Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

@5bcb. I agree with you. The OP was attempting to encourage craft/hold the U's feet to the fire about contracting out jobs. I simply noted that not only should we be aware of layoffs due to contracting out work but also layoffs due to shuffling work amongst work groups, and I wasn't really getting into the business "logic" behind it since the OP didn't.

After DEG receives the three day cable repair class DEG will be required to dispatch and clear defective pairs in aerial, buried and underground. They can learn like everyone else. OJT it.

They would rather contract work out to avoid repeats and msoc

Not my management team and I’m sure none of the DEG techs were happy, but nothing really they nor the union can do about it. AT&T manages the business as they see fit and the CWA/IBEW represent the bulk of the L0 labor work force under contractual agreements with the company. I’m in agreement over the maintenance of the local exchange infrastructure, but it will eventually meet the same fate as all other obsolete technologies so I can’t fault the company too much for not wanting to invest heavily in infrastructure that will meet its demise sooner rather than later. I’m also not ignorant to the underlying theme of it’s not a great use of resources to have competent and highly experienced plant maintenance technicians (cable splicing techs, services technicians, facility technicians, whatever title performs the work in any given region, etc...) in bucket trucks going out and installing new broadband service everyday instead of maintaining access infrastructure, but the fact is that the installation of those services generates tremendous revenue and due to the current union contracts, AT&T does not have a low cost labor solution to get them installed quickly and efficiently so they flex the workforce on hand to get it done however they can. Not trying to irritate you or anyone else on this thread, just simply providing facts about current business operations.

@4won:. I'm yet to meet a DEG tech who is glad to have their work given to another department (or any other tech for that matter, perhaps you can give some examples of people who gladly gave away work). So, yes, your management team may have made the decision and the union didn't fight it, but the techs wouldn't be for it. Also ironic that management wets itself over the expense of testability but don't want to spend a dime to fix the cables that are generating the trouble reports.

Sorry, should have used past tense. DEG is now in Field Ops-Business as of 1/1/2020. Just wanted to clarify.

@3ime+13JJh8LQ...The DEG downsizing was a long time coming. That department is just a shell of what it was 15 years ago as most work functions for the techs have transitioned much more toward expense/maintenance instead of capital build. And you’re still wrong about MLT. Nobody “stole” it from DEG. C&E (Yes, DEG is part of C&E in Tech Ops) made a high level decision to just stop working on it to reduce expense labor so they could focus on other things. With MLT dispatches being suppressed, no one was making sure testability was working properly on carrier systems, which caused POTS dispatches to increase dramatically across all regions. AFO had to step in and pick up the work just to keep from hemorrhaging expense dollars associated with the additional dispatches enterprise wide. Don’t believe me, contact DEG or C&E staff support and they’ll tell you the same.

@3ime+13JJh8LQ...what I'm talking about is that management of orgs with not much work appear to have been "bidding"(@$$ ki$$in) to take work from another group and bring it into their org so their techs will have more to do. One quick example: MLT testability going from DEG to SSIM, followed by DEG layoffs. I'm not saying that's a good thing at all. It creates a situation where the person with work gets surplussed because his work was given away. True, businesses have to run efficiently no doubt, I'm just saying that the "stealing" of work can result in the wrong person getting the pink slip. And you are correct about the CO with all DI tickets passed up as TOK/NTF for the last 25 years along with the contractor invasions placing equipment and wiring have been the biggest contributing factor of lowering their headcount. Workshare, although relatively new, is directly taking work from CO techs. Will it cause further CO tech layoffs? We'll see.

Thats a real good question, there are hundreds of contractors in Atlanta.

@2kxc+13JJh8LQ..”Lowest Bidder Auction”???? What the heck are you talking about dude?? So you want work to be performed less efficiently to maintain or increase headcount? You want as little flexibility as possible between job titles and functions to keep already over the top labor rates higher than any of our competitors? You don’t want 1 competent tech to troubleshoot the CO, install the circuit and CPE, you would prefer 3?? LOL bud...T is a business my friend, not a charity. And BTW, the workshare trial in the CO has absolutely nothing to do with dwindling headcount in that organization. You can thank all the CO folks at L0/L1/L2 for closing all trouble tickets to NTF/TOK/CC for the past 20 years and the millions of dollars spent developing and deploying automation in the core network.

