticut. They want you plugged in and taking calls on time, but the clocks go unfixed. It feels like a fucking casino. A simple bit of routine maintenance. I'm surprised the mens bathroom light got fixed today.
Good employees that make a company as profitable as it is, should not be treated like disposable trash.
BytesTemplar.com
Having unions also means your wasting your time doing anything more than the bare minimum. It doesn't matter how hard you work, how good you are you will not get a single thing more than if you were on the edge of getting fired. The policies remove incentive for personal improvment and personal achievment. I get my raises because my boss looks at me and thinks that he needs to do something so I don't think about leaving.
The purpose of language is communication, If the idea is clear the grammar ain't important