Bschneider
02-07-2006, 08:56 AM
Verizon Goes To Great Lengths To Ramp Up Installation Force
By RICHARD MULLINS rmullins@tampatrib.com (rmullins@tampatrib.com)
Published: Feb 7, 2006
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBMY89JDJE.html
TAMPA - The humble cable guy in the Tampa Bay area is starting to get a lot more respect.
Verizon Communications Inc. is pushing to quickly hire hundreds of new cable TV technicians in the area to help hook up thousands of new customers with combined telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
The company is recruiting workers from rival Bright House Networks, satellite TV companies, and pulling Verizon workers from across the country to the Bay area - some of whom worked on older technology for more than 20 years.
"We're hiring guys right off the street," said Gary Allshouse, a local Verizon training director. "I saw two guys at a gas station yesterday with satellite TV logos on their shirts. I walked up and said, 'I can double your salary today.' They said, 'Can we start today?' "
New York-based Verizon is offering pay scales that top $23 an hour, depending on experience. That would mean some workers could earn $60,000 a year or more, including the overtime that will be needed to complete Verizon's cable television project.
Verizon now has about 1,500 field technicians in the counties surrounding Tampa Bay, and could hire another 450 by June. Getting the new recruits ready has turned a training center on Causeway Boulevard into a round-the-clock operation, with some classes starting in the middle of the night.
That's a significant opportunity, said Jacob Barthle, 22, a technician who joined the company in September last year.
"I've even got my dad interviewing here next week," Barthle said while connecting cable TV service to a home in Temple Terrace last week. "This is where the company is going."
Tampa is among the few markets nationwide where Verizon is launching cable TV service - offering customers combined telephone, Internet and cable TV service under one bill.
Verizon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build new fiber optic data networks to support those offerings and stem the loss of traditional telephone customers, many of whom are dropping their home phones in favor of cellular service.
Every new customer that Verizon signs up for all-inclusive media packages represents a victory in the company's evolution from a traditional dial-tone telephone company into a diversified entertainment and information provider.
Just last week, the hiring rush became even more critical.
Verizon won a long-sought cable franchise agreement from Hillsborough County, giving the company permission to start selling TV service across unincorporated areas of the county. Verizon won similar deals in communities south of Tampa Bay, and a similar deal may be signed soon with the city of Tampa.
The pay for new fiber workers isn't higher than what Verizon technicians typically make, because a union contract governs technician pay. Officials inside and outside the company note there are far more overtime hours offered, and workers trained in new technology have better advancement prospects.
"We haven't seen something as large as Verizon's project for a long time," said Doug Sellars, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 824 union that represents about 4,100 Verizon technicians and operators in the Tampa Bay area.
Historically, Sellars said all the cable TV installation work in the Tampa Bay area has been done by nonunionized workers at East Syracuse, N.Y.-based Bright House Networks, which does not disclose employee compensation.
"We're glad to have union people doing this work," he said. "It's great for our members to be trained in this new technology."
Unlike older copper telephone wires that use electricity, the new network runs on hair-thin fiber optic lines that carry laser light. Splicing those thin fibers takes an especially delicate touch - lest they break or crack - so technicians take extra training on how to handle them.
To recruit new technicians, Verizon is pulling staff from operations from as far away as Oregon and Texas, plus hiring at military base job fairs and over the Internet. Many of the technicians transferring from other Verizon operations have experience wiring homes with traditional copper telephone lines.
The classes have to cover far more than how to install telephone, Internet and cable TV service. At any given house, technicians might find televisions, computers and phones made by dozens of different companies.
Technicians might have to untangle cable lines left by a previous cable company, then properly hook up several kinds of computers, WiFi Internet antennas, a half dozen phones, several televisions, surround-sound audio systems, digital video recorders such as TiVo, and make sure high definition programs work well.
"One woman I helped hook up - her computer had switched to showing nothing but Greek," said Buddy Suggs, 40, a Verizon technician from Riverview. "It was a glitch with her router, so I fixed that, but she actually spoke Japanese and needed it all in Japanese. So I fixed that."
VERIZON HIRING
Verizon expects to hire 450 or more cable TV technicians by June. Pay with typical overtime can reach $60,000 or more.
•Pay Rates: A union contract sets wages for a Verizon fiber network field technician: $11.71 an hour to $23.29 an hour, with overtime 1.5 times that. Technicians often work 10 or more overtime hours a week. Employees receive medical, dental, vacation, personal day and pension benefits.
