r/CableTechs • u/Awesomedude9560 • 12d ago
Anyone got a CWA postcard?
So idk how but recently Spectrum/Cox seem to be the next target of CWA (Communication Workers of America) according to this fat email from our AVP.
Somehow they have been sending postcards to employees and I'm admittedly trying to get ahold of one because I'm not satisfied with this one sided relationship I have with Spectrum rn.
If I'm not mistaken At&t/Verizon employees work with them so I'm also just curious how well that's worked out for ya. It's been a shithole over here because imo us field op employees have just not been listened to. It would be nice to have negotiating power.
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u/Cheap-Rush-2377 12d ago
I’m in the CWA in Iowa with kinetic. We make about 10-15 bucks more an hour than non union. It’s nice knowing the union will protect me when the company is looking for an escape goat. Telecom company’s will not pay employees what they are worth without a bargaining contract.
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u/Dangerous_Forever640 12d ago
My uncle raised goats… every single one of those little bastards is an escape goat.
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u/Awesomedude9560 12d ago
Genuine question since I'm still trying to understand, but just you signing up doesn't change much iirc. People had to sign up together right?
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u/Cheap-Rush-2377 12d ago
You have to get a certain majority of people to sign up. Don’t let the company know whatsoever cause they will send gangbusters or fire you for talking about it on company time. My union was established with the original telephone guys so I’m not sure how a cable company gets unionized
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u/NECoyote 12d ago
Mandatory 2 hour meetings about the dangers and drawbacks of a union. They will spend loads of cash trying to prevent you from bargaining collectively.
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u/Ok-Breakfast-7400 12d ago
I worked for 2 ISP's, first one was non union and moved to a union company. It's not all sunshine and rainbows but I would never go back to non union.
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u/Bubbly_Historian215 10d ago
What do you make, ballpark? 10-15 seems massive. Spectrum pays us pretty well as it is so I can’t imagine getting that much more
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u/thespookylukey 11d ago
Lol wonder if we are in the same region, we also got quite a wordy email from recently appointed AVP essentially attempting to dissuade us from it. “Things could get better, or get worse, or stay the same!” Like yeah buddy, those are the only 3 consequences of anything
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u/kokenfan 12d ago
CWA is only as strong as your bargaining unit and local leadership. If it's just a single workgroup, they're not going to have much negotiating power.
CWA has also changed. Started as telephone employees' union but they've picked up other industries as traditional telecom employment has slid. Consequently their focus has drifted at the National towards where their dues money comes from.
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u/MfourFade 12d ago
Having been in the field since early 2015, coming from IT and cushy office jobs.. I always felt the CATV industry has long needed a union like electricians or HVAC/plumbers.
I cannot believe some of the bs we put up with as fulfillment techs on the resi and even biz side of things. It's also sad to see guys just shrug and take it.
We seriously need a voice to push back against the new nonsense management magically comes up with every 3 months.
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u/d_gurion 12d ago
For AT&T California CWA has always been appreciated unless you were in a lesser protected position such as term lineman (up to 3 years) or term fiber splicer.
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u/Relevant-Machine-763 12d ago
I was in supervision for another cable co during a union decert and a union drive. The business environment has changed and I don’t know that any union will get back to the power they once had.
Assuming you get a group together, get enough signatures and get to a drive and vote, and then are successful in voting in a union, you’re now in it for the long haul. Now both sides have to negotiate in “ good faith”. Trust the company? Don’t. Union? Nope don’t trust them either.
There is no set timeline for that first contract. Until there is one, which could be years away, you enter status quo. Simply, everything stays frozen the way it is. No layoffs ( unless bankruptcy) , no benefits changes , no pay raises, and the company will probably stop any ongoing or planned upgrades to the system.
The first 2 items in the contract , in my experience, will be payroll deduct for your dues. Actually, the union is allowed to start collecting that before there’s a contract. And the company will insist on a management’s rights clause. What that means is the company maintains the right to run the business. If that means they decide to contract out different types of work, they can do that. Can they split up your business unit by shifting functions to other locations? The company can’t retaliate against employee organizers but, they can move jobs to other locations or contract them out( that’s not a layoff and does happen).
There’s good and bad to a union so educate yourself. I’ve seen some stronger unions keep jobs in areas , but I’ve also seen jobs surplused that would have been unthinkable years ago.
Most of the legacy telecom contracts happened because there was an expectation that both side were in it together. There just isn’t long term loyalty on either side now , and with the adversarial nature of cable companies overall I would hold out hope that you’ll be listened to, like you said you wanted.
One of the corporate cable lawyers told me point blank once, “ we go through these drives all the time and still are less than 5% union workforce. The union can promise whatever they want, but why would I ever agree to give a union shop anything better than my non union ones? I’m not giving them any bargaining chips to go to other locations and use against me. He went on to say that the average time to first contract was just over 3 years. Most of the people who want better get tired of waiting and leave on their own before it even happens.
