My boyfriend works for the largest Home Service Provider in the country, at least according to him, that does all the service work for Directv: installations, service calls... and no we don't get free Directv! we do get a credit for basic, but have to pay for extra receivers etc. but i digress.
More below:
Bob called me yesterday to let me know that Directv has done away with holidays. Now keep in mind that technicians never did get paid holidays. They get paid by the job, so if they don't work, they don't get paid.
Now, this new thing doesn't really affect Bob. He is in management, and is on salary. He has the option of working at home sometimes. But he is on call whenever guys are in the field. He is fleet and safety coordinater for our area. But it still makes me mad!
When Bob started at this company about two and a half years ago, the techs got paid $75 for an install. Then the company decided to cut the pay. They got $65 for an istall. Not to mention that short lived little idea to NOT pay the ten dollars for the installs they couldn't do because of no line of sight! keep in mind that the techs paid for their own gas, so if you couldn't do an install, at least the $10 would cover your gas! and bob drove all over western new york! went to the southtowns a couple times a week!
i like to digress i guess. but it is and isnt digression. since bob started working there to now they went from $75 for an istall down to at present $45 for an install! But they are sneaky this time because the last time they dropped the rate of pay, a bunch of techs quit! so they have techs 'grandfathered' in to the higher rate and newbies get the lower rate. but if you screw up at all, they can drop you to the lower payrate and you don't go back up!
This steady lowering of wages is scary! The techs tried to discuss unionizing, but Bob fears that any attempts would end up with everyone out of a job. The techs are considered subcontracters, who happen to get w2s and taxes taken out.
As I stated bob is in management, so he is on salary. that's kind of funny in and of itself. He went for a promotion, and the fleet job would have paid less than the job he had before and he would have lost the company truck. He would have gone from $550 a week w/truck to $12/hr and no truck! He told them he would have to at least keep his pay and truck or forget it! They gave it to him. He's really good at his job!
All of my babbling does have a point. The employer/employee relationship is seriously becoming uneven! Employers can basically do whatever they want and there's not much an employee can do! Just be glad you have a job! And that's when they've got you!