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Comments on news posted 2012-01-27 09:25:37: "It’s very hard to retire here," a Cablevision installer complained to the New York Times earlier this month. "You get hurt, you can’t work as hard and you disappear. ..

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Dodge
Premium Member
join:2002-11-27

2 recommendations

Dodge

Premium Member

Incoming price increase to all customers

in 3...2....1...

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 recommendation

FFH5

Premium Member

said by Dodge:

in 3...2....1...

No. Outsourcing to contractors will eliminate the Cablevision union jobs completely.

The union employees have only won a short term possible pay bump in trade for unemployment in the long term.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Where?

Is this only Brooklyn or will this effect all operations? Personally, I have never had a genuine CV tech come to my home here on Long Island. They have always been contractors.

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Heh

In a related note, CableVision decided to fire all its newly-unionized employees and replace them with contractors.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan

Premium Member

These employees will be sorry

There are few jobs easier to outsource than a tech or dispatcher.
tired_runner
Premium Member
join:2000-08-25
CT

1 recommendation

tired_runner to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

Cablevision already outsources service installers. I suppose they will now also outsource techs.

I mean when it comes right down to it, the job of a cable tech is menial at best, and I work in the IT industry.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

Not A Fan Of Unions, But...

Cablevision has only itself to blame. Truth is: Most people instinctively grasp that forming an adversarial organization within your employment space has serious downsides. Most people would prefer not to do it. So all an employer need do is treat its employees fairly and with respect, and they can usually keep the unions out.

Look to the foreign, particularly Asian, car companies doing manufacturing here in the U.S. Last I knew: Not a one of them was unionized. Much of that is because European and Asian companies treat their employees much better, on-average, than their U.S. counterparts.

Back in the day, when I was in a management position over people in a manufacturing environment, I treated my people as I would've expected to have been treated were I in their place. That doesn't mean I was a push-over. I demanded, and received, respect and performance. But I also made certain my people were treated fairly. End result was: When I resigned, to move on, my entire team wanted to go with me. Even a woman I'd reluctantly had to let go was anxious to come work for me again.

JRW2
R.I.P. Mom, Brian, Gary, Ziggy, Max.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-20
La La Land

JRW2 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

said by FFH5:

No. Outsourcing to contractors will eliminate the Cablevision union jobs completely.

Depending on how they write the contract, and if CV even goes to the bargaining table, they won't be able to do that..
majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Medford, NY

majortom1029 to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx

Re: Where?

Here also in huntington. I had to go through 2 contractors once before cablevision sent an actual cablevision employee. That employee knew right away it was an outside plant issue and had outside plant in within 10 minutes.
ShellMMG
join:2009-04-16
Grass Lake, MI

ShellMMG to jseymour

Member

to jseymour

Re: Not A Fan Of Unions, But...

From the link:

"The organizing effort began in October, with more than 70% of workers submitting union cards to the NLRB on Dec. 2, according to CWA. The vote was held on Jan. 26 at three different Cablevision garages in Brooklyn."

On the surface it appears this was a fair organizing effort, but it says that union cards "were submitted" rather than actually saying "X out of a total of Y workers voted to join." This is important.

Here in Michigan, the press reported that day care workers paid by the state Department of Human Services voted to unionize. What was NOT said was only 15% of the workers voted because they'd thrown out the stuff from the union because they (rightfully) thought it was junk mail. They are self-employed contractors, not state employees. So of that 15% that voted, most voted yes, which conscripted ALL of the workers into a new union, created just for them!

I'm not saying if these workers were right or not, but voting to form a union in the current employment environment is rather unwise. Unless, of course, you want to be like Michigan. We've been in a slump the longest, and we'll be the last to improve.

KeepCalling
@verizon.net

KeepCalling

Anon

180-86

180-86 was the final vote. WHOA! question is who's next with scores like that. It amazes me to watch the little guy attacking the little guy but a whore for the corporations. Keep waiting for the trickle down effect, now back to your regular schedule Fox News programming.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

sooner or later..

a cablevision line/housecall tech only earns about HALF (guessing) what a Verizon (union) worker who works with FTTP/FIOS makes. somtimes they are using their OWN equipment, tools and other resources to do the job which is why they on average earn half what a VZ tech would when you consider benefits, and other obligatory pay perks.

probably a majority of the service calls are done by tri-wire or another 3rd party contractor. unionizing does nothing more than anger the contract hirer which in turn can choose to lock-out the union (with very little recourse against Cablevision) and go with someone else because they are NOT directly hired by Cablevision.

what's going on is probably there are more 3rd party contractors doing less menial work like splitting nodes, troubleshooting nodes, installing fiber routes, and such which in theory should be compensated more the way Verizon workers are.. and maybe they do have a tiered paygrade but it's nowhere near what Verizon level-1 outside plant techs would get.

Brooklyn could quite probably be ground Zero of the broadband war between Cablevision & Verizon where Verizon recently accelerated FIOS build (and shut it down EVERYWHERE ELSE INCLUDING LONG ISLAND SUBURBS). Cablevision has a good chance of losing customers now that Verizon is deploying FIOS. The only backstop is that Verizon recently rai$ed rates.. Can you blame cablevision for wanting to upgrade on the cheap? Sure, if you're a 3rd party contract worker getting peanuts, but not if your a rate payer. You want 50/8 100/15 for as low as possible... maybe one day symmetric broadband. after simple upgrades, Cablevision could easily do 25/25, 35/35, 50/50 and so on upto the Docsis 3 spec'd upload limit. Will they? anyone's guess. Can't really talk smack on advertisements if you're not willing to back it up.. after having a historical rep of delivering 1/3rd the broadband 16/24 hours of the day. Customers will say show me the speedtest.. and throughput at various times of the day/night!

