"And I certainly couldn't live on the wages they are quoting."
If you look hookman, wages quoted are from 1996. The lineman,splicers and co tecs around here are all near the top of pay scale which ranges from $28 to $32 an hour. If you consider the other benefits of pension,401k, free health insurance, company provided tools, vehicle and gas it makes it even more.
Here the telephone workers are represented by IBEW (Verizon Northwest) and CWA (Qwest), and I think I could eek by on what they are getting.
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