We’re in a recession. Unemployment is 9.1%... or higher. The credit rating just got downgraded. And these people want to go on strike.
These spoiled jackasses wanted 100 concessions?? Most people in America want one..to be employed. I’ll bet thousands of let-go IT guys in the past 3 months alone would be glad to take the jobs of these clowns.
45,000 jobs just opened up. Good Lord. It would take a few days to get them back to 100% with the skill and talent ready to go. So be it.
Obviously, they believe in their pro-union president.
The Bell operating companies always string a strike along until the wages and benefits saved during the strike exceed the concessions they intend to offer at the table. The more they ask, the longer the strike will run. The union members ALWAYS lose. The fat cat union bosses really don't give a damn. They understand the game. The BOCs usually learn what union labor they can do without in the strike too. While I was out, the computer facility was fitted with new robotic tape handlers. 100% of the non-management personnel handling tapes on my floor were out of a job at the end of the strike. One manager could swap out the 8mm tapes each morning on the UNIX boxes. The big robotic tape handlers cared for the mainframes. In the desert, the step by step switches were replaced with new digital switching machines that are remotely administered. Most of the non-management folks in the desert didn't have a job after the strike either. I took advantage of having the non-management folks out of the CO buildings and fixed many trouble tickets that they refused to work while they had a contract. Tough beans guys. They got fixed while you were making idiots of yourselves in the parking lot.
I have Verizon for landline and Virgin Mobile for cell...I think the union's complaining about obscene profits for the company and now they have to kick in for health care...
>>Verizon wants workers to contribute more for health benefits, including beginning to pay monthly premiums for the first time, while the unions say their members can’t accept the financial burden given the current economy.
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I've been with USPS since 1986 and have always had to pay.
>>>Richard Young, a spokesman for Verizon, said the company is only asking that union workers contribute upfront for health care like other employees do. The changes are necessary to keep the country’s second-largest phone company competitive, he saidVerizon wants unionized workers, who currently pay no monthly premiums for health care, to begin contributing at least $100 a month, or $1,200 a year.
>>“We’re looking to bring our union more in line with what the rest of the workers pay,” said Young, adding that about 130,000 of the company’s approximately 196,000 employees already contribute to health-care premiums.
“Verizon pays $400,000 an hour on health care,” he said. “This is a significant cost factor.”
The CWA called the proposal a radical change. Verizon is a profitable company that pays senior executives well and isn’t in danger of going out of business, said Master. “These are really, really hard economic times,” he said.
Anyone need any more proof that we've become Greece?
Early market trading for the U.S. starts at 5pm EST this afternoon, watch the early market indicators ... can pretty much guarantee they're going to rocket down, especially after the Democrats on today's talking head shows demand tax increases saying the S&P downgrade justifies them.
We haven't seen anything yet on the unemployment front. If you think 9.1 or 10.2% last summer was bad, just wait.