Positive merger news

[sprayandpray]

Goldenboy,
Could you please explain this further? Stickers? Hybrids? This does not appear to be so in our area. Recently someone posted that they were charged a daily fee for their truck. My husband does pay a fee but, it is reimbursed on each check.

So far all things merger have left his district 'up in the air.' We are walking on eggshells here.

I will tell you what I have been told. Any management person, other than Field or Group Supervisors, will lose their credit cards and have to start expensing their business miles .(I wonder how ethical they are going to be?) Also, they will have to make a choice on the vehicle they drive: They can receive a monthly allotment and purchase their own vehicle or choose between a Ford Focus or a Ford Escape(the small SUV) provided by the company. No more traveling to the office from the house, going to eat , going shopping, etc. on the company dime. Also, the locators and Sups will be getting Toyota Tacomas when the Ford Rangers run out.
This is the most positive thing I have heard about the merger.

[LadyLeatherneck]

There are a lot of locators out here in the field that have worked for more than one of the major locating companies. A lot of them have experience that is valuable to any of them. A locator, is a locator, is a locator. I personally don't feel the problems are with the locators at all. I'm seeing a management issue in more than one area. To try and be positive here, we need management (both dm and sup) that leave personal feelings at home and are professional on the job. Those that will support their locator as people who bring in the bread for their companies. Those that will go to bat for them in no fault damage investigations, and will provide them with the equipment they need to do their jobs. Those that treat people like people, with the respect they deserve as locators who have been in and lasted in this field for years. I pray that USIC will be the saving grace for this industry. I pray that they have their eyes and ears wide open and are going to learn from the mistakes of the other companies. I want them to succeed. Again, their success is our success.

[big boots mcghee]

I will tell you what I have been told. Any management person, other than Field or Group Supervisors, will lose their credit cards and have to start expensing their business miles .(I wonder how ethical they are going to be?) Also, they will have to make a choice on the vehicle they drive: They can receive a monthly allotment and purchase their own vehicle or choose between a Ford Focus or a Ford Escape(the small SUV) provided by the company. No more traveling to the office from the house, going to eat , going shopping, etc. on the company dime. Also, the locators and Sups will be getting Toyota Tacomas when the Ford Rangers run out.
This is the most positive thing I have heard about the merger.

I have heard similar things regarding this as well, and all I can say is it's about time. I'm so tired of our management team going out to lunch and shooting the breeze then calling it a business meeting and expensing it out. Happens way too often.

[RoadMap]

Nice. It's pretty plain to me that you are either a DM or a sup here in Illinois. I'd like to rebut this line by line if you'd be so kind as to indulge me:

1) $500 is chicken feed to most of us who've been here a while friend. It amounts to less than 10% of what many of us were making a few years back in an annual bonus. This is a band aid. No more, no less.

Addressing field issues would pay better dividends in the long run, but this makes it look like the managers are "kinder" and more "caring". Give me working equipment, and supplies when I need them over this any day...

2 ) What part of the USIC world are you in, if I may ask? We see one or two CLS employees a week here! And when that happens, it's usually at a damage. Which is usually a CLS damage...... there is no working together here. On the supervisor and manager side there is now in fact, sort of a Mexican standoff. Everyone in that world seems like they are jockeying for position right now. It's tense. BIG TIME.

When the CLS locators hit the field we will make it work. We always do. Many of their locators are damn good at what they do. I'm happy to share a territory with them.....



3) Contractors in Illinois are FREAKING OUT about this merger! They remember the mess in '03. And the complete takover of all Nicor locates was a mess as well. They know we are understaffed to begin with, and the transition to a four way system is going to be rough, and it's going to cost them time and money.

For every joke we have about idiot contractors, the best ones I've ever worked with anywhere, are in Chicago. And the guys I'm talking to aren't idiots. They are getting ready for 3rd, 4th. and 5th. requests in the coming weeks...

I applaud anyone who has positive things to say about this merger. But this reads an awful lot like a regurgitated USIC press release friend.

