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

DemocracyNow.org - Telecom giant Verizon has threatened to suspend benefits to 45,000 striking workers if they do not return to work at the end of the month. The strike was called after negotiations after Verizon sought to cut health and pension benefits and obtain more leeway to fire workers. The strike is "the most important labor battle going on today," says Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez. "We're not talking about General Motors or a company in financial trouble. Verizon is swimming in cash. Yet even with such a profitable company, you have a situation where it is demanding unprecedented givebacks from its workers. If Verizon -- a profitable company -- insists its work force has to do all of these cuts in their living standards, what does it mean [for] any other company in America? The workers are vowing to keep this up as long as possible because a company that is so profitable right now should not be insisting that its workers give up even more of the hard-fought gains they've had over the years."

For the complete transcript, to download the podcast, or for more additional Democracy Now! reports on the Verizon strike and other recent U.S. labor battles, visit http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/18/juan_gonzalez_verizon_workers_strike_most

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• amy goodman
• democracy now
• dn
• news
• politics
• juan gonzalez
• verizon
• strike
• unions
• phone
• internet

[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.

[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???

[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.

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.