We are busy to the bone in Iowa,signing customers up daily.They are also hiring customer service technicians left and right.We really don't see any problems here.I don't know why people say it's so bad because it isn't here.I think Windstream will survive and it's a great job with great pay.
23 replies (most recent on top)
Oh dear Iowa. You must be to isolated to see the truth or its an executive claiming to be in Iowa. Windsteam doesn't care about you either.
Yay. Union employees got a raise. The rest of got 0. But go Iowa
Wow sorry to hear that from Kentucky.May God bless him and his family.Nothing is ever worth taking your life over or taking one's life over.
Well things are going horrible in KY, we had a longtime local manager commit suicide in the parking lot today. I am polishing up my resume.
Wow 1vov , that was quite the rant. You pretty much summed everything up. May I add the only reason WS is hiring CST's now is to upgrade the footprint so we can tell our future buyer the 75% of our base can have 25 meg or more as part of project Lunar. Still in the stone age for speeds - this place can't compete agains cable providers. A serious company would upgrade the plant with fiber & ditch the old copper like Verizon is doing. So for the record these new hires are short term employees and are only here for project Lunar- at the end of the massive upgrade some will stay to replace retiring techs and others will get the boot. The New book to read on stream then will be ' how to successfully sell a failing company '
I guess you don't read financial news. Not only is our stock low (which I disagree with you as a decent indicator of a companies health) but, our credit rating has taking another hit and was lowered. Most areas are not doing well. Most areas are not hiring and have hiring freezes. I think windstream is already eyeing the end... Just wait until there is another buyout or merger.. sh-- changes and telecom is sh--.
Ah yes, the union raise. Congrats.....the rest of us get squat.
You received a $2.36 raise because you're in the "underpaid" program which should have been explained to you a couple of years ago. You're being brought up to standard. If you are too blind to see the status of the company as a whole then I can't help you. If all that matter is your little bubble then good for you. You'll get hit with reality eventually like so many others have. I'm still here as well, but I can see what's happening. You're either a corporate kiss butt or you're truly hiding in your safe space.
💯💯💯💯💯
Hang in here with me on this one but someone needs to help get things straight around here.
The going might be good right now as far as workload is concerned. But what about when the local markets become saturated with the lastest and greatest products WS has to offer. Do you really think the workload will be there to support the amount of new hires in 5 yrs. I mean look at our original dsl. Once everyone that wanted it (or afford it) had it, we were right back to not replacing techs when they left or layoffs. Plus, an increase in workload (bonded orders) doesn't do or say anything about how WS still neglects the cable and basic maintenace required to run a decent phone company.
They are kicking the new hires out on their own as soon as they can read a HST3000 and do a basic modem install. You can't properly do a CST job without first knowing how to properly work POTS. But nobody cares anymore....."hey, modem trained and pulled an ip, we done...on to the next". I've watched new hires jump out with theit HST's and never go to the NID or put a butt set on a pair. I would put money down that 99% of new hires wouldn't even know how to use a tripplett.
Those of us who actually care about the customers, and will go out of our way to do whatever we can for the cust (screw time per task, etc...) are the ones that see the writing on the wall and don't drink the TT kool aid. We hear almost everyday from customers that if it wasn't for the select few of the techs in an area that they request, then they would have left WS years ago. Then throw in the fact that WS won't even entertain the idea of selling the customers products they want/need anymore. WS mentality has now become "if you want any of our products, you WILL buy what we TELL you to buy, not what you need". That's what made Lane's blog about Allworx being part of the W.E. portfolio even funnier. He just slammed Allworx and basically said no way in hell would it ever be part of the portfolio because that's not what "they" wanted to offer anymore.
So just because you think things are good because workload has increased and new hires are coming on board, please look deeper.
20 yrs ago, everyone had a HMO with the option of 5-6 providers (avmed, aetna, etc....) starting at less than $30 dollars a pay period. $10 co-pays, and $50 hospitals. Yes, every year our raise covered the increase in employee paid premiums, but it wasn't too bad. Now fast forward to S. Ford staying with Alltel and J. Gardner taking over the new WS. HMO's replaced by PPO's, premiums went up and we saw $300/600 deductibles come into play, but at a 20/80% rate with $20 co-pays. Still doable, but not great. Fast forward a few years later when TT takes over. Now $4000/8000, 100% deductibles, highest employee paid premiums, etc........we all know the story. So if you get sick one good time or have a kid, your $2 annual raise, because you jump a yearly scale in the pay progression doesn't cover the medical cost. Now try doing that with only a .75 cent raise for top outs, or no raise at all.