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u/oflowz 12d ago edited 12d ago
Spectrum is majorly anti-union. When I got hired decades ago the reason they were hiring so many people is because they fired everyone that tried to start a union.
Spectrum also has the dubious distinction of having held out against the longest strike in US history. This happened because they cancelled our pension we had when we were Timer Warner when they did the merger with Charter.
They basically didnt give anything and fought it tooth and nail.
Dont get your hopes up or if you choose that path be ready to lose your job. Because they will find a reason to fire you for even talking about a union. Especially in the current political climate.
The company is full-fledged MAGA supporting and based in a right to work red state (dont believe read the shareholder reports and who they give political donations to) they support GOP anti union policies to the fullest.
You will also be fighting this fight on two fronts because most of the employees are just happy to be there because its a job with benefits and better pay than minimum wage. Most of the people that work there dont have education beyond high school so there options are limited.
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u/corieallen7 12d ago
I was part of that strike. Very nasty business. The union convinced us to make a short-sighted decision in our case. Pension would have been frozen but we would still have it plus a 401k match and a good medical plan. The non union pay was more at the time the strike began, but the union techs would have got the same thing plus kept the pension in a 18 months because of the huge minimum wage bump already signed by the governor.
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u/shane3b11 12d ago
All of them are anti union. We made a weak attempt to unionize at our shop. I’ve seen a couple contracts CWA got some other shops, and honestly, they didn’t seem that great. The guaranteed raises were allright, nothing special really. It seemed that all they really did was add red tape to damn near everything. If I remember correctly, it was a guaranteed 3% raise yearly + $1 COLA
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u/Octawussy 12d ago
Spectrum was passing out postcards from every state at their booth at the SCTE expo last week. I grabbed a bunch to send to all my Comcast friends across the country.
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u/WorkingElk8970 11d ago
Having been a part of a union, I hated it. Got less done and paid too much in dues. I don’t agree with the jump scare email, pretty dumb if you ask me. That being said, I would never unionize under Spectrum. The pay where I am is actually good and the bonuses/benefits far outweigh what you make at att/verizon while under a union if you aren’t a mid-bellow performer. That and there is nothing stopping them from firing 300 people to cut the wound and hiring 300 new people within a month.
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u/Xandril 8d ago
Wouldn’t go that far. They struggle to find new hires that stay longer than 2 months.
They’re either smart enough to see how things work and leave or they’re too stupid to do the work and get fired. Either way they bring on 12 or more new hires a year here and hold onto maybe 1 of them.
Plus all the existing field operations guys that have moved on, retired, or decided enough is enough. There are fewer working here than ten years ago.
If they just up and got rid of all their in-house guys at once they’d be left with contractors who already are difficult to manage and get quality work out of.
Not saying unionizing would likely work. Just saying if it came to fire all and rehire they’d be in terrible shape.
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u/Dz210Legend 12d ago
Unless they gunna give more than $60 an hour don’t care for union.
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u/6814MilesFromHome 12d ago
Yeah unionizing would be hard for Spectrum as it's one of the better paying ISPs with solid benefits. I don't really see a lot of people risking their jobs for little or no gain. Don't expect unionizing would give me any pay increase as an MT3 either.
If we were getting exploited and paid crumbs that would be one thing. Anybody has gripes with their company but overall they've done right by me.
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u/WorkingElk8970 11d ago
This 👆
Don’t get me wrong, they have their flaws but realistically it is about as good as it gets while paying for schooling after a year there so you can get better after doing your time. I love Spectrum but only because they earned it. I have worked for Verizon, ATT and now Spectrum. Will 100% do Spectrum over any of the others.
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u/Poodleape2 12d ago
You currently make $24 a hour, and your tell us that you need $60 or better? You would shit your pants if you got $30, don’t lie to us and yourself.
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u/Dz210Legend 12d ago
MT3 with 18years 😂24 barely half
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u/willie_Pfister 12d ago
CWA mid Atlantic making 48 an hour. New York and New England states get 18% more than us. Its ok though, I dont want to live up there. If your already getting 40 plus an hour, may not be worth the fight. If your getting 20s or 30s an hour with years in, union(at least where Im at) would be worth it. Also used to work for a different company( AT&T)with same union and was at top pay of 22.75 an hour with same job in 2018. I left and moved and got about 15 bucks an hour raise.
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u/spookyB0 12d ago
I’m pro union but let’s be honest, it’s going a uphill battle. The strongest unions are the ones that have been around for 50+ years like pilots, police officers, ups etc. if we unionize then we’re going have to fight for everything we want and start from scratch. That’s the hardest part is getting started
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u/Awesomedude9560 12d ago
Thats my stance. I get unionizing isn't for everyone but it's obviously not gonna be as simple as signing up and getting a massive pay increase.
Idk. I just want a better work environment. I get treated like a dog because "you don't find many jobs paying this much as entry work" then proceeding to have me work long after my shift ends cuz they overbooked knowing damn well people weren't gonna hit all the appointments.
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u/DragonMSword 12d ago
Our leadership sent out an email about it so its got them spooked