Pros
There are lots of management level positions filled by former meter readers who’ve worked their way up so job mobility is there. Good job security if you’re part of the rank and file union.
Cons
If you’re college educated and on the fast track, stay away from this company. They tend to rotate management to oversee departments that that they have no knowledge or business overseeing. Since there are many “old-timers” who have been there 10, 20, 30, 40 years, cronyism is strife. They do not trust anyone from the outside who is hired in at the management level. You have to “earn yoru stripes” by working your way up. I joined as a manager of a department from the outside and was immediately ostracized and my new ideas, which are established elsewhere, were viewed with suspicion and as “too revolutionary”. Many individuals are resentful, vindictive, and jealous. The way they do things is so entrenched, bureaucratic, and backwards that anyone from the outside who is worth their salt will go crazy. There are meetings about how to have meetings. Shall I mention the rate case that’s needed before any decision can be made? The Public Utility Commission has to approve of any project. That process takes years. I still shake my head whenever I think of some of the stories. One of my favorites, which is oft repeated ad nauseam during speeches about how they "do the right thing" is the one about how they held up the pouring of a concrete foundation for a utility tower for a major project in the middle of the mountains because a poor bunny rabbit fell into one of the holes. They stopped work for days to rescue the animal and wasted 100's of thousands of dollars which are paid by their customers (you and me) through the gas prices. How is that a "win"?