Oh, and only bargaining employees continue to get raises. Non-bargaining emplyees got none last year and is looking like that might be the way it is this year as well. And let's not forget that WS let close to a thousand go right before they put the annual match into their 401k. Why else to you think they are dragging out the HSA $600 this year into payments and not a lump sum at the beginning of the year like they did last year. Don't want to put out for all those they want to cut, or give to a B/U that's actively on the market. They want to safe that money as long as they can, helps the balance sheets.
Bargaining employees are really the only work groups with any form of security, only because most of the contracts state the company has to give any affected employees in a RIF at least a 30 day notice. That way they can't come in in their usual fashion and tell this person and that person they have five minutes to get their stuff and are escorted out the door. Plus the order of seniority means the more seasonned techs know they are good once they have 5-6 guys under them in seniority. They don't have to worry if their name is going to be pulled from the hat next.
No more emphasis on taking care of the employees anymore. But does that surprise anyone anymore, I mean when TT tells his employees on Stream that this place is not a prison, we don't lock the doors, leave if you don't like it. I'm sorry, when I hired on, the hiring manager told me he was hiring someone that would make a career out of the hired position, that he wasn't hiring someone who was just looking for a job.
Just one more nugget of truth....$24 was the going average for Stock when we spun off from Alltel. Around $13 was the price when TT took over. Today we are excited to see it break $1.70.
So the moral of this story is.......workload and tech hiring is not any form of an indicator as to the health of this company.
We have a few CLECs and I just received a raise of $2.36 an hour so raises do happen can't say why you wouldn't receive one as well.Bottom line is good things are happening and you can't look at the stock price and judge a company that way.
Wonderful! Things are great for YOU so they must be great for EVERYONE! Never mind all of the constant layoffs. Never mind the tanking stock. Never mind minimum to no raises. Never mind doing the medical benefits cuts. Everything is AWESOME EVERYWHERE because Iowa is "good".
You must not have 3 other CLECs in your ILEC market that can steal your customers, RES and BUS, like MANY of the other Windstream exchanges. So yeah, maybe it is going great for you in Iowa. You are not the only exchange in Windstream.
I'm a service tech in Iowa and the pay is good ,about 26.00 an hour I make now and there is no bubble you are working in things are going very good period.Right now we are installing 2 lines to every house for faster wi go and the work load has not ever been better.I don't know why everyone is so negative and no they did not lay or fire anyone from here for years,so to say that is a false comment.Sometimes ya wonder if people on here are the ones who were let go due to being unproductive.
Going great down here in Florida too! We have hired 6 new CST’s in our area and have plenty of work to keep us busy. No complaints down here in the Sunshine State!
The company betting the farm on SDWAN is a bit odd. Why tie your future to something that is already a commodity?
Also, the only reason why Iowa is hiring now is because they terminated so many employees there over the past year.
IOWA.....Lies,lies,lies,lies,LIES,LIES,LIES.......
Sounds like another VP in Iowa has found a new way is s---ing up to the executives.
The only reason they put Iowa in the thread is in hopes of TT reading the website.
Iowa is on the list be blow up soon so this person is a fake or a delusional s--- up.
Legacy switches will still be here in 5 years, not getting rid of all the Cama trunks, LD trunks that fast.
Even IF things in your market are good, there is life outside of that bubble. The company as a whole is in poor shape and it's widely known inside and outside of the company.
I live in Iowa and whoever posted that is going good is lying thru there teeth.
As a customer service technician though I do not see my job being in jeopardy though,I feel like this is a job I can retire from.If it's going good in Iowa I would imagine it's going good in other places zi mean I'm hooking up new customers at an alarming rate and like I said I have a great job and look how many people they are hiring here in Iowa things have to be going great.
Seriously? Are you snowed in? The whole company is beyond a joke at this point. Just because “Iowa” is hiring left and right doesn’t mean anything.
Not really, they are shopping around each business unit. The sum of the parts is worth more than the whole. CSMB is on the block right now, when everything is said and done the company will just be SDWAN and UCaaS. All of the legacy services will go away in a year or 2. Same goes for the TDM switches and networks (KDI is already working on outsourcing those 50 + switches.)