When I hear talk of "we need a union", I feel as though someone is talking about using a salve to cure hives on an AIDS patient. Sure, it can make the hives go away, but it won't get rid of the underlying problem.
There are simply too many uneducated people in our line of work. I don't just mean those that are hopelessly incapable of understanding circular polarity, but even people with poor business sense. This goes right up the chain to people who think that a union is a solution for a contractor. We have people in this business who will never be able to run a successful business model. A union will not be able to help them any more than a warning label on a hairdryer keeps idiots from frying themselves in the tub.
To make progress in our line of work, the idiots have to leave. Fortunately, occupational Darwinism is helping us in this matter. These idiots don't know well enough to research past experiences of other contractors prior to signing on with a rip-off company. The chronic ripping off of these idiots moves them to another occupation where overcooked french fries are the only bane to their existence. Another thing that culls the herd is the financial ruin they eventually encounter when they realize that the "great rate" they are getting has only achieved them four lates on their house payment and a truck with 8,000 mile old oil.
The downside to all this is that stupidity spreads faster than SARS in a Chinese hospital. The over-abundance of idiots who will work cheap because they don't know better is rapidly displacing those of us who would rather hang up the tool belt than work for $10 secondary receivers. Hanging up the belt is something that we are doing. At least a third of us are working out our exit strategies already and plan to be gone within a year's time. Oh well, at least idiots have lots of friends to fill the void.
Ultimately, I see no concern from Rupe, Charlie, or any of the other players for that matter. I'm not saying they should be concerned for our well-being, but that they should be concerned for the well-being of their image. With the state of our industry right now, that image is a dish with a cable stuck in through a window that can't hold a signal during a light drizzle. The image is also a 23-day wait time for installation and 7 days to fix the "searching for sat" message that wouldn't have happened in the first place if some of the old hats were still wearing the tool belt. If I was Rupe, I would be firing everyone responsible for anything greater than a 3 day turn-around on installations. That includes the guy who decided a $10 secondary was a good idea.
A while back, someone asked why anyone would consider going in-house. To that, I say, have you seen the contract rates floating around out here? If not for the extra 20 hours of straight-time, many of these contractors wouldn't be any better off financially than the in-house guys.
A union is like a rubber patch on that annoying leak in the side of the Titanic at this point. That's a fitting metaphor as the rats in our industry are even beginning to jump ship.
Re: A union, is it time
Member #: 40846
Registered: 9/19/2005
Posted:
1493
Name:
Duane Vick
Name:
Duane Vick
Company:
Self-Employed
Occupation:
Installer
Location:
Phoenix AZ
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