Verizon striking

[threecrazykids]

My husband is a Union worker for Verizon. CWA - i think after striking 2-3 weeks he would get about 200.00 per week - not sure that would last too long.

As to why they r striking its not about just health benefits its also about a pay increase, pensions - being able to fire employees etc. I don't know all of it but i do know that we are not getting any money now - but if the unio decides to strike, the union employees back the union and go out on strike. The workers they hire to replace them - do not...they defiitly don't know that much the managers i'm sure are hating this just as much.

I hope they come to an agreement - both sides have to budge this is not good for anyone!!!!!

If your company makes u pay for benefits i'm sure you would be thrilled if someone fought so u didn't have to pay - to come down on these hard workers is really not fair - pretty disappointed at the responses!

What is VZ doing in regards to their pay increases? Get this...they actually have the audacity to want to tie their pay increases to PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS! Oh the horror.

I agree that I hope they come to an agreement. I (clearly) am non-union and I do understand what the union is fighting for in some capacity.

However, I don't however believe anyone is "getting the shaft" if they have to have their pay increases based on their performance. I don't think contributing to your healthcare is out of line. I don't think that offering only 401k to new employees is uncalled for. I also would BEG to have the OT that these people complain about. My husband was laid off in November and is STILL beating down doors trying to find a job. If I had the OT that these union workers have available to me I'd work as many hours possible to make ends meet. 2 weeks ago I had to get Director level approval to stay 45 mins late!

Do I think that the top 5 execs are overpaid? OF COURSE! But I'm certainly not going to give up my job over it.

 

[katie26]

Ok, just have to clarify here....I work for Verizon, and am out on strike right now. I REALLY don't want to get into the whole +/- of unions, but had to say that Verizon makes BILLIONS of $$$ a year in profits. And, as you see, they obviously have the money to ship in workers and pay $300 a night each for a person's hotel, food and flight. But, they can't seem to pay the workers who only want a fair contract???

I can tell you that Verizon came to the bargaining table with over 100 concessions they wanted the union employees to make. These include huge contributions to an inferior health care plan, a freeze in pensions, no wage increase over the course of the contract (usually 3 years), and here's a big one, no job security, and the ability to transfer jobs. (hmmm, to India, perhaps?! or to non-union locations, since the new Ceo is from Verizon Wireless where they HATE unions) That is only a sampling.

I understand that in this economy, the idea is, "well, you have a job, so just shut up, and go to work." And trust me, I'd love to. As a single mom, this is really going to hurt me financially, if we are out of work for a while. But, why should a company that some people have spent their lives at (we have people with 40+ years of service on the job) have everything that they have worked so hard for, just taken from them? Coporate greed, plain and simple.

I'm not sure why people get all over the middle class workers when corporations like these are taking huge government buyouts, given 'golden parachutes" to top executives, care ONLY for the bottom line, etc. So many corporations just do whatever they want to their workers now. Verizon has done it to all of their lower level managers already. They WISH they had some sort of union protection. I hear it everyday. And once the strike is over, they'll be letting a bunch of them go, I'm sure! They've done it before.

Verizon is not a struggling company. Let's take a look:
•2011 annualized revenues are $108 billion and annualized net profits are $6 billion.
•Verizon Wireless just paid its parent company and Vodaphone a $10 billion dividend.
•Verizon’s top five executives received compensation of $258 million over the past four years
Oh, and by the way, they pay NO federal taxes.

The union members aren't asking for anything MORE than they deserve or currently have. They aren't asking for unreasonable demands, just to keep most of what they already have.

As a union member, I just wanted to post to say thank you to you and your family for standing up for what's right, even at what might be a great personal cost.

Companies are rolling back benefits and increasing co-pays for them, why should it be any different for these people?

It should be different for ALL of us.

At a time when executive compensation is absolutely sky-high compared to many other industrialized nations, and even compared to our own country just a few decades ago, companies should not be rolling back benefits for anyone before scaling back executive compensation to much more reasonable numbers. In 1964, the average ratio between a CEO's pay and the average salary in that company was 24 to 1. Today it is closer to a 300 to 1 ratio. That's crazy. See John Mackey's blog post on the Harvard Business Review site:
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/how-to-fix-executive-pay/2009/06/why-high-ceo-pay-is-bad-business.html

I really don't understand why anyone who isn't an executive themselves would defend this sort of executive compensation scheme, which is a significant contributor to the growing gap between the rich and poor. I certainly wouldn't argue that top executives in corporations don't deserve large salaries - they have immense responsibilities and have generally worked very, very hard to get to the positions they hold. However, when a company's top four executives have made $258 million dollars between them in the last four years, it's hard for me to believe that the company can't maintain profitability unless they ask their workers - hard working middle class people and their families - to give back on pensions and health insurance. Maybe the executives should give a little back themselves.

