I'm sorry but I should have clarified; I was speaking of Satellite and Cable. being typically Union unfriendly.
I am just asking to get some insight into where your coming from since you are obviously a strong believer of organized labor.
I am in a unique situation in that I work for cable MSOs that typically treat fulfillment companies very poorly while I am also in a partnership with a very strong local union (in order to perform some of the MSO work) that the MSO cannot treat poorly without suffering MUCH pain because they have such a tight grip on the labor market. I see how the Union can help labor (their members) while at the same time I see the problem they pose for the MSO in question.
Example: I get .xx per foot to pull fiber thru duct in the SE, a very non union area while in the union heavy area, the MSO must pay me x.xx per foot for the same task. I am pretty pragmatic overall so I am not advocating or denigrating Unions; they are what they are.
The result is that the MSOs in the SE have more money to funnel towards things like plant upgrades and new build. The MSO has more money to maintain and extend it's network thus serving (theoretically) their subscribers in a better fashion. The MSOs in the NE have to pay SUBSTANCIALLY more for the services rendered by even non-union affiliated companies because the "fair market value" of services provided is dramatically skewed in the NE by the influences of the unions. This means that the MSO operating in the NE can expect to pay sometimes several hundred percent more for the same work I do in the SE. This additional cost is of course distributed somewhere, be it a curtailed construction or maintenance budget or a higher bill to the end user. The balloon can only be squeezed so many ways.
I'm more in agreement with another poster I saw: fairly treated, well compensated techs will not entertain a union. A poorly run office with obvious and blatant favoritism and unfairly treated staff is begging to be unionized. One caveat; some areas are too union dominated to have a choice. In those markets, business owners need to sit down and honestly evaluate how they will deal with the unions in that area and decide if it is a feasible or desirable proposition for them. That's what I did.
Re: Time to get out of DirecTV
Member #: 39651
Registered: 8/1/2005
Posted:
260
Name:
Patrick Chung
Name:
Patrick Chung
Company:
Hybrid Networks, Inc.
Occupation:
EVP
Location:
NC-MD-NJ
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