New SoCal Gas Policy on Equal Pay Questioned
One worker is quoted as saying: “(A customer service representative’s job) probably has more mental stress than mine.” That is a bare-faced lie. Each job an ASR does has a fixed time in which to complete the work. If this average falls below what the company dictates, the employee is subject to disciplinary action.
Some other tidbits that field employees do that were not mentioned include servicing cockroach-infested ovens; crawling under houses that are breeding grounds for spiders, stray cats and rats. Not to mention confrontations with canines that have severe attitude problems, having to walk through alleys and step over hypodermic needles, garbage and human feces to get where many gas meters are located.
Field employees have been threatened, beaten and have had guns pointed at them. Those who are temporarily or permanently disabled are usually transferred to do office work, not vice versa.
JOSEPH FORTH
The writer is an appliance service representative in Costa Mesa.
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