Verizon Workers Go on Strike

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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As of this morning, 45K Verizon workers went on strike in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The impasse rests on negotiations between the unions and Verizon management over benefits and employee procedure in the Verizon land line division. Wireless customers will not be affected.

Verizon said it has activated a contingency plan to ensure that customers see limited disruption during the strike. .
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Heard about this happening from the tech who came to fix my DSL line, after getting the run-around for nearly a month. Glad it didn't get put off being fixed for another month,lol.
 
A bunch of employees, detached from any sort of actual corporate responsibility or need to make good business decisions, just want more money and don't really seem to care where it comes from. Let's all be sure to thank the unions for enabling this.

When Verizon subscribers see their monthly prices increase, hopefully they will place blame where due.
 
This is why a lot of companies have outsourced to other countries. Chances are they will give in to the union for now, then 1 year later lay off 30k employees and hire 15k in India at 1/4 the pay.
 
Let me get this straight....the economy is in the shitter, millions of people can't find work, millions of people have lost their homes, the government is in financial ruin and people are going on strike? Wow. Every single one of them should be fired and a note should be sent to the unemployment office informing them that there are positions available.
 
If prices for plans increase because of these shenanigans, it will be time to re-evaluate wireless options.
 
the average quality of american workers on the line again for the n-th time...
 
GotNoRice said:
A bunch of employees, detached from any sort of actual corporate responsibility or need to make good business decisions, just want more money and don't really seem to care where it comes from. Let's all be sure to thank the unions for enabling this.

When Verizon subscribers see their monthly prices increase, hopefully they will place blame where due.
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Did you read the linked article? Verizon wants to cut their benefits and protections.

The company is attempting to change the contract terms to allow it to more easily fire workers, tie pay increases to job performance, halt pension accruals this year, and require union workers to contribute to health-plan premiums.
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While it makes sense in some ways, you can understand why workers who have grown accustomed to a certain way are reluctant to allow these changes. Verizon most likely wants to cut worker benefits to raise profits. God forbid a company provide a living for it's employees.
 
10% unemployment.
people bitching about jobs.
start hiring people.
fire all the people on strike
????
Profit!


(They will come craaaaaaaaaawling back)
 
GotNoRice said:
A bunch of employees, detached from any sort of actual corporate responsibility or need to make good business decisions, just want more money and don't really seem to care where it comes from. Let's all be sure to thank the unions for enabling this.

When Verizon subscribers see their monthly prices increase, hopefully they will place blame where due.
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Couldn't agree more, the less those workers get the the bigger my dividend is every quarter and my shares go higher in value.Personally I think they should all get minimum wages for their services so I can put more into my 401, so I can retire comfortably. Could never figure out why the unions get involved in bargaining for the workers behalf. Unions just get in the way of wealth creation. If these workers get a raise I might actually have to go out and get a job myself.
 
GotNoRice said:
A bunch of employees, detached from any sort of actual corporate responsibility or need to make good business decisions, just want more money and don't really seem to care where it comes from. Let's all be sure to thank the unions for enabling this.

When Verizon subscribers see their monthly prices increase, hopefully they will place blame where due.
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You're right, Verizon should pay them all minimum wage with no benefits tell them how lucky they are to have jobs. :rolleyes: People like you sicken me.
 
Valshistixol said:
You're right, Verizon should pay them all minimum wage with no benefits tell them how lucky they are to have jobs. :rolleyes: People like you sicken me.
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.....aaaaaaand people like you sicken me in that you need just a TASTE of what the other side of the world is like :cool: Buuuuuut go ahead and keep living in a fantasy world not knowing that it is VERY possible to happen here as well.
 
The ever increasing anti-union sentiments are incredibly disconcerting. I cannot understand why people want to tear others down, instead of fighting for fair compensation for themselves. This race to the bottom has only one outcome, everyone being worse off.

Verizon made a PROFIT of more than 1.4 billion dollars, with a revenue of 27 billion, in the last quarter ... and it refuses to fairly compensate its employees.

I swear some people won't be happy until we are all living in the gutter. Businesses do not own their employees. Employers have every right to band together to bargain for wages. Do we really want to go back to the days of the Shirtwaist fire?
 
