This thread has lost its way. The bottom line is AT&T has made an enormous amount of money. 14,000,000 dollars was what was left in their bank account after they paid all of there bills. Once all the "greedy union workers" were paid, CEO's and CFO's were paid there "ridiculous bonuses" and AT&T acquired Bell South and Cingular wireless and many other European Telecom companies there was still 14 million left in their account.
Nobody is claiming poverty and no one is asking for bailout money and no one is looking to put AT&T in the poor house. Bernie Madoff didn't run off with millions of dollars.
The fact is AT&T is hand has been a very profitable company. Double digit revenue increases for 18 straight quarters, raised dividend on stock price and CEO's taking huge bonuses.
What is amazing is that the amount of revenue earned or saved can be directly associated with the 12,000 workers they just laid off not 1 year ago. In such a bad economy AT&T has manged to do just fine.
What I also find amazing is that hard working people who work hard every day and struggle to make ends meet decide to use their income to buy AT&T products and services not realizing that the money they spend goes to the top 5% of the people in the company while the 95% gets whats left over.
So lets talk about whats left over. I receive 31 dollars an hour. I am entitled to over time over 8 hours and double time over 11 hours cumulative for the week. I get 10 sick days and 10 paid holidays and I get 4 personal days. I receive a pension and a 401k with a company match (80 percent of the first 6 percent) paid in stock which averages a 5% dividend. I get 3 weeks paid vacation and if I last long enough will be able to earn 5 weeks. I get a pair of boots a year and a clothing allowance through company apparel. I get on the job training and I work on telephones and the new AT&T U-verse service. I also pay nothing towards my premium of health care. I pay 20 dollars for office visits and 75 dollars for ER visits. I get 1 free dental exam a year and one free eye exam as well as money towards glasses if needed.
Sounds pretty good and it sounds like when we talk about a strike for health care we sound greedy. It isn't about what we have or don't have. All of the things I have mentioned have been afforded to me by the people who came before me. We must now carry on for those who are to carry on after us.
Is it not fair that when SNET (Southern New ENGLAND TELEPHONE COMPANY) NOW AT&T , back in the eighties fell on hard times they asked us to for go raises and pay increases. They laid off workers and made those who stayed take unpaid days off and work shorter weeks, because they did and the union conceded because it was for the good of the company. Now that our company is profitable shouldn't the worker share in that success?
Again it isn't about what we have but is about the gap between the very lowest of workers and the CEO's whom are out of touch with the struggles of the middle class.
No one is asking for more but only to keep what we have. CEO's who make 23 million dollars like Randall Stephenson doesn't know what it would be like to pay 15,000 dollars a year towards health care. Many of you out there reading this knows what it is like and it is a struggle. The issue is again AT&T is very very very profitable and if it weren't for the 125,000 workers it couldn't possibly be as successful as it is. Companies need worker bees too and we also need CEO's to make smart decisions to keep the worker bees busy but laying off 12,000 workers to keep enormous bonuses putting people on unemployment making them the taxpayers burden is unfair.
Whether I have to pay for medical benefits or not shouldn't bother people. I know it does because what MAKES ME BETTER THAN YOU...RIGHT? NOTHING!! just that I work for a very profitable company and they should be responsible enough to take care of the workers who are taking care of them. When a company like AT&T pulls its benefits from its workers which company is next?
Lastly I have the potential to work 365 days a year. I have worked on Christmas day. I work in the snow, wind, rain heat. I work in crawl spaces in attics and on telephone poles 30 feet in the air sometimes on very tiny hooks and not on a ladder or in an aerial lift vehicle all while trying not to get killed or kill someone. I work around high power tension lines everyday. My office is 30 feet in the air with no windows and no door. I set up traffic safety around my truck trying not to get run over. I encounter poisonous plants, mice, rats, snakes, bats, dogs and ticks and spiders. I enter manholes filled with water and pollutants and am around lead and asbestos. I dig trenches through neighborhoods where the wires are underground and make those repairs where the only thing between my feet and high voltage is a rubber blanket and a puddle of water. My job is rated by OSHA as one of the top five hazardous jobs right behind forestry and commercial fishing. So when you talk about being greedy , you should really think about what a worker in the telephone company encounters daily. Not everyone's house is as clean as your own. I also have to posses a knowledge on how to actually install and fix things under all of those conditions as well.
The Husband of BirdieSunshine.
A hardworking union member who feels that when a company is as profitable as AT&T at some point should reward the worker to share in that success.
Managers who cross picket lines are not scabs and don't deserve the BS they go through for no more additional pay.
Plenty of 1st level managers are trying to organize into unions of their own because of the way they have been treated by AT&T and there is a court case pending right now which is to determine if they are exempt or not. If they are exempt AT&T will have even more union workers on their hands in the form of 1st level managers.
Are you kidding me?
All I see on this thread is sour grapes.
, and if you take out the sub conversation about ATT, most posters explained why the would or would not cross a picket line. The reasons were varied.