@2yfi....once again, grab you some reading comprehension skills please. The original post was about the U giving craft work away to contractors (which is true and not good). My comment pointed out that not only is craft work being given away to contractors but also from one craft group to another. My comment was made with no personal inflection either way. On point 1 of your first reply you are clueless if you don't understand that all work from the serving terminal in is ST work. On point 2 you agreed with me. On point 3 you are dead wrong if you think these surplussed DEG folks appreciate losing work to SSIM(or contractors). The SYS Techs aren't too pumped about SSIM taking their router installs(and the SSIM folks aren't too happy about losing their T1 dispatches to cable repair either). On point 4, just like 1, you are clueless or in denial if you can't see how much work has been taken away from CO techs over the years.
Since you seem so interested, I'll give you my take on it. I am never in favor of contracting out any work. Shifting work from one group to another is no big deal when we all have work, but when managers who are scrounging for work to keep their headcounts stable can create a "lowest bidder auction" it can spiral out of control. On e management group says: "Give us ________'s work. Our department can do______'s work quicker/faster/cheaper than they are doing it now.". ....and this scenario can repeat itself over and over. The problem with shifting the work is it ends up costing someone their job and usually it's the wrong person. CO techs are the perfect example. There is plenty of CO work, but only a fraction of it is actually being done by CO techs. Between contractors and work share, the number of CO techs on payroll has dwindled.

Bonded pair installs will be given to DEG as per agreement with CWA and management. Ladders are on order now, remove bridge tap on your order. Please avoid all dog poo before entering customers house. Please complete within 3 hour window, call manager every 59 minutes, no helper tickets. That is all

: @2awz+13JJh8LQ....You are obviously upset about something. You posted some silly comments with no supporting info and I simply filled in the blanks with FACTUAL information.

@1ifwe:

1. Wire Tech- Service Tech. We hit a little stretch there for about 100 years or so when ALL work from the serving terminal in was performed by a Service Tech(Installer & Repairman back in the day,and possibly some other job titles depending upon your area). The Wire Tech/Prem Tech titles didn't exist, and when they came into existence, they began doing work that should have been performed by Service Techs. I know it's a sore subject for some folks but true.
2. ST- Cable Repair. Nice of you to agree with me on this one. I don't really see the need to read a job brief for something we agree on.
3. SSIM - DEG - SYSTEM TECH. Once again, you are on fire, oh master of the obvious, it is spelled SLC and pronounced slick. You may want to talk to some of the DEG folks who were surplussed and had to relocate before you claim that it was "unilaterally" abandoned. I'm sure some of them would love to have kept all of their work they can(including RT equipment placement, battery work, etc). With Systems Tech and SSIM, as usual, you are spot on(I see a trend here) with some exclusive knowledge of their pay scale, family of skills, and organizational info. I'm not really sure what it is that you suggest I "get over".
4. CO. The CO techs nowadays basically just place plugs and run jumpers, except for the ones being run by ST/FT/WT via the "work share"program(workshare: that's French for "taking work away from CO techs). When is the last time you saw a CO tech install a piece of equipment (not a plug) or run cabling (not a jumper)? Correct, that work has been contracted out for several decades now by Lucent, Mastec, Blue Stream, etc.

You seem to have failed to make any valid argumentative response or examples to my post, which by the way, in my post, I neither gave my opinion up or down. I simply gave examples of work being given away not only from craft to contractors but from one craft position to another as well.

In my area, “specials”or “business services” is doing all the abfs work. Total gravy work, didn’t take long to learn. We also work out of the normal att footprint, so lots of windshield time. At least management doesn’t kick to contractors in my area.

@1edf
“DEG will be required to dispatch and clear defective pairs in aerial, buried and underground“

We know that won’t happen. Very few DEG Techs know the basics to locate defective pairs in a section let alone clear the trouble. Those troubles will be kicked to Maintenance or Construction Splicers.

union was ,has been infiltrated by lazy arse workers and leaders? that have no values of what makes America Great. Time to take back America at its root with morals and discipline.

DEG is ordering ladders and will be installing residential bonded pair and gpon. If an SLA is put in the pool DEG will be required to dispatch and clear defective pairs in aerial, buried and underground.

