Juan Gonzalez: Verizon Workers' Strike "Most Important Labor Battle Going On Today"

[windahm100]

Compare the benefits of Verizon to any other company. What company has job security now? Why are they suppose to be any different? Compare you benefits Verizon to any other corporation....it sounds like the workers are what the greed is about. Wake up workers, we are in recession, be thankful you have a job.

[rgsd1969]

@blackronin1297....i don't understand you? Yeah so you paid union dues...and you didn't recieve a thing...what the hell were you looking for?? You dont get paid for being ina union....a union is there to give you leverage in your negotiations with the company..a union is there to protect your job and to make sure the company lives up to their end of the bargain...What exactly were you looking for???

[Boops1970]

Good job Democracy Now for telling the truth about Verizon and the reason for the strike. These greedy American companys just want to outsource American Jobs. Just ask the non union people. The CEO of Vz makes 37 million. Why should middle class workers have to take 100s of benefit and pension cuts from a company that made BILLIONS off the backs of its employees. Thanks CWA/IBEW. Vz knows now they need to bargain fairly. Going back to work tuesday under the old contract WITH our benefits.

[jakoldyk]

Corporate is making lots of money and is being greedy and unfair to their employees - no, I don't work for Verizon but I support them in this battle against the middle class worker. Hope this is settled soon.

[ibrokeitdidnti]

Oh look, ten more members of the union figured out how to use "redtube". Oh. Pardon me. Youtube.

[skooterlibby1]

Proud to be married to an IBEW member in good standing.  Verizon thinks that the climate is right based on what happened in Wisconsin...keep striking and show these greedy b***tards that the THE MOST important thing to a company is the health, wellfare, and well being of it's workers.

[rgsd1969]

@blackronin1297 I bet you are a manager at verizon....You should learn the history of our union and our dealings with Verizon/Bell Atlantic/NYNEX/New York nTelephone before you make the same usual comment "Be thankful for the job you have"...Please just understand the facts before spewing your nonsense.

[BlackRonin2917]

@rgsd1969 I was a member of the CWA for 9 years. During those nine years, I paid my dues monthly, which totalled to $3.5K, was asked to have other coworkers join the union, and distribute literature to coworkers. In return, I did not receive a thing. I went to a few meetings and listened to the organizers spew redistribution bs and "the rich must pay their fair share" bs. I realized 9 years too late that unions outlived their usefulness. Maybe you will find out soon enough.

[autonomia386]

@BlackRonin2917 TRADE unions outlived their usefulness. The centering of the management into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. Trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry and aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers. Join I.W.W.

[Leebee73]

2 dislikes?? dislike the fact that huge corporations are choking the middle class, this company has asked for ridiculous give-backs that could start the give-backs for everyone working... gov't has given these companies so much power. How can we let this happen? Stand behind these folks, because I bet you this will happen everywhere.

[BlackRonin2917]

@Leebee73 Unions have brought down the shipwright and steel industries, and will soon destroy the automobile and airplane industries. Unions are nothing more than legalized racketeers who try to intimidate people who have a different insight than theirs. All of these unions have assets worth more than $1B. Why not have the unions pay for the benefits? Members pay so much into these shakedown organizations monthly. They should get something other than tshirts and posters...

[windahm100]

@BlackRonin2917 I agree with your words, because they are of the truth. I was a vz employee for 30 years, and saw nothing but intimidation tactics and the unions work with the management to rid of employees who did not agree with their unethical tactics.

[magwep]

We need to support this union. Corporations have gone too far - too much money going to the top 1% of Americans - jobs going overseas so they can fatten their paychecks while destroying their own country. Fight back! The CEO of Verizion made $20.2 million in 2008; they TRIPLED profits last year. C'mon, folks. Let's get smart.

[ncrdisabled]

This is a bad time to strike with the unemployment so high. The union has already said they will cover the medical costs for the strikers who lose there heath care. The strikers better think about the strike pay as it is taxed as pay so they look at getting a good 20% taken out by the time they get the check

[OneBusyLady]

Verizon also wants to increase the forced overtime. People don't get to choose to work OT but are forced right now for 10 hours a week. Verizon wants to make this unlimited. Is that right? Where is the CEO on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day when an outage occurs?!

[OneBusyLady]

I know people who are striking and I have to laugh at those that say that get good holidays. My boyfriend has worked every holiday out there, so sure they get their holiday "day" but usually after the holiday occurred and family is not together any more. You don't know what these techs go through to make sure that you all have DSL, FIOS, and cell service available to you.

