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45,000 Verizon Workers On Strike Over New Contract

Posted by timothy on from the your-call-is-very-important-to-us-please-hold dept.

Trouble with your landline? If you have Verizon, especially on the east coast, it might not be the best time to have it fixed; The Daily Mail reports that "Forty-five thousand Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., are on the picket line Sunday as labour contract talks fizzled. More than a fifth of the wireless giant's work force has gone on strike as contract negotiations for the wireline division broke down last night."

41 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. A strike? Oh, No! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    What impact will this have on Verizon's legendary customer service?

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    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:A strike? Oh, No! by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

      What impact will this have on Verizon's legendary customer service?

      It'll improve because during the interminably long hold times, more customers will solve the problem on their own, rather than be given the wrong answer.

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      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  2. I will complain! by DWMorse · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone will hear about this, Verizon! I dema [Closing Link: tech.slashdot.com (Disconnected from server.)]

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    There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
  3. In other news, by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In other, totally unrelated news, Verizon reported a 6.3% earnings jump from last year at this time. Of course, since Verizon has less free spending money and has invested in their hopelessly out of date network to remain competitive with the 3rd world... they decided to cut labor and give themselves raises for being so smart!

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    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:In other news, by flaming+error · · Score: 2

      > remain competitive with the 3rd world

      They can't really compete with the 3rd world in quality, so they're trying their best to compete in wages.

    2. Re:In other news, by mjwalshe · · Score: 4, Informative

      sweetheart as a veteran of the phone industry the rest of the developed words phone companies does consider the US third world

  4. Those disgusting proles! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How dare they let their petty concerns over whether they get a pittance or a laughable pittance from Verizon's bloated coffers interfere with my right to vapid chatter?

    1. Re:Those disgusting proles! by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the article is 'surprisingly' short on details about WHY the workers are on strike.

      you can bet they have a good reason. and the fact that media does not report news anymore when its the little guy who gets stomped by big business..

      I've been on the receiving side of having wages cut, benefits cut and then my job cut. I can look and see the middle class eroding before my own eyes. I can fully believe 'big wireless' is being greedy and forcing workers to settle for less and less over time.

      why isn't this reported?

      you know why. the real truth is not what media co's want coming out. its actually too unsettling to report this level of truth in the world.

      I've been a fan of unions, recently. I see a lot of parallels between the days of woody guthrie and today. big companies are owning your ass and getting you to settle for less and less, all the while getting richer and richer. study history, its a 100% repeat of the early part of the 1900's in the US. listen to the pro-union and pro-labor songs (folk songs) and imagine them being sung today. they fit like a glove.

      we need unions back. and we need most of the workers to admit this and force companies to stop stealing OUR hard earned wealth.

      capitalism - in its current state - is a failure. look all around you. we need something better. what's it going to take before everyone realizes that? how much worse does it have to get?

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Those disgusting proles! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      capitalism - in its current state - is a failure. look all around you.

      *looking around*

      Yup, looks good. We have money in the bank, and our currency is so strong you could bounce an oil tanker off it. The unemployment rate is at an all-time low. People are starting businesses right and left. Most of them will not make it, but such is life. Crime is low, even for a country that ranks fourth when it comes to gun ownership.

      Then again, we have sensible taxes, and we are not being overrun by teabaggers. We don't start wars that drain our coffers every decade or so.

      The country would be Norway, which I understand is usually referred to as "communist" at your end of the pond. How are the republicans working out for you guys?

    3. Re:Those disgusting proles! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fact that my original post wasn't trivially identified as sarcasm rather unnerves me...