Blown 89 said:
Let me get this straight....the economy is in the shitter, millions of people can't find work, millions of people have lost their homes, the government is in financial ruin and people are going on strike? Wow. Every single one of them should be fired and a note should be sent to the unemployment office informing them that there are positions available.
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My neighbor is one of those going on strike. According to him, the shop stewards all came back from a junket in Vegas, and ordered the strike. Like most of those going on strike, he would rather just continue working under the existing terms.
On the chopping block for this round of negotiations is health insurance, 401k's, cost of living increases, vacation/holiday pay.
According to him, they are also moving employees to shops in other regions, sometimes hundreds of miles away (NYC to Rochester for example) for months at a time and calling it a "temporary" relocation.

Also, Verizons contingency plan is hiring thousands of scabs from southern states where cost of living is significantly lower, so there are no local positions opening up because of this strike.
 
The company is attempting to change the contract terms to allow it to more easily fire workers, tie pay increases to job performance, halt pension accruals this year, and require union workers to contribute to health-plan premiums. The changes are indicative of the pressures the landline business face, with revenue declining amid people switching to wireless and Internet-based phone services.
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The first two things should be no brainers - union employees at many jobs are notoriously hard to fire even if they fuck up repeatedly, but I don't know the terms of Verizon's contracts. Tying pay to performance is a good thing. You shouldn't get more money just for being employed unless you actually are doing your job. The last two items I am indifferent about. I contribute partly to my health care plan at my job so I don't see why that is such a big deal.

Given that these are all employees in the land line industry, I would guess that Verizon is trying to cut the fat in that division as it loses it's profitability. The fact that Verizon is profitable as a whole doesn't mean that every division they have is profitable.
 
Hopefully Verizon utterly crushes the union. Some of the worst things in America today.
 
Valshistixol said:
You're right, Verizon should pay them all minimum wage with no benefits tell them how lucky they are to have jobs. :rolleyes: People like you sicken me.
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Hey its that crappy attitude which is why we buy Chinese, well with the help of Globalization, so many people in America can't afford to buy American made products cause their wages are too low. So whats wrong with that. Just buy shares in the companies that are building their factories over seas you'll do just fine. As someone so eloquently pointed out to me, we have had slaves since man produced more then he needed. Lincoln put a stop to that. We can't be using the word slave, so we pay the(ahem slaves) minimum wages. That got us out of having to supply them with food and a roof over their heads for free. So now we can charge them rent and food, so everything is kosher. right.:rolleyes:
 
I know it's easy to reply with knee-jerk hate and criticism, but please at least don't wallow in ignorance. Read the article, figure out the situation, and THEN maybe provide some insight.

It's not just unions and it's not just business greed that drives jobs elsewhere. It's consumers and everyone here as well. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. (Unless it's the gluttony of *needing* overpriced Apple products...)
 
Only thing I couldn't gather from the article, is whether the contract was up for renewal (and as a result, renegotiation) or if Verizon simply wanted a new contract that takes away a lot of perks that it was giving its workers.

Either way, I feel for Verizon in this matter (at least from what the article states), requiring you to contribute to health care? pay increases are a result of performance (not automatic), makes it so you can fire workers? Almost sounds like techs and call center workers (be happy they're still in the US!) have almost as good a deal as lot of tenured teachers.
 
Cyraxx said:
.....aaaaaaand people like you sicken me in that you need just a TASTE of what the other side of the world is like :cool: Buuuuuut go ahead and keep living in a fantasy world not knowing that it is VERY possible to happen here as well.
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We should allow Americans to live like crap because people on the other side of the world are living like crap? Here's a new idea, don't let anyone live like crap. How do you make $1.4 billion in profit, pay your CEO $17 million, and say you don't have enough money for your employees to have decent wages, job security, and healthcare? Oh that's right, those employees didn't make the right investments so they have to... you know... do the actual work.

Uncle said:
Hey its that crappy attitude which is why we buy Chinese, well with the help of Globalization, so many people in America can't afford to buy American made products cause their wages are too low. So whats wrong with that. Just buy shares in the companies that are building their factories over seas you'll do just fine. As someone so eloquently pointed out to me, we have had slaves since man produced more then he needed. Lincoln put a stop to that. We can't be using the word slave, so we pay the(ahem slaves) minimum wages. That got us out of having to supply them with food and a roof over their heads for free. So now we can charge them rent and food, so everything is kosher. right.:rolleyes:
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HEY MAN, THOSE CHINESE PEOPLE ARE JUST LUCKY THEY HAVE JOBS!!! I personally blame the teachers.
 