You can call this "negative" if you like. But straight talk about this business, ( and that goes double for this merger ) usually is best taken straight, no sugar coat....

Locators will always work together. I have phone numbers of the 2 other companies locating in my area. We all share locate info if one of us talks to a contractor we give the others a heads up. Management will change for the better and will be downsized. But it will take a while to find the best fit for each position. There is no overnight fix.

Bonus? 500.00 dollars. You complain about it? I have gotten nothing all year and have qualified almost every month! But because the district did not hit there numbers, we got nothing. And by the way you could have gotten nothing instead. So just keep acting like the glass is half empty and when the recession gets worse you can try and make it on unemployment instead.

We can all work together or as individuals and try and find new jobs. But in this economy I would rather stay where I am!

[LadyLeatherneck]

We haven't had a bonus in many, many years, and would be grateful for any amount. Locators do work together. That is why these companies are successful!!! They certainly aren't successful because they have made good business decisions!!!! Locators have carried all the companies since day one. It will take time to make any significant changes. I just hope they learn from the locators and listen to them. That will make the difference!!! I know we wouldn't want to be looking for another job right now!!!!!!!

[yahoo]

you know what they told us years ago............we will raise your pay scale and therefore take bone-us's away from you.....and here i am years later waiting for my pay scale to rise .....

[USIC1]

you know what they told us years ago............we will raise your pay scale and therefore take bone-us's away from you.....and here i am years later waiting for my pay scale to rise .....

Now can you say union???

Divide and conquer and get what you get...


So whats the answer???

[PowerSweep]

I am so glad you guys took over my thread about POSITIVE merger news.

USIC1 why can't you keep from taking over every thread with your union talk? Haven't you learned your lesson by now? Every time you do it, people tell you that they don't want to hear it. As hard as the IBEW has pushed around here, if people wanted it....it would be here already.

I have so much reason to believe that the changes that are coming our way are going to make things better that even though my job is tough right now, I have a smile on my face and a positive attitude about the future.

[USIC1]

I am so glad you guys took over my thread about POSITIVE merger news.

USIC1 why can't you keep from taking over every thread with your union talk? Haven't you learned your lesson by now? Every time you do it, people tell you that they don't want to hear it. As hard as the IBEW has pushed around here, if people wanted it....it would be here already.

I have so much reason to believe that the changes that are coming our way are going to make things better that even though my job is tough right now, I have a smile on my face and a positive attitude about the future.

Now you started it-hee hee!!!

You got any evidence other than hoping and hunches for this half hearted thread???

Rather than pointing fingers at whether or not a union may or may not be a positive...

I do...Look at other merged companys ie Consolidated, Utiliquest, and even No-Cuts which was a HELL of alot better for locators than being bought by Asplundh...

Is anyone knockin down the door to go to work for any of these other outfits after merging because of vast improvements??? I think not???

This is your point I think and no ones stepping in to justify great changes after being merged...

its not the union at all is it???

really now???

Oh I m not a union member by the way so there...nanny nanny pooh pooh!!! hee hee hee!!!

[USIC1]

Even though one has to pay extra taxes for the new gas scam one still doesnt have to pay for gas to and from the job...

Just more taxes maybe at the end of the year???

Its still a positive for the most part...


Insurance is cheaper but there is a deductible and no copay after reaching the deductible amount...One still has to pay 20% of the bill no matter what...

Still a positive for the most part...I guess???

[gypsygirl]

sitting back and munching on popcorn.....

[underground quester]

Who was it that said " You will be as happy as you make your mind to be"

Each of us will see the world as we see it, no one is necessarily wrong because ones' perception of something, is their perception.
If your idea of "truth" and mine differ, to me that is okay.
If it is vehimently not your truth, that's okay too.
But I still have my perception which is my truth (or belief) and you have yours.
Holy smoke, let it be USIC1.

I think powersweep is trying to do and say something positive here. If you do not agree with him perhaps do as we asked locatingart to do; start your own thread and complain there.

Okay, I am finished now, I'll get off my soapbox.