    4. Re:Those disgusting proles! by pipelayerification · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As I look around I see tea partiers trying to lower the oppressive tax burden that is stifling business and employment. I see a currency that has been driven into the ground by Liberal Keynsian economic philosophy in action (government stimulus will save the economy, to get money for government stimulus we will take the money from those who make up the economic engine of the country. Then we take 25% of that money for administrative costs of a bloated and corrupt government and send the rest to out favorite causes, political boondoggles, and contributors and call it "shovel ready projects". Presto, we made 25% disappear completely and the rest went to people we really care about like the SEIU. Huh, wierd. The economy is getting worse. Obviously we didn't take enough money out of the economy to give it back to the economy. That must be because of the evil Republicans trying to get us to quit spending the money we confiscated plus the money we borrowed from China. Oh well, blame the rich people. Oh crap, they where the ones who donated to our election campaigns in 2008. That's strange, they get mad when you blame them and start talking about taking their money away. Then they put it in the bank instead of investing in things that create jobs. Must be those evil tea partiers talking them into it. Guess well have to borrow more money from China. Oh wait, that lowers our credit rating. Stupid bond rating agencies fault now. That's weird because they voted for us too. Oh well, back to basics. Must be Bush's fault. Even though the president can't spend a dime without a spending bill that originates in the house which Democrats controlled from 2007 on. That really weird. The economy started tanking right after Dems took control of the nations spending. I give up. This just isn't working like we planned)

    5. Re:Those disgusting proles! by Lehk228 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Does someone have a gun to your head forcing you to work at these places you're complaining about? If you don't like it, find another job or start your own company

      figuratively yes, people need their jobs far more than employers need an individual worker


      I would go along with your idea to ban organized labor as long as we ban organized capital (corporations) as well. Corporations are an abomination against nature, a legal entity which exists on paper but for which nobody is responsible.

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    6. Re:Those disgusting proles! by btalbot+ · · Score: 2

      Since when does capitalism include legal tender, heavily regulated media, medicine, food, healthcare, communications, taxes, housing, and [insert industry here]?

      The U.S. is not a capitalist nation.

    7. Re:Those disgusting proles! by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 2

      why isn't this reported?

      Because, contrary to popular mythology, the media lean to the right. (It's only gotten worse since 1998.)

      Like educated, urban populations in general, journalists tend to be socially liberal -- socially conservative positions are almost always the product of poor education, or of parochial views resulting from a narrow experience of the world. But on economic issues, the media leans right.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    8. Re:Those disgusting proles! by jo_ham · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "oppressive tax burden" - I stopped reading right there.

      Don't let facts get in the way of your tea bagger talking points.

    9. Re:Those disgusting proles! by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Yes, people are pressured into having a job because there are bills to pay. So, figuratively speaking, a gun is pointing at their head, with the more or less direct threat to suck it up or be spat out.

      The employment market favors the employer. For everyone working at a job, 10 are waiting for him to get fired. Do you think it is a good idea to let corporations dictate salaries? If so, we'll end up where we were at the beginning of the industrial revolution. People will work 16 hours and more for an income that barely allows them to survive. But why not go one step further, have employers pay people in their own currency, only valid in the company stores. Again, don't like it? Get lost, I find someone who does!

      Healthcare? What for, the moment you get sick I fire you and hire someone healthy. You might come back when you've recovered, maybe we'll have a job for you by then again. Retirement? What do I care how you survive when you're old, care to tell me that? You're not going to produce for me by then, so why should I be responsible for it? Vacation? What do you want vacation for? And what would you wanna do in your vacation, you won't have the money to go anywhere, already forgotten that I pay you with company money that's worth jack shit anywhere but here?

      I'd have so many great ideas to borrow from the good ol' days...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re:Those disgusting proles! by xaxa · · Score: 2

      the article is 'surprisingly' short on details about WHY the workers are on strike.

      It's a British newspaper (and not a good quality one). I think "Talks in Philadelphia and New York stalled after Verizon demanded more than 100 concessions from workers regarding health care, pensions and work rules, said the Communications Workers of America" sums it up for me, though I'd expect more detail if it was happening here in the UK.

      It's odd to have the Daily Mail as the source for some very American news though.

      how much worse does it have to get?

      I don't know. The anti-union posts on here are really strange to me. (and this one).

    11. Re:Those disgusting proles! by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 2

      Here are the details: The company was paying the healthcare and now they want to cut it out from salaries.

      For example, you get contracted with an offer that says that you will be paid X in cash and another Y in health care insurance (paid directly by the company).

