Sisters and Brothers,
This month we will be going back into negotiations for the Teledata Agreement. The Teledata agreement is a concession that the International made thirty years ago to helps us grab and maintain a foothold in this market by letting contractors bid network, telephone, and fiber optic systems at a lower rate.
We currently have 47 members working under this agreement. It’s a statewide agreement, and there are probably 300 to 500 IBEW Teledata members out of over 16,000 people doing this work in Texas. That’s a 3% market share.
Right now, a full-rate Teledata Tech makes $24.75, and there are tough requirements to get that classification. Nationwide, the average pay of electrical and telecom workers is within $0.14.
Last year we opened negotiations at the end of a five-year agreement. Our sticking point was the fact that, without an apprenticeship, there is no guaranteed advancement to a higher classification like there is in the CE program. Because of time constraints with the convention, we settled on a one-year agreement with a 6% pay increase to give us time to work this out.
The question I get a lot is, “I’m an electrician. Why should I care?”
I walked a high-rise hotel job that Rosendin did recently. The only 120-volt power in the room was one receptacle in the bathroom. Everything else in the room, including the TV and mini-fridge, was low-voltage. On average, using power over ethernet can save a customer 30% over traditional pipe and wire. This savings comes from a reduction in the time it takes to finish the job.
Currently, power over ethernet is still in the electrical scope. But there is no licensing requirement in Texas for low voltage. For data guys, terminating a CATVI cable into light fixture is no different than plugging the same cable into a server. There’s going to be a lot of pressure to get this stuff out of the hands of electricians.
The concessions that were made for Teledata work have not gotten us market share. More and more of our work has the potential of going this direction. If we are going to keep this work under the umbrella of the IBEW, we have to achieve more parity between electricians and telecom workers in our market, just like they are in the rest of the country. More than that, we have to show these guys that they are not second-class members, they are valued members of our local and key to our long-term success.
Ideally, anything that moves electrons should be done by IBEW Journeymen. At the very least, it should be done by IBEW members making journeyman pay.
As these negotiations continue, we may ask you to take action in support of these workers. I hope you will be ready.
Thanks for all you do.
In solidarity,
Ben Brenneman, Business Manager/Financial Secretary
