Work stoppage resolved after linemen demand full compensation for recovery efforts

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — News 13 received several calls on Wednesday, Oct. 30 from linemen saying they were not being compensated despite working long hours for several weeks.

They gathered in the old Sears parking lot off South Tunnel Road after the work stoppage began at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

The company, Next Era Communications, contracted crews and bucket trucks from across the country starting in early October to help rebuild Western North Carolina after Helene.

Miguel Burgos, owner of Next Era, told News 13 that Next Era has contracted with MasTec, which has contracted with Spectrum.

He said his people have not been paid for the work they did between October 7 and 13, despite agreeing to a payment term with MasTec called Net 14, which they told News 13 charged them 15 days after they received their first invoice submitted, would have it paid.

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That would have been October 23rd.

Thirty years (and) this is the first time I’ve (redacted) something like this,” Burgos said. “I’ve never seen a company do people like that, especially something like Asheville. Asheville was destroyed and I’ve been doing this for a long time… most of my life. This is crazy.

Jack Reid, who runs GoJet Recruiting Services, said he is responsible for rounding up these linemen and bringing them to Western North Carolina.

He told News 13 there have been about 200 crew members on the ground in recent weeks.

‘If you look in my car, there is a dog and an air mattress; that’s where we sleep,” Reid said. ‘We didn’t shower. We’re not eating. Everything they promised they would get through. There is no compliance.”

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Burgos said his crews worked in Asheville, Lenoir, Aiken and Spartanburg. They have completed the work in Spartanburg, but Burgos said he was told they would remain here for another two weeks to work in the other cities.

In addition to wages for two days of work at Lenoir, Reid said crews had not been paid for their first week of work as of Wednesday morning.

On News 13 at noon, WLOS shared the above information live on air. A few minutes later, Reid shared a message with the linemen in attendance.

“The offer is that they will pay us our daily wages up to now, up to today,” he said. ‘They want to know if that will be enough to get everyone to work. What do you think?’

The answer was unanimously no; the crews wouldn’t go back to work just for their daily wages.

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Better news came just before 12:30 p.m.

So they agreed to pay us our first week, so they’ll pay us all tomorrow,” Reid told his linemen. “So we get paid tomorrow and our daily wages.

Reid said his crew would take the rest of the day and return to work Thursday after the money came in.

News 13 also reached out to MasTec and Charter Communications, Spectrum’s parent company, for comment. Neither company has answered News 13’s questions about why the linemen say they were not paid on time for their work in early October.

Correction: News 13 broadcast at 6 p.m. that these workers had been fired, according to one of the men News 13 spoke to who is a member of the leadership team. News 13 wants to clarify that these employees were not fired and that the error was corrected for subsequent broadcasts.