Just over it.
"Verizon workers strike over contract" by Associated Press / August 7, 2011
NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of unionized Verizon Communications Inc. workers from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., went on strike early today after they failed to agree on a labor contract with the telecommunications company. The Communications Workers of America said negotiations in Philadelphia and New York stalled after Verizon continued to demand more than 100 concessions from workers and the unions refused to budge. The contract that expired at midnight covers 45,000 workers, including 10,000 represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers."
"45,000 Verizon workers walk off the job; 6,000 in state; strike a rarity for the times" by Taryn Luna, Globe Correspondent / August 8, 2011
About 45,000 Verizon employees, including 6,000 in Massachusetts, went on strike yesterday after failing to reach a new union contract in one of the biggest labor actions in the United States in recent years....
Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro said the strike should not affect customers. The company prepared by training tens of thousands of other employees to conduct customer service, repairs, installation, and other jobs done by unionized employees....
The strike, said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, is unusual at a time when unemployment is high, the economy is weak, and wages have not increased for the average US worker in more than a decade.
And yet corporations and banks rake in billions in profit each quarter.
“When you think about it, going on a strike at the time when the average worker is gaining nothing is pretty risky business,’’ he said.
Steve Early, a former national staff member of the CWA, said the last comparable strike in New England was in 2002, when 3,000 Boston janitors went up against building service contractors.
Thomas Kohler, a professor of law at Boston College who specializes in labor and employment law issues, said America has one of the lowest number of strikes of any major economy. The Verizon strike “shows the belief on the union’s part that the technicians cannot easily be replaced,’’ he said.
The strike could affect utilities across the region. Local 369 of the Utility Workers Union of America, which includes NStar and National Grid employees, has refused to cross picket lines.
A Verizon-owned telephone pole or manhole, for example, might also be used by NStar or National Grid and vice versa, said David Leonardi, president of UWUA Local 369. If any of the shared utility equipment needs repairs and is at a picket site, Local 369 members would not help.
“The number-one reason is that the company cannot, in our view, guarantee the safety of workers when they are crossing picket lines,’’ Leonardi said. “Those folks are out there for a reason and sometimes get a little testy.’’
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Union spokesmen said they went into negotiations a month ago willing to make concessions related to health care benefits. They said Verizon’s proposals to limit sick days, eliminate some holidays, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veteran’s Day, freeze pensions, and remove a clause in the contract that limits the company’s ability to lay off workers went too far.
Calvey, of the IBEW, said the cuts are unacceptable from a company that had $27.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter.
Verizon contends the massive loss of landline customers during the past 10 years, increased competition, and the rough economic climate are forcing the company to cut costs “in an area that is no longer growing for us.’’
“These employees are working under contracts that were negotiated and created in a time that is very different from today,’’ said Santoro, the Verizon spokesman.
In other words, the LAW MEANS NOTHING to CORPORATIONS when it comes to COLLECTIVE BARGAINING!
Santoro said the company’s increase in second-quarter revenue was because of the success of its wireless division....
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