      Now the company says that you have to accept receiving X-Y because "you are not contributing to your health care premium" (thats false, you were earning it before even if it didn't go through your paycheck).

      Typical example of corporate newspeak.

      --
      Why can't /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
    12. Re:Those disgusting proles! by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 2

      You essentially have peasants, poorly educated, superstitious and generally ignorant, now making decisions about the direction of the state, decisions once made by kings.

      Don't forget that history is littered with many ignorant, poorly educated, superstitious rulers whose only qualification was being lucky enough to be born into a certain family.

      --
      'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
    13. Re:Those disgusting proles! by Savantissimo · · Score: 2

      If you object to collective bargaining by workers, then presumably you object to collective bargaining by capital - that is, the management representatives of banks fraudulently lending out 20x the money they ultimately got either from workers or their private, government-backed cartel, the Federal Reserve. Collective, Soviet-style capital, totalitarian fiefs backstopped with multi-trillion-dollar bailouts from the supposed people's government because they threatened to fly the economy straight into the ground?

      Quit trolling, asswipe. We don't need any filching, scum-licking apologists for the inhuman parasitic corporate welfare class you whore for here.

      --
      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
    14. Re:Those disgusting proles! by happyhamster · · Score: 2

      >>Unions are on their deathbed for a damn good reason

      You can't more wrong. It took 30 years of concentrated efforts by "business" and corrupt government to weaken the unions. The fact hat it took so long for a well-financed, organized, vicious assault to semi-succeed clearly demonstrates that workers still understand how useful unions are.

    15. Re:Those disgusting proles! by RoFLKOPTr · · Score: 2

      You make some interesting points, although I disagree and would like to point out the flaws with each one using the quote-and-respond method that I absolutely despise:

      (And to you over-zealous folk with mod points that like to stifle opinions that oppose yours: Please at least read what I have to say after you reflex-mod me Troll.)

      1) Is a strong currency even desirable? China has a very weak currency compared to the dollar, for instance.

      Currency is traded on an open market, and the value of a currency can only be described in relation to another currency. A strong currency means a strong economy, and vice versa. If you don't think a strong economy is desirable, then that's fine. But if we are to be the successful, powerful nation at the top of the food chain that we have historically been over the last couple centuries, then a strong economy is absolutely necessary.

      China has a very weak currency because they have a very weak economy. They're a communist nation and nearly every large project carried out in or by their country is funded by money that does not exist. China carries out large construction projects to artificially increase their GDP by printing more money to acquire materials and pay workers. Most of the real money China has is in the hands of the people who manufacture goods for the United States. That's why China has a huge GDP but a weak currency. Their bubble will soon burst.

      3) What is government for? What would you like it to do? I see a growing number of people who want to completely dismantle government and put as much money as they can into their pocket. Well, do you like paved roads? Do you like "free" education? These are things that you either pay for in taxes or you pay directly from your wallet.

      Government is for providing public infrastructure to facilitate my ability to lead a successful life of my own. That means transportation, law enforcement, education, defense, and science, among a few other things. Social programs are necessary to an extent, but not the handouts that are so prevalent today. What the Neo-Conservatives and Tea Partiers say they want and what the super Liberals say they want are two completely opposite things and neither will result in a successful economy. A good government is one that involves itself where government is necessary and stays out of things where it isn't.

      4) Why is gun ownership such a desirable thing? If you honestly believe you require a weapon on you for personal protection, it means that we are risking societal collapse as two strangers have to worry about the other one attacking them. Not only that, but that no one will come to help them. This is an admission that there is a failure at the local government level (police), that these people exist at all (failure of education and prison system).

      Why is it such an undesirable thing? What if I just want to have a gun? Why is that such a problem for you? Why can't you just leave me alone and stop poking your nose into my business?

      But that's not the point. There is a failure at the local government level. There is a failure of the education system. There is a failure of the prison system. But that's not the point either. None of those things, no matter how successful, will protect you in the event that a madman enters your house and the only option you have is to kill him yourself... no matter how fast and skilled your police department is, they will never be able to teleport into your house and stop a raving lunatic on a moment's notice. Nor will they stop a mugger. Nor will they stop anybody who wishes harm upon you in any fashion.

