Aero Communications Inc ACI, Advanced Communications Inc Ripoff, Overworked, Underpaid, Illegal canton Michigan

So hears the deal about ACI/Cablenet Communications,

This complaint is in regards to ACI/Cablenet’s Philadelphia and surrounding suburban counties’ operation in Pennsylvania.

I currently work for a company who was bought out by ACI (Advanced Communications, Inc). I have been with both companies for approx. 6 years and unfortunately have not yet found the means to find another career.

This part of the company is a "fulfillment" service to a certain internet/cable/telecommunication PROVIDER in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. The company I work for has in the past purposely lied about the amount of employees (installation/service techs) they currently have on their payroll in hopes that their employer (Primary ISP in Phila.) will give them the most amount of work so they can overwork and underpay their employees while maximizing profits. The service provider has recently (past 4 months) changed its method in how they disburse work to their subcontractors mostly eliminating this problem.

The company promises "Performance Based Pay" yet the method they use to rate their techs (and their pay) has not been updated in at least 6 months (probably more). The company uses 3 levels of pay to judge their employees; each level is approx. a 5-8% increase from the previous. The employer uses this system to separate their "good" employees from their "not as good" ones. The company will charge their employer (ISP/cable provider) approx. 500% of what they actually pay their employees for a completed said "installation". They claims that the other 400% covers insurance, equipment, overtime, overhead costs, management (even know there are only about 7 managers for over 200 employees) and travel expenses.

The company also has a said "strict discipline policy" but they seem to relax certain policies for employees they know will make the company the most profit and comply with their "don’t ask, don’t tell" approach to safety and performance. They will purposely "write up" or "give corrective action" to employees are "insubordinate" or speak out against their policies. The company will also intentionally "write up" employees that they think will cause legal problems (aka lawsuits) to discredit them in case they ever decide to pursue legal action or bring unwanted attention to the company.

The company also imposes a mandatory 6-day workweek or 12-hour work day. Keep in mind the overtime rate is approx. 50% of your hourly rate (which they determine), for example if your hourly rate comes out to $15 an hour, every hour you work over 40 will earn you a lucrative $7.50 per hour.

The company also has approx. 2 HR (human resources) members on payroll (at least for this portion of the company). The company consists of 200 about employees (including 8-10 dispatchers, 7-9 managers, 4-6 safety personal, 10 admin and approx. 150-175 techs). The HR department will purposively attempt to terminate employee who they see as "insubordinate" or "risks" even know their policies and procedures or unfair and biased.

Company moral is virtually non-existent from the warehouse guy through to the upper management. Top techs in the company (20% of techs) used to make between $80,000 and $100,000 per year. After 5-7 years of pay cuts, most top tech make between $50,000 and $65,000 per year after working approx. 50 hours per week and between 60-70 hours during the busy season.

Managers are often (not all) under qualified for the position they hold. Promotions and new position opportunities (the far and few in between) are usually given to upper management favorites or close acquaintances. Some managers are so under qualified that the information or instruction they give often conflicts with basic knowledge and understanding about how the job is supposed to be conducted.

In conclusion to this so called "rant", my objective is not to see this portion of the business dissolved or dismembered, but to simply change the way things are done in the company. Throughout my experiences in this company I have met many hard-working, intelligent and pleasant people (given the circumstances and conditions they work under), I do not wish to see them treated so poorly and unappreciated. I myself wish to remain anonymous due to the target that may be on my back and the decreased amount of pay I would receive. I am hopefully this will help change things for the better in this company. I am open to rebuttals and invite upper management or ACI executives to attempt to try to discredit my argument.