Ready, Safe, & Well-Trained

In February and March 2022, fourteen interviews were conducted with union members with the Communication Workers of America (“CWA”) in the cities of San Antonio and Dallas. Historically, CWA has been the union for individuals working in telecommunications, including fiber optics.

These interviews were used to gather first-hand information on the work involved in laying and connecting fiber internet in Texas, the training and equipment provided to these union members, their experience with the union, and the quality of work they provide based on being held to a higher safety standard. Twelve of the fourteen interviews were of premises technicians, one was of a fiber splicing technician, and the other was with a systems technician.

Our qualitative research encountered four types of work associated with the fiber installation process: individuals who splice the cable and install fiber terminals once the utility lines are located, trenches are dug, and conduit is laid; individuals who work alongside the cable splicers but are typically involved in larger fiber projects; individuals who come into the picture once the property owner has stated they want service and need fiber to run from the Right of Way, where it was installed in the trench, to their home or business; and lastly individuals who perform customer service duties, who show up to the premises if there is damage after the process is complete to re-splice the cable at the terminal or generally repair the work performed by the premises technicians. Further details about the process of splicing and laying fiber can be found in the words of the technicians below.

All these technicians go through similar training and share the same skill set although their titles and responsibilities may differ. The CWA members interviewed all agreed that safety was the number one priority for all fiber installations regardless of the location, the customer-type, or specific technical task being performed. Whether the technician started 20+ years ago or just a few years ago, it was clear that the sharp focus on safety standards, safety training, safety equipment, and general culture of “safety first” had not decreased over time, but had instead increased with yearly and oftentimes monthly safety conversations happening within the union.

Although each worker had their own unique backgrounds and journeys in their careers, they each displayed a sense of pride in their work within the fiber installation industry and in being a CWA union member. They each touched on how personal the work was for them and their families and how the rights fought for by the union on their behalf impacted them in numerous ways. These interviews make clear that this technical work is taken very seriously and with a lot of forethought from the thousands of CWA fiber technicians across the state. Over the course of these interviews, three clear themes emerged to tell a holistic story of who these members are and what their work entails: the training required to perform fiber installation, the safety standards required to perform the work properly, and the benefits of being in a union. We will highlight examples of these themes below with direct quotes from the workers themselves.

In our interviews, workers claimed anywhere from six to twenty-five years of tenure. This meant that formal instruction and training experiences varied, since the process of installing fiber has been quickly and frequently updated to stay-up-to-date with the equipment and needs of communities. “We get continuous training because technology is always changing. The biggest thing we learn is how to work safely and how to adapt to the actual environment. As technology changes, so do the safety requirements,” said Raynor, a premises technician in San Antonio.

With some variation in the training, there were nonetheless themes that emerged. Depending on the location, the position, and the start date, workers reported receiving at least eight weeks of training with some reporting up to twelve weeks of training right at the start of being hired, prior to doing any field work. This training starts with telephone pole climbing and gaffing (gaffs are metal spikes attached to metal splints that strap to a technician’s lower leg and are used to climb up and down a pole); trenching and underground construction; classroom training to go over the procedures and equipment; safety training; customer service training; and hands-on training with mock two-story houses. Corbin, a fiber technician in Dallas, walked us through the importance of this training. “They train you on safety, how to climb a pole, how to look out and make sure you don’t injure yourself, that you don’t get shocked. Because there are dangers to this job. Whether it be climbing on the pole and falling off or whether it be touching something that is energized.”

In addition to this initial training, the union members all also reported having to go through up to an additional two week ride-along training where they were paired up with an experienced technician to learn how to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world situations. Once members successfully pass all these stages of training, the technicians can begin to work out in the field. Emmanuel, a premises technician from Dallas, said, “After we learn all of these concepts, we have to put it into practice out in the field. They give the technicians six months to do trial and error with more ride-alongs with senior members. And then you do it on your own.” He added that most technicians start off slow with the work they feel they can perform correctly and end up feeling very confident within the first year of the job.

All of this training ensures that these technicians know how to properly complete fiber installation, which is very technical and precise work. Justin, a premises technician in San Antonio, said “splicing fiber can get very tedious. You’ve got to make sure you are properly trained on it, because fiber comes down to very small measurements that can affect the circuit. Not being properly trained on that can be something that will cause problems not only for the customer but for the whole network as a whole.” On top of being trained properly, Corbin adds that fiber technicians cannot perform the work without the correct equipment. “What the union has done is, we have fought over the years to tell the management, ‘Hey, we need this. If you want this job done right, we have to have the right equipment.’” There are many cleaning devices and tools needed for the delicate nature of fiber. “Fiber, as you know, is made out of glass, so it has to be taken care of. You can’t bend it. You have to make sure it is clean on both ends.”

These technicians made clear that fiber is not something that can just be quickly installed with little to no knowledge about the intricacies of the material. Fiber splicing work performed without the expertise of union workers is not of any real quality or value, because of how complex the fiber is itself. Nick, a premises technician in Dallas, said “if you don’t use the right connectors, fiber is very picky. If you cut it too long, if you cut it too short, you are going to get a bad signal. If you don’t clean it right, you get a bad signal. If your tools aren’t good enough and you don’t cut it clean, you get a bad signal.”  John, a systems technician in San Antonio, walked us through the technical process of splicing raw fiber—fiber with no pre-terminated ends. “We’ll get our fiber tools. A stripper, a cleaver, some alcohol, some wipes, and a fusion splicer. You strip the fiber, the insulation, and the cleaving off the fiber. You clean it and then you cleave it to a predetermined length. You put these two fibers in these little shoes with magnetic doors that flip over the insulated part of the fiber. You set those into the fusion splicer. It pulls the fibers together. And it heats up, so it actually melts that glass together,” he said.

