No offence, but how on earth can you make such a crazy statement. Both CWA and IBEW members have been doing line work since the 1800's. CATV is the REALLY new kid on the block, and is the industry bringing down the average pay for line work.
Also, you can't excercise certain rights unless you are a certified a bargaining unit by the National Labor Relations Board. The most importanint right you dont get is the right to bargain in good faith. In other words, you can go out and hire lawyers. But unless you are a certified bargaining unit, the company is not required to recognize your existance. If you're certified, the law says they must bargain in good faith.
Also, lawyers are very expensive to deal with on a case by case basis. They also would requires at 30% of the award from a class action lawsuit. As a union member we would in house counsel at our disposal. But most labor law can be argued without lawyers. You argue a case before the NLRB without being a lawyer. Corporations know this which is why they often use people like Union Avoidance Counselors, or HR specialist instead of lawyers.
Using the SCTE and other organizations are defintely a good idea. But you must also remember that many of the companies we would be going up against, are part of these organizations. Some would argue that they actually own these organizations. You must also remember that using these organization to set rates of pay would more than likely be conidered anti-trust violations. Associations are not allowed to take part in activities that would "fix" rates in their industry.
You keep hacks out by making sure everyone is trained, and making sure companies are only allowed to discipline workers who incorrectly perform work they were actually trained on. You can not allow, for example, a Tech I member being disciplined for not correctly completing a Tech II job function. Companies would want to use a Tech I to do Tech II work, because using a Tech I would be cheaper for them.
Re: Unions? You have to care about each other...Ar
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