Many AT&T Employees Working Without Contracts > Is It Really That Bad?

Is It Really That Bad?

reply to pnh102
Let's see what this really means. What are the benefits of working with a contract? Hmmm. I would have to say any knowledgeable person wouldn't enter into an agreement of doing work for someone without a contract.
If you were to enter into a work relationship with someone, say to paint their house, and the terms of the work are spelled out in a contract, then it protects both parties.
Small Claims courts are full of people bickering over details of work not done so on and so forth, but when a contract is produced it gives the judge some clear definition of the work relationship and hopefully a decision can me made, by using that legally binding agreement.

Working without a contract gives the workers protection from the old contract while the negotiations continue for the details of the new contract to be produced.

Would you prefer to have a non-union, fly by night tech, running through your house or business, or a unionized tech who has the peace of mind to take the time to do his job professionally and with the knowledge to perform his job, without the threat of being fired because he doesn't do 8 jobs in a day?
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tfrionli

reply to pnh102
That's quite a specialized field. Not like there are thousands of linear accelerator techs around to do your job for $10./hr and work with no benefits. I'm sure your benefits are sufficient for you to keep yourself and your family healthy. If not then maybe you should start a petition to form a union.
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tfrionli

reply to shoan
A 'contract' does not require you to be a union member.

A 'contract' is what gives you some assurance that you'll get paid at the end of the month, etc. It spells out details of how much notice your employer must give you if he no longer wants to employ you, etc.

I'm pretty certain you have an employment contract. I've never had a job where I didn't sign one.

reply to tfrionli
So because a tech is non-union he is fly by night. I don't think so, a union tech is no more qualified to perform his job than a non-union tech. Union workers may be good at taking their time, but it is not to do the job right. It's called laziness. Non-union techs are not any more pressure to get a certain amount of work done in a day then a union tech. If they can not do their job they need to look for another one. Being a member of a union does not make someone a better worker. All unions have done in years is protect lousy workers who need to be fired and pay them far more than they are worth.

reply to tfrionli
yeah I know I was just giving you crap hence the :P
I meant no ruffled feathers by it. I think unions are good in some places and bad in others. Personally I don't think they could get anyone in the country that does my job to think about tying their shoes for $10 /hr. I honestly hate that there are jobs out there that the employer had to have a union make them do the right thing. If employers would just do the right thing and pay what they should we would not have all these issues.

Sorry for all you techs out there having to stress over this, this morning.

sad panda is sad for you

reply to tfrionli
Yes, i would prefer a non unionized tech, they dont have those silly entitlement issues, I think its called personal resposibility. But then again, after the last town hall meeting i went to, And was called a racist by an SEIU member for asking a question as to why i would have to give up my private medical insurance, because i have durable medical equipment issued to me by my doctor.. and go on medicare, this SEIU guy, with the SEIU logo on his shirt screamed at me, told me to sit down and shut up, then called me a racist..

reply to Homer J
sad thing is when the tech came and installed uverse in my house he did everything he could to stop the install and get someone else to come and do it. What was so bad about my house was he had to drop one wire. And the sad thing was there was one pre pulled and he did not want to terminate it. The only reason the install got finished was that I the customer pulled the wire for him. He was truly a bad tech. But hey there is bad apples everywhere. Before anyone goes and says this was a complicated pull. It was in a finished attic and already had a hole drilled from where the cat 5 was running from the previous wireless internet in the house. Heck he could have even used that wire since it was leading to the box on the outside of the house. I had it mounted there to make it easy for a change over but this poor tech could not comprehend this concept of having the house already wired. He kept saying oh no we need to reschedule to wire this house.

Well I say a pox on that lazy tech lol

reply to dave

reply to angry mob
Not sure personal responsibilty is allowed in a union contract. The way the unions and media have treated people who are questioning this healthcare reform mess is reprehensible. The press is making the people out to be some kind of right wing extreme mob. It seems to be more that they don't want to answer the painful questions and get people there to stop these people from trying to get answers. Nobama wants to ram this through Congress before people realized what happened. If he gets what he wants we are all in trouble.

reply to Homer J
You know why your phone bill gets messed up? Because sales commissions make it lucrative to do so.

'Non-union techs are not any more pressure to get a certain amount of work done in a day then a union tech.'

How is, "If you don't get enough tasks a day done, you're put on notice. If you don't improve, you'll be penalized. If you keep getting penalized, you're fired" not pressure? The non-union tech can't push back and get some of the pressure off. The union tech has at least some outlet.

reply to angry mob

Wow being called a racist for asking a question about why you would have to give up your private medical insurance, sounds like it was a heated town hall meeting. I could see you having issues with unions after that nut screamed at you.
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tfrionli

reply to bogey780
It sounds more like the non-union tech is expected to work during the time that he is paid. If he can not do the job, then perhaps he needs to look for another one. A union tech can not do his job and he whines to the union that they are working him too hard and wants to do less work for the same money. That's real productive.

reply to shoan
So how do you know this tech wasn't a Union tech and not a non-union.

ATT has a good amount of union employees that don't do their job. They love to just say "oh we can't fix the problem" Blah blah blah. I had one in Fremont OH who refused to fix a card out in the crossconnect box down the street. Every time it would rain or snow i'd lose phone. He kept getting the ticket and said "oh there is nothing WE can do, if we fix it we'll just be back out later to replace it again". I asked if it that wasn't what he got PAID to do. He did NOT respond and went to fix the line. (several of my neighbors had the same problem as well DUE to Ameritech putting installing the Cross Connect box in a hole and the vent slots UPSIDE DOWN!)

I reported him to ATT never did see him after that time at my house or around town.

reply to bogey780
The Definition of a Sales Rep is TO SELL YOU products NOT to give you support.

If you don't like that I don't know what to tell you as far as Sales Reps. They get paid hourly as well along with that extra bonus for extra services. ALL COMPANIES DO IT!

reply to Homer J
Ok, so when a tech arrives at your house and you want a phone jack installed, tell him to do it as fast as humanly possible. Every tech would gladly do it that way if they could.

Believe it or not, doing things as fast as humanly possibly doesn't mean it's of high quality. That's like saying China makes the best products in the world because clearly work harder.

reply to hottboiinnc
'The Definition of a Sales Rep is TO SELL YOU products NOT to give you support.'

Yup, and just because you end up with a package that costs you more...well that's really your problem.

reply to pnh102
They had been working under the terms of the expired contract while negotiating...
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