•Typical Day: Staggered shifts, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m., others at 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., etc. Technicians typically visit one or two homes a day, installing telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
•Training: Students receive about 10 weeks of classroom and field training on telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
•More information: www.verizon (http://www.verizon)
By RICHARD MULLINS rmullins@tampatrib.com (rmullins@tampatrib.com)
Published: Feb 7, 2006
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBMY89JDJE.html
TAMPA - The humble cable guy in the Tampa Bay area is starting to get a lot more respect.
Verizon Communications Inc. is pushing to quickly hire hundreds of new cable TV technicians in the area to help hook up thousands of new customers with combined telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
The company is recruiting workers from rival Bright House Networks, satellite TV companies, and pulling Verizon workers from across the country to the Bay area - some of whom worked on older technology for more than 20 years.
"We're hiring guys right off the street," said Gary Allshouse, a local Verizon training director. "I saw two guys at a gas station yesterday with satellite TV logos on their shirts. I walked up and said, 'I can double your salary today.' They said, 'Can we start today?' "
New York-based Verizon is offering pay scales that top $23 an hour, depending on experience. That would mean some workers could earn $60,000 a year or more, including the overtime that will be needed to complete Verizon's cable television project.
Verizon now has about 1,500 field technicians in the counties surrounding Tampa Bay, and could hire another 450 by June. Getting the new recruits ready has turned a training center on Causeway Boulevard into a round-the-clock operation, with some classes starting in the middle of the night.
That's a significant opportunity, said Jacob Barthle, 22, a technician who joined the company in September last year.
"I've even got my dad interviewing here next week," Barthle said while connecting cable TV service to a home in Temple Terrace last week. "This is where the company is going."
Tampa is among the few markets nationwide where Verizon is launching cable TV service - offering customers combined telephone, Internet and cable TV service under one bill.
Verizon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build new fiber optic data networks to support those offerings and stem the loss of traditional telephone customers, many of whom are dropping their home phones in favor of cellular service.
Every new customer that Verizon signs up for all-inclusive media packages represents a victory in the company's evolution from a traditional dial-tone telephone company into a diversified entertainment and information provider.
Just last week, the hiring rush became even more critical.
Verizon won a long-sought cable franchise agreement from Hillsborough County, giving the company permission to start selling TV service across unincorporated areas of the county. Verizon won similar deals in communities south of Tampa Bay, and a similar deal may be signed soon with the city of Tampa.
The pay for new fiber workers isn't higher than what Verizon technicians typically make, because a union contract governs technician pay. Officials inside and outside the company note there are far more overtime hours offered, and workers trained in new technology have better advancement prospects.
"We haven't seen something as large as Verizon's project for a long time," said Doug Sellars, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 824 union that represents about 4,100 Verizon technicians and operators in the Tampa Bay area.
Historically, Sellars said all the cable TV installation work in the Tampa Bay area has been done by nonunionized workers at East Syracuse, N.Y.-based Bright House Networks, which does not disclose employee compensation.
"We're glad to have union people doing this work," he said. "It's great for our members to be trained in this new technology."
Unlike older copper telephone wires that use electricity, the new network runs on hair-thin fiber optic lines that carry laser light. Splicing those thin fibers takes an especially delicate touch - lest they break or crack - so technicians take extra training on how to handle them.
To recruit new technicians, Verizon is pulling staff from operations from as far away as Oregon and Texas, plus hiring at military base job fairs and over the Internet. Many of the technicians transferring from other Verizon operations have experience wiring homes with traditional copper telephone lines.
The classes have to cover far more than how to install telephone, Internet and cable TV service. At any given house, technicians might find televisions, computers and phones made by dozens of different companies.
Technicians might have to untangle cable lines left by a previous cable company, then properly hook up several kinds of computers, WiFi Internet antennas, a half dozen phones, several televisions, surround-sound audio systems, digital video recorders such as TiVo, and make sure high definition programs work well.
"One woman I helped hook up - her computer had switched to showing nothing but Greek," said Buddy Suggs, 40, a Verizon technician from Riverview. "It was a glitch with her router, so I fixed that, but she actually spoke Japanese and needed it all in Japanese. So I fixed that."
VERIZON HIRING
Verizon expects to hire 450 or more cable TV technicians by June. Pay with typical overtime can reach $60,000 or more.
•Pay Rates: A union contract sets wages for a Verizon fiber network field technician: $11.71 an hour to $23.29 an hour, with overtime 1.5 times that. Technicians often work 10 or more overtime hours a week. Employees receive medical, dental, vacation, personal day and pension benefits.
•Typical Day: Staggered shifts, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m., others at 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., etc. Technicians typically visit one or two homes a day, installing telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
•Training: Students receive about 10 weeks of classroom and field training on telephone, Internet and cable TV service.
•More information: www.verizon (http://www.verizon)