Altec - Your logic may be correct, but you forget that the "management" of this industry does not understand logic. My original comment was not a foresight into the entire effect on the industry, it was simply a point about the immediate effect on the worker. In the end, that is all that most employees care about - how is going to affect me?? Employees/contractors will not be able to fix the industry. In a bubble, your theory is correct. However, if my employee is only making $300 per week (even on a slow week), I might as well shut my doors. I calculate all my costs before I begin any project, so I know what I need to pay my crews BEFORE I agree to any prices. Lots of new "primes" don't even do this. They don't even know what their operational costs are on a day-to-day basis. Therefore they sign the low-balled contracts (just to get in the door) and then think either the prices will go up somehow or they'll find a way to overbill and then let their subcontractors take the hit on backcharges. As a sub, I make sure to QC and document so that I rarely eat backcharges. I also make sure to contract with only "legitimate" primes - the ones who can pay you BEFORE they get paid by the MSO. All primes are NOT equal. Some of them suck but the writing is usually on the wall - if you look. Lots of newer primes have low-balled on quotes, purposely in many cases. Then the MSOs think they can get the work done - they don't care if the work is sh_t or not. Upper managements at the MSOs are only lining their pockets - they could care less about the quality of work and/or who they issue the work to. If that was the case, Mastec would have been out of business a long time ago....
This is CABL.com posting #219941. Tiny Link: cabl.co/m5nB