      But that's not the point either. Gun ownership is important to protect yourself against the government. Guns are feared for a very good reason: They're deadly. They are a tool designed for killing. When guns are in the hands of citizens, the citizens are feared by the government. Call me paranoid, but that is

  5. Thank you for calling Verizon by alostpacket · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thank you for calling Verizon. To go to the main menu, press 1. To exit this menu and go to the main menu, press 2. To return to the main menu, press 3. To hear these options again, press 4.

    4

    Goodbye.

    --
    PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
    1. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by metalmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      better than this honest example from T-Mobile customer service.....

      IVR: "Please tell me what youre calling about in your own words"
      ME: "Billing"
      IVR: "I didnt understand your request. Im going to disconnect this call, and you can try again later"

      I also tried "representative", "account" ,"help" and "support." I eventually got to a person who transferred me to the right department. and then the real fun started.....I asked the rep about a service plan and whether or not it was a flat rate or it included other taxes and fees. She told me i would have to ask an in-store rep for the answer.

    2. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Not sure if it's the same in the USA, but in the UK there's a very easy way of getting put through to the one person in the call centre who can actually sort out your problem, which works with all of the mobile carriers:

      Hello, I'm calling to cancel my contract.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by Voyager529 · · Score: 2

      The GP's point is that saying that to the automated system is about the most guaranteed way to get to speak to an actual person, instead of trying to appease the voice activated command line whose list of commands are terribly documented. Presumably the GP isn't intending to actually cancel the contract, the idea is that companies don't jerk around with customers intending to cancel, and will immediately forward the customer to a live person whose job is to avoid having the customer cancel their service.

    4. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sometimes works here. As did the old just enter rubbish in the tone menu until it dumped you to a rep. Unfortunately more and more companies are deciding they really don't need the customers who want to talk to someone. It's gotten to the point that even when you want to cancel a contract or have a repair you can't get anyone. I have one friend who just refused to pay his bill until they cancelled his service and then when they called him over his billing he paid the difference and told them to cancel it. The next month they called because they kept the service going after he told them to cancel it but didn't have a credit card on file to charge the non-existant service to. It's become almost criminal how companies act...at least the mob keeps your shop from burning down when they extort you.

    5. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by demonlapin · · Score: 2

      She told me i would have to ask an in-store rep for the answer.

      The call center monkeys aren't going to have access to all the state and local taxes that may apply. Not that they couldn't, I suppose, but they don't.

    6. Re:Thank you for calling Verizon by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      You are paying on the loan whether or not you take the loan. They have a government protection racket, and they purposefully damage phones in order to remove functionality that would allow you to take them to other carriers, and the government deliberately limits competition which decreases supply, increasing prices. There is no free market when there's a $10,000,000,000 or so barrier to entry. A free market has zero barriers to entry. The US does not now, nor ever, had a free market, and the worst parts of our economy are the parts that are less free.

      When you go month to month, you still are paying on the loan. They make everyone pay. That's why it isn't a choice. You can take the cash or leave it, but you get to pay on the loan anyway. And the cancellation terms have been found to be illegal multiple times, but they aren't changed and are enforced knowing they are illegal, and if you want to fight it, you will win, but it will cost you $5000 to get your $500 back.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
  6. The Coming Big, Bloody Class War by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...will not be between Black and White, or White and Hispanic, or even Rich and Poor. It will be between those who get pensions and employer-provided healthcare and those who don't.

    1. Re:The Coming Big, Bloody Class War by sam_handelman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      No, it has been between Rich and Poor, although the Poor are getting stomped, as much as the Rich might want us all to believe otherwise. If you look at the last 20 years, the vast majority if the *new wealth* which has been created has been concentrated in the hands of the top 0.1% of the population. That's where all the money has gone, not towards social security, not towards Cadillac health insurance for people with jobs in manufacturing. Where is the money to provide pensions and health-care to the share of the population who doesn't have it? It's sitting in Bill f-ing Gates bank account, that's where it is.