And ultimately, where do we draw the line? First they came for our pensions... then they came for our health benefits... when do we say enough is enough?

 

[S. C.]

As a union member, I just wanted to post to say thank you to you and your family for standing up for what's right, even at what might be a great personal cost.



It should be different for ALL of us.

At a time when executive compensation is absolutely sky-high compared to many other industrialized nations, and even compared to our own country just a few decades ago, companies should not be rolling back benefits for anyone before scaling back executive compensation to much more reasonable numbers. In 1964, the average ratio between a CEO's pay and the average salary in that company was 24 to 1. Today it is closer to a 300 to 1 ratio. That's crazy. See John Mackey's blog post on the Harvard Business Review site:
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/how-to-fix-executive-pay/2009/06/why-high-ceo-pay-is-bad-business.html

I really don't understand why anyone who isn't an executive themselves would defend this sort of executive compensation scheme, which is a significant contributor to the growing gap between the rich and poor. I certainly wouldn't argue that top executives in corporations don't deserve large salaries - they have immense responsibilities and have generally worked very, very hard to get to the positions they hold. However, when a company's top four executives have made $258 million dollars between them in the last four years, it's hard for me to believe that the company can't maintain profitability unless they ask their workers - hard working middle class people and their families - to give back on pensions and health insurance. Maybe the executives should give a little back themselves.

And ultimately, where do we draw the line? First they came for our pensions... then they came for our health benefits... when do we say enough is enough?

 

[eliza61]

I'm always amazed that people think if a company is making money, that they somehow aren't allowed to make more money. That pretty much is the idea. The company answers to their shareholders, not the employees. If you feel it shouldn't be that way, you can stop participating in capitalism or travel back in time. Otherwise those are the rules the Western world runs by.

The "demands" Verizon has seems quite reasonable to most outsiders.

I used to work for a telecommunications company also.

Freeze the pension? My pension was frozen years ago, and as it is so underfunded it doesn't matter anyway. I can't even roll it over as the laws require me to take half now if I do that. Pensions are a luxury few large corporations still have.

No wage increases for 3 year? I haven't gotten a raise in 5. And I'm considered a top performer.

Contributions to a health plan? Seriously? My former employer would charge you a $1500 fine if your spouse worked and didn't use their companies health plan.

No job security? Are you serious?

Why do we do this? are we so self centered that when we lose benefits we want everyone else to suffer also?

See I don't understand this logic. So since you loss your pension you want everyone to lose their pension?

So you haven't gotten a raise in 5 years, you don't want anyone else to have a raise?

So basically this country has denigrated to "if I can't have, no one else should get either". Now how sad is that.

Now I don't work for verizon but I do know that I have a pension and I would be upset if my company decided to freeze it and I'm sorry that others lost theirs but is that suppose ot make me feel better?

Yes I would fight to keep what I have earned.

 

[luvestodizz]

It is very sad when an American citizen believes it is a good idea to settle for any job. Verizon wants to take away benefits and pay that the union members not only fought for years ago, but work for everyday. Corporate greed is going to be the killing of the middle class. We not only need to think about ourselves,but future generations. Is everyone's child or grandchild going to be a corporate CEO? Do we want our children to be essentially slaves to a job that does not allow them to live a comfortable life? If unionized jobs are eliminated, where is the protection for the worker? It will cause a ripple effect, where corporations will further strip workers of their salary, benefits, and rights.
The union is not making demands for salary or benefit increases. They only ask for the continuity of the fair contract that has allowed Verizon to be profitable and expand. With our economy the way it is, how can we allow the average American to constantly be the one making sacrifices? Corporations have the luxury of things like avoiding taxes and outsourcing jobs to be more profitable. Does our children's future lie in a call center or factory in Guatamala? Americans need to stand united in standing up for all workers, union,non union, government or private!

 

[mnrose]

As a union member, I just wanted to post to say thank you to you and your family for standing up for what's right, even at what might be a great personal cost.



It should be different for ALL of us.

At a time when executive compensation is absolutely sky-high compared to many other industrialized nations, and even compared to our own country just a few decades ago, companies should not be rolling back benefits for anyone before scaling back executive compensation to much more reasonable numbers. In 1964, the average ratio between a CEO's pay and the average salary in that company was 24 to 1. Today it is closer to a 300 to 1 ratio. That's crazy. See John Mackey's blog post on the Harvard Business Review site:
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/how-to-fix-executive-pay/2009/06/why-high-ceo-pay-is-bad-business.html

I really don't understand why anyone who isn't an executive themselves would defend this sort of executive compensation scheme, which is a significant contributor to the growing gap between the rich and poor. I certainly wouldn't argue that top executives in corporations don't deserve large salaries - they have immense responsibilities and have generally worked very, very hard to get to the positions they hold. However, when a company's top four executives have made $258 million dollars between them in the last four years, it's hard for me to believe that the company can't maintain profitability unless they ask their workers - hard working middle class people and their families - to give back on pensions and health insurance. Maybe the executives should give a little back themselves.

