As some of you know, I have worked Union and Non-Union. And also have a broken foot and can't drive so I have a lot of free time until September 15th. I started off non union and hated unions because I didn't understand them and grew up in a republican household. Finally snapped after being screwed over by a shitty company and went and joined the union, I passed the journeyman's test and was given top rate right from the start, though most guys will get 1-2nd year rate with experience.
Our union was very well organized, I really liked the safety and brotherhood and how we ALWAYS had someone ready to go to bat for us, from the shop steward to business manager to the lawyers and even other locals. We all stood together, a guy gets hurt and we all put $20-50 in a hat for him, 3500 guys put up. You have a voice and it's hard for a company to screw you over. I never once was out of work because I know wtf I'm doing, work my ass off and can do my job well.
If you work in-house for a company, it's a great, great thing to be involved in. The local hall meetings, community involvement like marching in local parades, having political connections, access to union discounts, police and fire social clubs, solidarity with other unions, benefits, retirement packages, pension, etc way override the costs of membership.
It was a great thing for me, being paid overtime for anything over 8hrs, getting paid OT on sat/sun. The benefits were awesome, $4 per hour went my annuity, $100 per every 2000 hrs towards my weekly pension, full med, dental, eye plans with almost no copay for entire family, death benefits, vacation fund that would be like $2500-4000 every Christmas.
Every guy on the crew is on the same page, making the same rate unless they were a foreman, the shop would give you $1-10 per hour more if you were a good worker and they wanted to keep you. Foreman's/1st class make $3 over rate standard, if you had certs and training +$3, it was a great place to work.
As an employer it's nice because you don't need to pay for basic's like CPR/BLS, OSHA 30, yearly pole climbing certs, apprentice training, etc. but the bonding and hourly rates are always high. While union construction lineman are paid hourly, alot are also paid footage in addition. It does give guys incentive to put up cable/power. But for the most part you get someone who is trained in their job, don't have to spend money hiring, can choose from a pool of guys and don't have guys complain about their job.
Some companies are good to work for otherwise. PECO was non union for 110+ years because they were a great company. They didn't spend tons of money union busting because the workers were happy. They had a good job, benefits, etc. Exelon bought them out in 2000 and within 5 years almost all of them unionized. I will never push unionizing on anyone that doesn't want/need it but there are a lot of good reasons on both side of the coin.http://www.ibew.org/articles/03journal/030708/p2.htm
There will probably never be much unionizing in cable because it's so easy to get a pool of contractors who will do a job for nothing. The MSO would fire all the in-house techs if they tried. In-house guys in general get the worst of it, starting at $12hr, working bs hours, getting fired for making $20hr, yeah there is benefits but they don't add up to much.
http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/case_study_in_union_busting_comcast_abuses_show_weakness_in_labor_law
Unions were formed to protect the worker from the employer. Before the IBEW, in some areas 1 in 2 linemen died on the job, that's just crazy. 50% death rate with little pay, 12hrs a day, 6-7 days a week. Unions helped form this country every single one of us has benefited from it..
http://www.ibew.org/IBEW/history/other/brotherhood.htm
Just my 2 cents
If I were a factory employee, a workman on the railroads or a wage-earner of any sort, I would undoubtedly join the union of my trade. If I disapproved of its policy, I would join in order to fight that policy; if the union leaders were dishonest, I would join in order to put them out. I believe in the union and I believe that all men who are benefited by the union are morally bound to help to the extent of their power in the common interests advanced by the union. - Theodore Roosevelt
The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press. Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike. Strikes have been labor's weapon of progress in the century of our industrial civilization. Where the strike has been abolished … labor is reduced to a state of medieval peonage, the standard of living lowered, the nation falls to subsistence level.
George Seldes, Freedom of the Press, 1935
Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.
President John F. Kennedy, 1962
The AFL-CIO has done more good for more people than any (other) group in America in its legislative efforts. It doesn't just try to do something about wages and hours for its own people. No group in the country works harder in the interests of everyone.
President Lyndon Johnson, 1965
If a man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar!
President Abraham Lincoln
Unions And Cable TV
Member #: 20347
Registered: 1996-2001
Posted:
113
Name:
Bull
Occupation:
Overhead Linemen
Location:
Easement
Personal:
early 40s
Experience:
~27 years
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