“Wire tech doing service tech work, service tech doing cable work, linemen doing splicing work, specials doing slick & systems tech work, everybody & their brother doing CO work.....contractors doing locates, construction placement, RT & CO equipment....the list goes on...
about 11 hours ago by Anonymous | 5 reactions (+5/-0)
Post ID: @1ulu+13JJh8LQ”

1. Wire Tech doing Service Tech work: can you provide examples of where WT’s are working beyond their SOW in the current bargaining agreement or are you just running at the mouth??
2. Service Techs doing Cable Work: Yep, ST’s and OPT’s took on that responsibility 2 contracts ago when they went to 31 wage scale (Everything except underground and fiber splicing). Check the current CWA job brief for both titles for more details.
3. Specials doing “slick” and systems tech work: It’s actually “SLC” (subscriber loop carrier) and yes, Specials techs have been performing MLT maintenance on SLC systems since early 2019. FOB took on this expense work because The zero maintenance of MLT drove up maintenance dispatches in TFS by the thousands. C&E unilaterally abandoned it in late 2017 early 2018 as a strategic business decision to focus on capital fiber buildout so it was up for grabs. As far as Systems tech work, Specials and ABFS techs are at the same pay scale and in the same family of skills in all regions in the same department and both jobs have the exact same testing requirements. Get over it.
4. Everybody and there brother doing CO work: Who’s everybody and what “CO Work” are you referring to? AFO core techs in some regions are only performing wiring and are not going beyond the protect frame. Specials techs in 3 specific states are performing CO maintenance work on DS1/DS3/ASE in “unmanned” offices as part of a workshare trial.

To me seems like the union ought to start mobilizing not just when contract is up BUT show a active appearance in between. At least look like your fighting to save our jobs and not just when contracts have expired. Jobs are lost in between those expiration dates. Come on union do your job! Actually fight with action not just words.

The union dolts.....allowed “daily loans”....even tho that’s not in the contract. That would be a “detail”! So yes titles now mean absolutely NOTHING!

Our chief steward comes in and asks “what are you guys hearing”....lol! Clueless .....completely clueless.

Wire tech doing service tech work, service tech doing cable work, linemen doing splicing work, specials doing slick & systems tech work, everybody & their brother doing CO work.....contractors doing locates, construction placement, RT & CO equipment....the list goes on...

Head down, mouth shut, and keep sending them their check every month.

IBEW president is a “MECHANIC” for gods sake people. Do you really think this guy has anything but self preservation in mind. I have never in my career ever heard of so many union represented technicians having to hire their OWN LEGAL COUNSEL to fight for lost wage, jobs and day to day issues that should be done by their union. But again it is not a real union, it is just another arm of old AT&T to squeeze more rights and money out if the pockets of the people that work.

Who gave away the locates and the buried drops in the Midwest?? IBEW 21!!

Looking at how well paid the workers are and for them to have such a bad attitude, the union has done a great job keep so many jobs.

The union and the company have an agreement, and have for years, that the company can run the business as it sees fit. The union has always negotiated protections for current workers, however if it id so deemed that contracted work is needed, that's OK. Oh and most of the work contracted is capital, and most employee's work on expense.

Basically the Company has evolved and the Union hasn't. Don't expect Union Leaders who have a High Scholl education at best to take on Harvard trained Company. While thier efforts are heroic they are simply out matched. The Union has been out smarted at every turn and loses ground every contract while the Company has Billions in Profits. It's up to the Members to support new thinking with highly educated Union officials. " Fists Up!"

Part of the problem , at least in my abfs crew, is that we have more work than techs. Company won’t hire new techs or even let others transfer over. They instead just say “oh you don’t have the bandwidth to accept the work , no problem , we’ll contract it out.” They’re all too eager to sub it out. We can’t accept the work if we are already overloaded with work. Our crew is already putting in unsafe OT hours. The company knows what its doing. At the end of the day, the union can’t force the company to do anything.

You reap what you sow and you kind of touched on it there OP. Since the Union got its tentacles into the Mobility side, you have seen a steady erosion of work that bargained for, with proper training, could have easily done. The hard fact is that there were too many lazy bargained for folks unwilling to take any initiative to learn something new, or God forbid crack open a book and take some initiative. As a result, that work was farmed out to vendors and contractors more than willing to take it on. I don’t mean this as an overall blanket statement for every single bargained for tech, but there were certainly many, especially those with seniority, that fit that profile.

Too late..the union has been compromised for YEARS! Enjoy the last of what the previous working class generation has fought for because it's over. The top Union officers are just milking it and are going to golden parachute out just like the top officers of the company. #FACTS