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Striking Verizon Workers Say Company Not Budging in Negotiations

Despite being on strike since the thirteenth of this month, Verizon's 40,000 union workers indicate that negotiations with the telecom giant are not progressing in any meaningful fashion. Despite meeting with Verizon management for much of the week, Communications Workers of America leaders say the company just isn't budging on contentious issues, including reduced wages, tighter pensions, and an overall ramp up in overseas offshore support.

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The unions have been quick to complain that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam earns 200 times more than the average Verizon employee, while the company’s top five executives made $233 million over the last five years.

The union also pointed at Verizon's earnings today as another indication that the company can afford to meet the unions demands and offer better pay and benefits to its regular workers -- it just doesn't want to. The CWA is also criticizing Verizon's pursuit of struggled Yahoo instead of spending money on its employees.

Despite making $39 billion profits over the last three years and $4.43 billion in the first quarter of 2016 alone, the company is refusing to settle a fair contract and continues its efforts to offshore jobs to the Philippines, Mexico and other locations," the CWA said in a statement e-mailed to the media.

"Rather than investing in good jobs here at home, Verizon refuses to make FiOS available to thousands of people in towns and cities throughout the East Coast and is embarking on a questionable path to acquire troubled Yahoo and other companies," the union added. "The value of the Yahoo deal alone would cover the cost to fulfill Verizon’s commitment to New York and complete the Boston buildout with billions left over."

With Verizon pulling in desk jockeys, coders, attorneys and others to do installation and repair, consumers will likely continue to face installation delays as the strike continues.

Most recommended from 132 comments



ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16

59 recommendations

ITALIAN926

Member

Shameful

This company posts 1.5 billion + per month in PROFITS, not revenue, and are looking to strip these workers of their benefits and outsource jobs overseas. Simply incredible.
ham3843
join:2015-01-15
USA

10 recommendations

ham3843

Member

DSM 5?. Perhaps Shamwow and McLowbrow are sociopaths? Are they "disabled" ?

I would love to see these two ghouls submit to a psych evaluation which would test for
the indicators of sociopathology....I would bet they show at least some of those
traits.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

10 recommendations

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Driving around in my new Corolla

Driving around my neighborhood I've seen a couple of replacement workers on the job.

One thing I haven't noticed is the police details directing traffic for the scabs. The Springfield Police are represented by the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and I'm sure they ain't giving into Verizon's greed.

I guess they'll have to get their own goon squad to direct traffic at worksites.
urbang33k
join:2010-02-13
Canada

5 recommendations

urbang33k

Member

Talk to me at 5 months.

Two weeks is nothing. I have worked as a unionized telecom technician for a couple of decades now. Two weeks is nothing!

Talk to me when they pass the five month mark. That might be more news worthy. The company can hire scabs, and put desk jockeys in the field all they want. You know long it takes for an new technician to actually get moderately efficient, effective??

For the first 6 months they cause as much troubles as they fix in the field. That's with knowledgeable senior technicians training and holding their hand. The crash course vs gives the desk jockies and scabs will be laughable.

I say enjoy the time off vz techs. The warm weather is coming. Get out and do some fishing. Start checking off the honey-do lists.

PS, any SMART unionized employee starts putting money away a year before their current contract expires. Not sure how it is south of the border, but strike pay north of the border is tax free.
pittpete1
join:2009-06-12

5 recommendations

pittpete1

Member

Scabs must pay!

Scabs,scabs,scabs

guppy_fish
Premium Member
join:2003-12-09
Palm Harbor, FL

3 recommendations

guppy_fish

Premium Member

Owners

The american model for corporations is ownership by stock and bonds. Those far outnumber the employees number wise and its is they ( looking at you 401K holders ) that are telling management to screw over the employees, not the board, directors or management as they all work for the shareholders. This has been around for more than 100 years.

Can Verizon pay more to employees, absolutely, but this isn't a zero sum game, that pile off profits is going to have someone losing while another gains and the owners ( stock / bond ) are the ones in control. The unions should be trying to get majority ownership, then they can vote there own raises, otherwise, just like everywhere, your either an owner or your a widget, Verizon is not unique in this regard.