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

3 recommendations

KrK

Premium Member

First comes the abuse, then comes the Union

If you don't want employees to unionize, don't exploit them.
lijacobs
join:2010-07-30
Woodmere, NY

lijacobs

Member

Congradulations!

I'm very proud of my new brothers in Brooklyn. James Dolan has oppressed his hard working employees for too long. I hope that this win will inspire CV workers in their other operating areas.

CWA 1104 retired

Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC

Corehhi

Member

Time to short cablevision stock

I've been short selling any stock with a union for a long time now and it always works out well for me. Last stock was AMR, they went BK, GM they went BK and the list goes on. It's getting harder to find union dominated companies though.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned) to JRW2

Member

to JRW2

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

CV probably won't even go to the table. They'll say screw it. Lock out the Unions at that point, hire a new non-union staff- contractors and be done with it.
25139889

25139889 (banned)

Member

LOCK

OUT and contractors! That is what's going to happy. CV will start having lay offs now.
viperlmw
Premium Member
join:2005-01-25

viperlmw

Premium Member

Welcome!

Good luck!
richardak
join:2001-07-08
South Texas

richardak

Member

A cable installer expects to be able to RETIRE?

Seriously, how deluded are these people.

You expect to be able to retire and get some sort of retirement package for an entry level job?

JRW2
R.I.P. Mom, Brian, Gary, Ziggy, Max.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-20
La La Land

JRW2 to jseymour

Premium Member

to jseymour

Re: Not A Fan Of Unions, But...

said by jseymour:

Cablevision has only itself to blame.

True!

Look to the foreign, particularly Asian, car companies doing manufacturing here in the U.S. Last I knew: Not a one of them was unionized. Much of that is because European and Asian companies treat their employees much better, on-average, than their U.S. counterparts.

Proof that unions even benefit non-union employees...
JRW2

JRW2 to 25139889

Premium Member

to 25139889

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

said by 25139889:

CV probably won't even go to the table. They'll say screw it. Lock out the Unions at that point, hire a new non-union staff- contractors and be done with it.

While thay can do that, it won't be a cheap option because they could be fined by the NLRB...
qworster
join:2001-11-25
Bryn Mawr, PA

2 edits

3 recommendations

qworster

Member

Why are you all so anti worker (union)?

American workers are treated worse then any other first world country worker. We work longer hours, have less time off and generally work in more dangerous conditions. Many of us work weekends and on vacations - and our employers EXPECT us to!
A 40 day week? What a joke THAT is!

Unions try to keep the playing field level. Are they perfect? No, but they do make a difference. My father in law worked 30 years for Ford in Mahwah, NJ. He worked hard for Ford (assigned almost a dozen engine patents to them) and when they closed that plant he would have received almost NOTHING had the union not negotiated a settlement for him and the others affected. Thanks to them, he got to keep the small condo they owned and his wife has a modest pension and decent health insurance in her old age.

What's so bad about that?

factchecking
@myvzw.com

factchecking to jseymour

Anon

to jseymour

Re: Not A Fan Of Unions, But...

Ummm, check ur facts... Toyota, honda, and mitsubishi all have production lines here in the US, staffed by good ole UAW members... A quick check of www.uaw.org will confirm that for you.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr to JRW2

Premium Member

to JRW2

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

said by JRW2:

said by 25139889:

CV probably won't even go to the table. They'll say screw it. Lock out the Unions at that point, hire a new non-union staff- contractors and be done with it.

While thay can do that, it won't be a cheap option because they could be fined by the NLRB...

One big fine or a lifetime of getting bent over? hmmm

volntn
The Volunteer
Premium Member
join:2002-01-05
Cleveland, TN

volntn

Premium Member

GM

Give it a few years and the next headline will be "Cablevision files for bankruptcy"

Nonewillbe
@optonline.net

Nonewillbe to KeepCalling

Anon

to KeepCalling

Re: 180-86

Watch, no other shops will unionize when the Brooklyn techs realize they won't suddenly make more money than every other Cablevision employee and that they wind up with nothing more than they had before except now they pay union dues.

aannoonn
@optonline.net

aannoonn

Anon

Oh, no!

Dolan may have to get a smaller yacht!
aannoonn

aannoonn to qworster

Anon

to qworster

Re: Why are you all so anti worker (union)?

said by qworster:

Why are you all so anti worker (union)?

Because they're still living with mommy and daddy and don't have to get a real job yet.

JRW2
R.I.P. Mom, Brian, Gary, Ziggy, Max.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-20
La La Land

JRW2 to slckusr

Premium Member

to slckusr

Re: Incoming price increase to all customers

said by slckusr:

said by JRW2:

said by 25139889:

CV probably won't even go to the table. They'll say screw it. Lock out the Unions at that point, hire a new non-union staff- contractors and be done with it.

While thay can do that, it won't be a cheap option because they could be fined by the NLRB...

One big fine or a lifetime of getting bent over? hmmm

While some may consider it that, not everyone does..

Are you familiar with this company?
»www.usa.philips.com/

As far as I know, they have had two strikes in the last 40 years, one when the employees first organised, lasted several months, and once during the 80's, ended in three days, with the manager who let them strike being fired...

Why, the company made too much money off the workers to allow them to strike for even one day...
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 edit

tmc8080

Member

bets?

anyone wanna take bets this makes it to old media news @ 5pm?

update: nope-- didn't fit one of the cateGORies enough:
murder, rape, robbery, fire, political news, gentrification of NYC (also fits in the rape category), etc. this is why you don't bother to watch old media.. the agenda is relatively fixed..
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