[kormathaw]

Facts from the CWA's own site. Verizon non-union get: tuition reimb 100% on in field studies. Pay for performance. Healthcare roughly 66% covered. 6% dollar for dollar 401k instead of pension. 7 fixed holidays plus 7 floating personal holidays. This isn't good enough for the Unions. They want their tuition paid for any subject, 100% healthcare for life, even after retirement, pension on top of their generous 401k.,11 holidays plus fixed sick time. And fixed pay increases even for low performers.

[flapperhead]

@kormathaw

when the top 5 executive made a quarter of a billion in the past 4-5 yrs, ill take a cut when they sacrifice for the company.. This company is awash in cash and who the hell do u think made it that way. secondly.counting on a 401k in this time of wallstreet gambling with our pension(in case youre wondering most 401s havent come near to where they were b4 wasllstreet turned into a casino)..would be real risky...

[kormathaw]

@flapperhead Let's see...the top exec makes $29 Mil I recall reading. Let's cut him back to $1 and split the wealth with the union. You can have your $644 dollars. Now, let's cut the $20,000 excess from the Union $50,000 benefits package and save $900 mil and save 18,000 true middle class $50,000/yr jobs. Did I read right on the CWA website? Healthcare coverage 100% for life? Only people I know who get that are the president and congress.

[BlackRonin2917]

What more do these clowns want? Do they want Verizon to pay someone to wipe their asses every hour of the day? Unions have outlived their usefulness. There are laws to protect workers' rights. Unions just want to milk the workers for more cash for annual shakedowns to feather their union bosses nest eggs. These clowns need to be thankful that they have a job and quit bitching about asinine nonsense! CWA, your thug tactics by going to the CEO's private residence does not play well with Americans!

[flapperhead]

@BlackRonin2917

you have no clue whats happening to the verizon workers or the middle class for that matter. maybe youll wake up when youre living in a cardboard box, cause thats what gonna happen, if we keep going this way..

[BlackRonin2917]

@flapperhead If we have your way, I'll end up in a "reeducation camp" with a bullet to the back of the head. Look, you need to stop coveting what your neighbor has and start working for the things that you want. Unions are just legalized mobsters specialized in legal racketeering. Unions have assets worth billions. Why don't you clowns go after them instead?

[kormathaw]

This is filled with misinfo. Verizon isn't taking away Martin Luther King Holiday, Verizon is offering the same plan other Verizon employees make. Verizon gives major holidays plus a week of floating holidays that employees can take off whatever they want to, to be sensative to people who celebrate less known holidays. Verizon opted to move to a very generous 401k plan from Pensions years back. The Unions wants both. Verizon pays a great chunk of healthcare. The Unions want 100%.

[JS4KIKZ]

@kormathaw

So, you're saying Verizon is offering the same plans to one employee that another has? This makes no sense. Yes, Verizon gives major holidays, to some. Others, who have low seniority (less time than others with the company), have less of a choice on what days they have off. And for the "floating holidays", no sir/mam, you are wrong. Verizon employees get ONE floating holiday, and the company can (and has) denied employees to take that day. Out of characters to write...good luck idiot

[kormathaw]

@JS4KIKZ You can say white is black and black is white, but that doesn't make it true. I know hundreds of Verizon non-union employees from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York. Every one of them I know get 7 floating personal holidays. I guess if you are going to take the word of a union member who only knows their own package, then I guess that makes you the idiot. Yes there are exceptions to the norm, but the whole point is that Verizon is trying to bring the union in line with the norm.

[pennerblu]

ALL of the large telcos have been vicious when it came to strike time. Since the 2003 timeline strikes with then SBC, Verizon, AT&T, AT&T wireless; all of these telcos worked hard on take backs and made it evident that their goal was to diminish the CWA bargaining power. It's all greed! The ceo's were reaping HUGE bonuses and they spent unlimited dollars to place their company logos in any sporting building they could find. At big sporting events, money was NO object. No credit to CWA? sheesh

[secretbubba3]

The public needs to vote with their dollars and shop elsewhere. I'm going to at&t and told Verizon that!

[DEMAGEO]

Juan Gonzalez was on point. Telling it like it is. So that the world can know what a bully of a company Vz is. Did you hear that...they are swimming in money!! What a shame. Vz should be ashamed of itself.

[Bloodorphan]

It is morally wrong to make around 55,000 a day as CEO and try to force people earning around 55,000 a year to take cuts in anything

[RedHighHeels777]

fat cats just want to get fatter

[MarKatJac]

Smart people will let Verizon know they don't approve of this nonsense. They should be boycotted. But, since unions have been vilified with such a vengeance by both republicans and democrats, there is little hope for job security in this nation. No one will buy houses in the US unless they believe they will have a job tomorrow. Don't act mystified when the housing market doesn't improve. Wake up America!