Throughout our conversations with these technicians, they made clear that safety was the number one priority for the union. “The union’s motto is no job is so important that you cannot work it safely. We are briefed on safety daily,” said Sean, premises technician in Dallas. Fiber safety includes the weeks of training mentioned above in addition to the proper equipment fought for by the union and provided by the company. Sandra, a technician also from Dallas, listed the main equipment as being hard hats, ladders, gloves, safety glasses, belts, safety straps, cleavers, fiber strippers, and meters. Technicians also know that if they need something in addition to what is provided, they can raise the issue and receive what they need. Sandra added, “If there is anything that we see out-of-the-ordinary, we can tell management and it will get replaced. A lot of the safety stuff is about being aware and being on top of it.”

The importance of safety is not just something that is instilled at the beginning of these technicians’ journeys with the union and the company. All the technicians reflected on how the meaning of safety in fiber installation is continuously changing. “They want to make sure we are safe. They make sure we are well-equipped and well-aware and knowledgeable and we get refreshers every single year. So even if you forget, you’ll be reminded in a couple of months,” said Britni, a technician in Dallas. She added that there are clear safety standards that all new technicians are trained on, but on top of this base standard, there are all kinds of safety issues that can arise out in the field that technicians know they can bring up to the union for help.

One common way of flagging new safety issues to the union is to bring it up to a union shop steward, an active fellow union-member who has been selected to bring up work concerns with management and who informs technicians of their rights. Many of the technicians interviewed are shop stewards themselves. Sean also mentioned that there are check-ins at the end of each week within a shop (small cohort of union members) to discuss safety issues experienced out in the field that week. Additionally, John, the systems technician mentioned above, said that they are always reminded to “make sure you have the right safety equipment before you roll out. That is gone over every year in what is known as the safety rodeo.” He also mentioned being issued a general safety kit with CPR equipment, bandaids, sting relief wipes, gloves, and tweezers. “They are strict on safety which they should be,” he said.

Most of the technicians had first-hand experiences with having to fix unsafe work performed by non-union workers. Many have stories of witnessing such work that put those non-union technicians or the general public at risk of danger or injury. Josue, a cable-splicing technician from San Antonio, said it is very easy to tell when the work has been performed by a non-union contractor. “It is really a big difference. You can tell just by looking at it who did it. It takes us longer to correct their mistakes. I’ve seen a lot of contractors go into manholes without ventilating them. They open up the manhole and just jump in there to pull the cable. That is very unsafe,” he said. Raynor, who spoke about training above, personally witnessed unsafe conditions created by another fiber company as a homeowner in San Antonio. “Water lines were cut. Other utility lines were damaged. They had to repave the entire street because of the way they trenched their lines in the street. They cut up the road so bad and then patched it over, but those patches broke.”

When speaking to the technicians about what it meant to them to be a member of CWA, they all had a lot to say about how the union has greatly impacted their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Most of the workers had not experienced being in a union before. A few did have family ties to unions, like Robert, a premises technician from San Antonio. “My grandpa was with the Teamsters union and always instilled in me the importance of unions and how they helped with worker pay and rights.” He knows that the pay he receives is not a decision just made by the company, but instead is fought for by the union which in turn helps support his family. “The higher pay has helped me purchase a house, vehicles, my kids are well taken care of, whatever they need they get.” Having a steady income has also greatly impacted the life of Josue, who spoke about cable-splicing safety above. “I have three children. One is in college. One is about to go to college, so it makes me feel better knowing that I can provide for them while they are out there. If it wasn’t for the union, I don’t know if I could provide for them where they are at right now,” he added. 

The technicians also described in detail all the many ways that the union supports its members beyond just family-sustaining pay. “The union fights for everything. It’s like a family. The union provides help with childcare, medical questions, medical assistance, and extra benefits like school backpacks with supplies for your kids. The union fights so we have superior healthcare,” said Wyatt, a technician in San Antonio. That sense of family is felt throughout the union, as made clear by our conversations with these technicians. For some technicians, like Candice from Dallas, the union has stepped in to help in unique situations like making sure pregnant female technicians are treated fairly and not pushed out by the company to take unnecessary leave from work. “At the time that I was pregnant, I had to involve the union a lot. The union fought for me to be able to stay at work. The union has also helped me with the health benefits. That has helped me a lot because I had a complicated pregnancy.” For Britni, the health care benefits have saved her a lot of money when she takes her son who is autistic to three different therapies. She also added, “There are so many benefits to being in the union. I am in paralegal school that is being paid for by the union. The union is paying for my education to further my career.”

The CWA technicians made clear that they know their quality of work is the best in the fiber industry, because of their extensive training, safety standards, their high hourly pay, and their commitment to doing a good job the first time around. “Union work is synonymous with quality work. When you have a union-trained worker like me, you can see the difference,” said Emmanuel, the technician from Dallas mentioned above. He reiterated that behind the quality of work provided by their company, there is a union worker. Candice added that she knows fiber work performed outside of the union is not quality work. “Stick with union members because of the money that is spent on the training, the time that is spent on the training, and because we build quality products,” she said. San Antonio premises technician Manuel stated it plainly when he said, “The quality of work you get from someone who has bargained for their position, that has fought for safety, that has fought for training and the proper procedures and made sure everything is given to us that is necessary to complete the job, heavily outweighs a company that is just trying to make it to their next fiscal year.”