Update Regarding Combination Technician Title (Article 15.01)
There has been a lot of questions around the company’s notification to create a new outside title of combination tech consistent with article 15.01 page 170-173 in the core contract.
There was a district wide call for the presidents yesterday at 4pm to ask question and I will list them below. Unfortunately, at this time due to the process there are still a lot of unknowns that will only be answered thru the bargaining process.
After the notification from the company dated 6-30-26 the union immediately ask to begin negotiations, these negotiations are strictly limited to wage rate, schedule (meaning raises) and job description.
If no agreement is reached on wages in 60 days it would go to a NTP (neutral third-party aka arbitrator) for a resolution, if no agreement can be reached on the job description a joint job description verification study would be undertaken to verify the job description is accurately described by the company. If after the study no agreement can be reached it would be subject to the grievance and arbitration procedures at the district level.
That being said this has only happened once before in my 26-year career and it involved the title of FST (field service tech) who worked with the SSIM DT group, at that time the union did not enter into negotiations with the company over wages or job description.
The union at the district level has said it will keep us informed as the process continues stating they may also host town hall style calls on the subject to be able to get information to and feedback from the members. I also will keep the local informed with any information I receive from the district.
Below I have listed many questions and answers from the call with the district on 7-2-26.
Please share this information with anyone else who may not have a valid email on file with the local.
Thanks,
Joshua Denmark
President C.W.A 3106
Questions & Answers
1. Who will be bargaining with the company?
Along with the district staff there will be 4 people from the 2024 bargaining team (Eric Gosnell DT/ FL, Al Guillory ST/LA, Jason Kelly ( will get title) ,Caleb East ST/GA
2. Can the union do anything to stop the creation of the new title?
No
3. Can the union add or take away from the job description?
No, they can only negotiate the company’s definition to make sure it accurately describes the work to be performed by the new title
4. Is this job in the core contract or part of the addendum?
This is a core contract title, full time, 40hr week job, not in the Addendum
5. Is the OPT title included?
Reading the job description provided it would appear so, the union stressed to the company the dangers of the opt title.
6. Is this being created to move all core techs into this title or hire new people into the title?
No answer, but company made mention of AFO in rural, wireless first areas but after the title is created the company can as an example have 4-5 techs in a rural area declare a surplus & open 2-3 combo tech titles and that could be a stay on payroll option. But there is no guarantee, it could happen in a metro (large) city as well.
7. Is the wire tech title involved?
The combo title is a core job so no specific title is mentioned as to populating the title. But there could be openings if not related to a surplus and any title could bid on the job.
8. What will be the testing requirements of this job?
In the companies proposed job brief it says TMT III required & TKT II may be required. Possible bargaining item
9. Additional concerns discussed on the call
There was also a lot of talk about ET’s lack of bumping, physical requirements of jobs other than theirs, power ET job duties, combo tech’s ability to work in CO, dangers of OPT job duties, age of core techs and requirements of combo title in a surplus situation , dangers of requiring one tech to be proficient in so many different job duties and safely performing them on a limited basis, concerns of needing room for all supplies that would cover such a large job requirements, bumping ,surplus ,pooling letter and many others.
Until the bargaining begins, we will not have all the answers and even then, it may be hard to determine what the companies end goals will be. Please be patient with the process and remember the company has the right to do this and the union will make sure its done within the contractual language.