CABL Forum - Re: Time to get out of DirecTV

Yes as much space as is being used to discuss unions there should be a special area for it.
True many contractors should be considered employees and not contractors but until their status is changed they are contractors and as such are not eligible to be unionized under a union such as the CWA. So while they may have an opinion it is irrelevant to this discussion. Besides that I am mainly referring to contractors as those who have the contracts be they a single individual (or a partnered pair of installers) or a small company (with a few installers subcontracting through them).
Many of the people who argue the hardest against unionizing are those managers (either of HSP's or small business contractors who are affraid their employees may want to vote a union in. Most of them claim to treat their workers well but as I have said many times a well treated employee has no need nor will actively seek out a union. That being the case if they are indeed treating their workers well then what do these people have to fear?
People who wish to post their opinions on this subject should be up front about who or what they are so their opinions can be viewed and accessed with the proper value. For instance, an HSP tech's opinion in my mind would carry much more weight than that of an HSP manager (whose opinion was dictated to him/her by their supervisor which makes it virtually worthless).
When one of our HSP's offices was preparing for a union vote the company made all the employees, company wide, watch an anti-union video. They also handed and mailed out anti-union pamplets. The union passed out some pmplets as well. So, they both had their say in this discussion, but where the union was willing to step back and let the techs discuss the matter amongst themselves, the company worked as hard as they could to cut the lines of communication between the techs. Suddenly they were refusing to give out tech phone lists (vital when you need a piece of equipment and can't drive 90 miles to the warehouse to get it) and they were scheduling equipment pickups so there would be very few techs together in the same place at the same time.
I could go on and on, but the point is the opinion of the managers and contractors is pretty much already known, they are mostly against unionization of the installers. That noted now lets get on to hearing who is or is not in favor of a union from the installers (any installer who is considered an employee, not an independant contractor).

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Re: Time to get out of DirecTV