And ultimately, where do we draw the line? First they came for our pensions... then they came for our health benefits... when do we say enough is enough?

The Wall Street fat cats and executive CEOs have very cleverly created this anti-union frenzy to keep the attention focused away from them. They are creating a fight that is distracting to the real issue, and look how many here have bought into it? Why in the world do we want to make sure that there is no middle class? I don't get that at all. And, if someone else has a job that provides excellent pay and benefits, I don't want them to lose it just because I don't have it. That makes no sense.

The middle class is what makes this country strong. A small number of uber wealthy individuals (who have all gotten a LOT richer over the last decade...can you say that? Didn't think so!) is not going to make America great. We need spending on main street to do that...not spending on 5th Avenue.

 

[luvestodizz]

I forgot to add my DH is a Verizon employee and proud to be CWA!

 

[eliza61]

What amazes me is that people actually believe that they should have control over how much the investors should earn.
And what also amazes me is that when they believe that higher taxes will have to be paid because that company
(fill in the blank, but it usually begins with the words 'big oil') earns too much money.
They do not for a minute consider that that tax hike that they have to pay will be passed along to the CONSUMER. Wake up!

My counterpart, Eliza, will be along in a while to offer a different opinion. Hi E

Hi babe!!

I don't think anyone earns too much money (and you know we get a lot of flak for being part of the big bad oil company). I'm totally on board with companies making gigantic profits as long as it's legal. I do find it hard to swallow when you make a lot of money and then cry broke because your workers who help you make that money simply want a pension that they already have.

I'm very lucky that my company ties my raises directly to company profits (a union negotiated benefit). If hte company doesn't make a profit we get zippo but if the company does make a profit everyone from the cook in the cafeteria to the ceo gets a piece of the pie. thankfully they recognize that all employees contribute to the bottom line success and that without the little guy the big guy wouldn't be employeed either. We don't let management use the recession as a weapon. Yes, I know their are millions unemployeed, does that mean I'm supposed to roll over and be treated like slave labor?

So actually i want my job to make buck loads of money, it means more money in my pocket.

 

[threecrazykids]

I forgot to add my DH is a Verizon employee and proud to be CWA!

I know I'm "the enemy" (because I'm a Verizon non-union employee) I honestly wish your family the best. This strike is horrible on everyone involved and I pray for a reasonable outcome for all.

 

[m&m's mom]

You know you have to be valuable enough to your employer to be paid what you feel who deserve. I don't have to threaten my employer to be compensated for the job I do. My employer and I have a mutual dependent relationship. I do a good job and they pay me enough so I will stay and keep doing a good job for them.
Once I was going to leave my job and take another and my boss gave me a large enough raise to make it worth it for me to stay. If not, I would leave and do a good job for someone else and my old employer loses out.
See? No threatening needed. If you're not happy at Verizon- leave and go work somewhere else that pays what you think you are worth. That simple.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

I pay just under $3000 a year for the "cheap" insurance plan. If I pay that, I think people in the union can, too.

My raise is not based on my performance, only on the total performance of the store where I work. I wish my raise was based on MY performance. All raises should be that way. Everyone should be accountable... And that would be their job security.

 

[Judique]

You know you have to be valuable enough to your employer to be paid what you feel who deserve. I don't have to threaten my employer to be compensated for the job I do. My employer and I have a mutual dependent relationship. I do a good job and they pay me enough so I will stay and keep doing a good job for them.
Once I was going to leave my job and take another and my boss gave me a large enough raise to make it worth it for me to stay. If not, I would leave and do a good job for someone else and my old employer loses out.
See? No threatening needed. If you're not happy at Verizon- leave and go work somewhere else that pays what you think you are worth. That simple.

You were going to leave - and your employer paid you more to stay?

In other words when you threatened to leave, your employer increased your compensation. If you didn't get better pay, you were going elsewhere. What's so different? The fact that you were an individual negotiating your own package? You still wanted a better deal. If your employer didn't pay you enough, you weren't going to say, okay I'll stay anyway?

 

[katie26]

You were going to leave - and your employer paid you more to stay?

In other words when you threatened to leave, your employer increased your compensation. If you didn't get better pay, you were going elsewhere. What's so different? The fact that you were an individual negotiating your own package? You still wanted a better deal. If your employer didn't pay you enough, you weren't going to say, okay I'll stay anyway?