Next up: Verizon lobbyists get congress to repeal minimum wage so they can hire the employees back on 1/3rd the wages. They benevolently set up a low-rent (but still profitable!) tenement village for their now-homeless workers so that they can afford to eat.

It's all OK because at least we don't live in Somalia! Nothing is evil if a corporation does it! All this government interference is bad for the country, since a corporation should be free to exploit workers as they please. That fucking thirteenth amendment was the worst thing that ever happened to us; imagine how good our economy would be if workers didn't need to be paid! We'd be super successful.
 
Verizon workers do not have difficult jobs. They are not highly educated or skilled with respect to others in the potential candidate field. Verizon is trying to pay them as such. Good on em.
 
GotNoRice said:
A bunch of employees, detached from any sort of actual corporate responsibility or need to make good business decisions, just want more money and don't really seem to care where it comes from. Let's all be sure to thank the unions for enabling this.
Click to expand...
A CEO is just one employee, isn't it? Not a bunch? Oh maybe you were referring to a bunch of executives :D.

GotNoRice said:
When Verizon subscribers see their monthly prices increase, hopefully they will place blame where due.
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Shareholder and CEO greed?
 
WBurchnall said:
Shareholder and CEO greed?
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Yeah people always tend ignore the shareholder side of things. Profits go down, gotta lay off 10k people... notice I said profits go down, not that they had a loss, they're just making less money
 
Cali3350 said:
Verizon workers do not have difficult jobs. They are not highly educated or skilled with respect to others in the potential candidate field. Verizon is trying to pay them as such. Good on em.
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There's a good one. If you work providing a necessary service you deserve to live in poverty.
 
Valshistixol said:
There's a good one. If you work providing a necessary service you deserve to live in poverty.
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The article states that consumers are losing interest in the land line service, and the division is losing money. To continue providing these great perks (FREE healthcare?) and salaries makes the problem worse. Sure, Verizon is making money hand over fist, but Verizon will look out for Verizon first. Verizon does not owe these workers anything.

If these particular workers want to continue earning a high salary with great perks, perhaps they should apply for a transfer to a Verizon division that is performing better.
 
I'm as free market-y as they come. I have an MBA. I don't terribly care for unions much, however, many businesses are cutting their own throats these days. There's a massive disconnect between what science knows and what business does that is highly concerning. (e.g. paying your executives $4 million a year does not increase performance)

Executives are radically overpaid, regular joes are underpaid, and there will be a massive correction coming.
 
Well I was gonna do some ranting but you guys are doing just fine without me.

I hope the workers end up ok. I'd hate to have my back to a wall to the point where I'd have to go strike. Then again Mitch McConnell is my representative so I'm already in hell.
 
Entertainer said:
The article states that consumers are losing interest in the land line service, and the division is losing money. To continue providing these great perks (FREE healthcare?) and salaries makes the problem worse. Sure, Verizon is making money hand over fist, but Verizon will look out for Verizon first. Verizon does not owe these workers anything.

If these particular workers want to continue earning a high salary with great perks, perhaps they should apply for a transfer to a Verizon division that is performing better.
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So Verizon is not only looking to lay people off but to screw the people still employed to run this service.
 
I think its a good thing to have performance for pay. Where I work the hourly employees all make the same money in their job class regardless if they have been there 5 years or 30+. Hardly an incentive to put out good work. Retirement is changinge everywhere and those in the unions should have seen that one coming a mile away. As well as health care and having to contribute to it.

But I agree as well that CEO's make way to much money. But just like the union they made the deal and company agreed to it. Can't fault them for looking out for number one, but can't fault the companies for looking out for number one either. I just don't agree with the Executive pay packages verse what a regular worker makes.

But thats the game now isn't it?
 
Gavv said:
I think its a good thing to have performance for pay. Where I work the hourly employees all make the same money in their job class regardless if they have been there 5 years or 30+. Hardly an incentive to put out good work. Retirement is changinge everywhere and those in the unions should have seen that one coming a mile away. As well as health care and having to contribute to it.