        There's a plate with 12 cookies on it, a rich guy, a teacher and a regular working Joe.

        The rich guy takes 11 of the cookies, leans over to Joe, and says "I'd watch out, I think the teacher is trying to steal your cookie."

      --
      The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
    2. Re:The Coming Big, Bloody Class War by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The poor are getting stomped because it is SOOO EASY to make them believe that their enemies are other poor with just slightly better benefits...

      --
      Why can't /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
    3. Re:The Coming Big, Bloody Class War by royallthefourth · · Score: 3, Informative

      The middle class is better off now than it was 40 years ago. The poor are better off as well.

      Over the last 4 decades, consumer prices have steadily increased, while wages for many workers haven't even kept pace with inflation.

      Although overall income had grown by 27% since 1979, 33% of the gains went to the top 1%. Meanwhile, the bottom 60% were making less: about 95 cents for each dollar they made in 1979.

      http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

    4. Re:The Coming Big, Bloody Class War by royallthefourth · · Score: 2

      Relative metrics really are zero-sum games, but they don't measure how comfortable you are; instead, they're really about measuring social status.

      Not exactly. We're looking at an entire generation of Americans who might get bankrupted if they need minor surgery and will never be able to afford to retire. The fancy TV's, even without being turned on, serve their role well in distracting the working class from how much worse their situation is.

  7. Re:Can you hear me now? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you hear me now?

    Filthy scab.

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    #DeleteChrome
  8. Re:Hell Yes! by ffejie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Unfortunately, my family uses Verizon wireless, but I wasn't going to call customer service any time soon.

    Verizon Wireless is not affected - they're non union and a different company from Verizon Telecom, jointly owned by Verizon Communications (55%) and Vodaphone (45%). The level of disinformation happening in this Slashdot discussion far exceeds the normal level.

    --
    Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
  9. Re:Hell Yes! by Fireshadow · · Score: 5, Informative

    Verizon wants 100 concessions from their union employees. Even though Verizon’s top five executives received compensation of $258 million over the past four years (1), Verizon wants to freeze pensions for current employees. Also eliminate traditional pensions for future workers, while making its 401(k) plans somewhat more generous for both (2). Additional, there's demands from Verizon regarding health care premiums for union employees.

    References:

    --
    "It's one thing to talk about the poetry of machines. Quite another to listen to it for yourself."
  10. Re:so let's make the work 39.9 hours a week with n by gcatullus · · Score: 2

    Depending on the union contract UPS drivers have to pay for damages to their trucks, but the UPS drivers also get things like the ability to retire with a full pension and health insurance after 20 years. Now this just changed and they added that you had to be older than 57 to retire. I just had a conversation with a guy griping that he had to wait another 10 years to retire. He thought that was just not fair, I mean he was 45 and had 18 years. But he said it wasn't all bad, because he had 8 weeks of vacation a year.

  11. Re:Mixed Feelings by royallthefourth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have mixed feelings about this one. I think it is fair to expect Verizon's union workers to contribute money towards their healthcare costs. Just about every other employer makes their employees do so.

    "My job sucks, so it's only fair that other people's jobs should suck too instead of taking the effort to organize with my coworkers and demand that our job suck less."

  12. Send resume to Verizon by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3

    Check ...

    Me and the 7 million other unemployed Americans will be happy to take these jobs and will be proud to be non unionized. Keep it up union

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  13. Re:Hell Yes! by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Insightful

    YOu know Verizon was paying up to $17/hr for their call center where I lived and offered health insurance for its workers and pensions. The job sucks but it is well worth it if you have a famiy.

    I noticed just a few days ago a lot of temp agencies are advertising, BIG TELECOM needs help desk workers, 13/hr, no pensions or benefits, all contract etc.

    Now it seems to make sense. Verizon probably paid the temp agencies to quickly find workers to replace the good ones with cheaper ones so they can simply fire all the non union members or have ready replacements to save money.

    --
    http://saveie6.com/