Also, M&M's Mom, your argument, in order to work, requires the availability of jobs and employers that will pay employees what they are actually worth. With 9.1% unemployment in the United States and plenty of families on this board who are enduring the hardships of unemployment, it's really not that simple. Especially in the case of the telecom business, where the big players are eating up their smaller competitors like crazy.

 

[threecrazykids]

Also, M&M's Mom, your argument, in order to work, requires the availability of jobs and employers that will pay employees what they are actually worth. With 9.1% unemployment in the United States and plenty of families on this board who are enduring the hardships of unemployment, it's really not that simple. Especially in the case of the telecom business, where the big players are eating up their smaller competitors like crazy.

EXACTLY! Might want to think long and hard about that before you sign that union card that you know could require you to go on strike should your "temp job" come to an end at the expiration of that contract.

 

[sam_gordon]

A couple of people have thrown out "fair" in this... regarding wages and benefits. The problem is what's the definition of "fair". I have no idea what these workers make in salary, but let's say $20/hour. To someone making $10/hour, it seems "fair" that union workers shouldn't be guaranteed raises or should pay into healthcare. To someone making the $20/hour with pension and no healthcare costs, it's "fair" to keep the status quo.

To me, unions have gone too far. IMO, while unions should be around to make sure no one is treated illegally or "unfairly" (fired, demoted, paycut simply because they're not "friends" with the boss or something), I think they've pushed too hard and are now seeing a backlash, not just from employers, but from non-union employees.

My shop doesn't have a union (although many in my industry belong to one). We pay into our health care, they froze our pension long ago (but contribute to a 401K), we are not guaranteed raises (although I've never not gotten one), and everyone had to take 5 furlough days in 2009. Do I wish the company would pay all our health care costs or keep funding the pension? Sure. But if I don't like it, I could leave.

I think unions are going to eventually "kill the golden goose".

 

[melmar136]

Why do we do this? are we so self centered that when we lose benefits we want everyone else to suffer also?

See I don't understand this logic. So since you loss your pension you want everyone to lose their pension?

So you haven't gotten a raise in 5 years, you don't want anyone else to have a raise?

So basically this country has denigrated to "if I can't have, no one else should get either". Now how sad is that.

Now I don't work for verizon but I do know that I have a pension and I would be upset if my company decided to freeze it and I'm sorry that others lost theirs but is that suppose ot make me feel better?

Yes I would fight to keep what I have earned.

Thank you so much. This is EXACTLY the feeling I get on here. I don't have that, so why should you? Sad indeed.

 

[undertheradar]

Worth being relative to current employment market conditions. While executive compensation has become criminal in comparison to the average employee's compensation, exactly how much compensation does your union leadership receive? When our grocery clerks were out on strike, it was revealed that the head of the local union was being compensated at extremely higher levels than the union employees that were represented. Since it was stated that there is a shrinking field of opportunity in the telecom industry, it stands to reason that cuts would need to be made. Just looks like a poor choice to strike in a bad economy. I'm sure there are plenty of people out of work who would gladly take those jobs with the new conditions. As for pensions, those went the way of the gold watch for longevity. Welcome to the world of the 401k.

 

[melmar136]

My husband is a Union worker for Verizon. CWA - i think after striking 2-3 weeks he would get about 200.00 per week - not sure that would last too long.

As to why they r striking its not about just health benefits its also about a pay increase, pensions - being able to fire employees etc. I don't know all of it but i do know that we are not getting any money now - but if the unio decides to strike, the union employees back the union and go out on strike. The workers they hire to replace them - do not...they defiitly don't know that much the managers i'm sure are hating this just as much.

I hope they come to an agreement - both sides have to budge this is not good for anyone!!!!!

If your company makes u pay for benefits i'm sure you would be thrilled if someone fought so u didn't have to pay - to come down on these hard workers is really not fair - pretty disappointed at the responses!

CWA does get paid something, from what I have heard. IBEW gets nothing. No pay. I am IBEW.

 

[melmar136]

I pay just under $3000 a year for the "cheap" insurance plan. If I pay that, I think people in the union can, too.
.

From what I have heard, the deductible alone will be about $3000, and the weekly deductions around $30 (for a single person plan), no idea for a family plan. So, if it IS only $30 that's another $1560 yearly.
So, $4560 for a plan that isn't nearly as good as the one you had? Oh, and I have no idea how much more to add in there for a dental plan.

I can totally see contributing to a health care plan. I can see it is only realistic to do so. But all that money for a plan that basically stinks really isn't acceptable to the union.

 

[njmom47]

Local newspaper today had a story, and it seems 2 striking employees were hurt; one had his foot run over and the other was knocked to the ground by a side-view mirror (truck was allegedly driven by non-union Verizon person). I drive past a Verizon office every day on my way to work, and there has been picketers outside that office for months (although not every day).