It would take effort & solidarity.
For guys who work in the telecom side of the business, it would take less effort than those who work on the CATV, & DBS sides.
One way to do things on the telecom side of the house, is to get a good percentage of the guys to sign cards and join a union. They wouldn't have a contract initially. But it would show that the guys are serious. What this could lead to, is having the union in house workers who have contracts, bargain contracts that create a minimum/prevailing wage for work done by contractors working in their plant. Example would be Verizon workers negotating a $30/hr minimum/prevailing wage for line work perfored on Verizon properties. They could also bargain that only union contractors who employ the newly formed union (us) can be used. But the only way this counld ever be considered is if WE first organize and become union members ourselves.
For CATV & Sat guys, things would be a bit more difficult. Mainly becuase there is not as uch of an existing union presence there. This means things would have to be done at a local level, 1 area at a time. WHich doesnt make it harder, but it would be a much longer process. At the local level, guys we need to sign up. They would then need to work to eliminate the companies who are doing illegal things like misclassifyig guys, not paying OT on piece woek, etc....... The ultimate goal would be to organize and be able to deal directly with the primes, or in some cases,the actual service providers. In the DBS world, in some markets DTV & DISH are their own primes/HSP. The biggest thing guys would have to do is say NO to middle men companies. IF the middle man companies cant find bodys that effect trickles to the primes.
I have nothing against middle men companies. But they are not needed in this industry. When you can't pay if you dont get paid, you are nothing more than obstacle that needs to be removed from the equation.
Re: What Will Take To Create A Union For Techs
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