But I agree as well that CEO's make way to much money. But just like the union they made the deal and company agreed to it. Can't fault them for looking out for number one, but can't fault the companies for looking out for number one either. I just don't agree with the Executive pay packages verse what a regular worker makes.

But thats the game now isn't it?
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That's always been the conventional wisdom, right? If we reward performance people will work harder, right? I believed that myself for a very long time. However, study after study after study has shown that at BEST, rewarding performance does nothing and very often has a negative impact. There are theories as to why that is but I don't want to create a tl;dr post.

What social science indicates these days is to pay employees sufficiently that they no longer have to concern themselves with paying their mortgage. Then create an environment of autonomy in order to create engagement rather than simple compliance.
 
Gavv said:
I think its a good thing to have performance for pay. Where I work the hourly employees all make the same money in their job class regardless if they have been there 5 years or 30+. Hardly an incentive to put out good work. Retirement is changinge everywhere and those in the unions should have seen that one coming a mile away. As well as health care and having to contribute to it.

But I agree as well that CEO's make way to much money. But just like the union they made the deal and company agreed to it. Can't fault them for looking out for number one, but can't fault the companies for looking out for number one either. I just don't agree with the Executive pay packages verse what a regular worker makes.

But thats the game now isn't it?
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Maybe it's time to change the game.
 
Valshistixol said:
So Verizon is not only looking to lay people off but to screw the people still employed to run this service.
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I view it as the employees trying to screw Verizon. Verizon is trying to protect the division from further losses, and the employees don't seem to care. If the division continues to lose business, these workers are going to lose their jobs.
 
Entertainer said:
I view it as the employees trying to screw Verizon. Verizon is trying to protect the division from further losses, and the employees don't seem to care. If the division continues to lose business, these workers are going to lose their jobs.
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Why would the employees care about the welfare of Verizon? The employees are looking out for their best interests as the executives of Verizon are doing the same. Unions are a necessary evil as it's long been established that alone, the power balance between an employee and employer is highly skewed in favor of the employer. No matter who you are, no matter what you do, there is always someone else that can do your job.
 
wasteomind said:
Did you read the linked article? Verizon wants to cut their benefits and protections.


While it makes sense in some ways, you can understand why workers who have grown accustomed to a certain way are reluctant to allow these changes. Verizon most likely wants to cut worker benefits to raise profits. God forbid a company provide a living for it's employees.
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Do you know what the changes are? Obviously not or you would think they are fair.

Verizon wants the union to actually pay a portion of their healthcare benefits. Not a huge portion, but equal to what the non-union members pay. The union says no and went on strike.

Yes, oversimplified, but that is the sticking point.

Want to know how much it costs for healthcare in Verizon? So low Obama considers it a cadillac plan. For example, full coverage with low deductable and $20 visit copay for a family of 2 costs $120 a month. Family plans are not that much higher. Is it unreasonable for Verizon to expect the union to actually pay something towards their healthcare costs?

The union thinks paying towards healthcare is unreasonable, so they went on strike.
 
Entertainer said:
I view it as the employees trying to screw Verizon. Verizon is trying to protect the division from further losses, and the employees don't seem to care. If the division continues to lose business, these workers are going to lose their jobs.
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Maybe they shouldn't pay the CEO $17 million if they are suffering losses.
 
Reading all these pro-corporate screw the employee posts I'm really starting to understand why the US government is in such a financial mess. Screw everyone and everything for the bottom line, more money in the pockets of the few.
 
cybrsage said:
Want to know how much it costs for healthcare in Verizon? So low Obama considers it a cadillac plan. For example, full coverage with low deductable and $20 visit copay for a family of 2 costs $120 a month. Family plans are not that much higher. Is it unreasonable for Verizon to expect the union to actually pay something towards their healthcare costs?

The union thinks paying towards healthcare is unreasonable, so they went on strike.
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That's about how much my health plan is at a typical non-union, corporate, white collar job and my company is well known for having pretty substandard benefits. That doesn't really sound outrageous to me. (Now teachers and government employees not having to pay a dime in CA is)
 
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