(US) 65,000 Verizon employees on the verge of striking

[chimx]

Two unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, have promised to strike if a new contract hasn't been reached by midnight tonight. Both unions have already agreed to a 1 week extension from last week's deadline, but if an agreement isn't hammered out by 12:01AM monday, the unions have vowed to strike with their 65,000 members working at Verizon, roughly 1/3 of Verizon's total employees.

The major points of contention in the contract that the union is trying to put forward is guarantees to stop outsourcing of labor, as well as better pay and benefits.

Unfortunately, Verizon Wireless, the real heart of Verizon, has few union employees and cell service will not be effected by this strike which reduces the unions leverage. It will primarily effect cable, internet, and service calls.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g0KAJT6za6rPmGKM4ztdB1KwiKzQD92FEA380

[chimx]

An agreement was reached at the last second. It still has to be ratified by the members and hopefully they will at least consider turning it down. It is a 3-year contract that will only see a 10.5% wage increase. This is quite a gamble considering inflation rates for 2008 are around 4%. If the economy continues at this rate and inflation stays the same (or increases), this will amount to a pay deduction in reality. However, if inflation goes down a bit, say, to 2007 levels of 2-3%, it would result in a small increase, but that's a gamble.

One analyst commented, "Ten years ago (a strike) would have been inconvenient to the customers, but since they had no other place to go, Verizon would not have lost business." There is a lot of room to pressure Verizon for better contracts that guarantee good wages and it would be nice if the membership acknowledged this when it comes to ratifying this contract.

[crimespotter]

All we want to do is to have fair treatment in work, but in reality,it is not gonna happen.