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About 40,000 Unionized Verizon Workers Walk Off the Job (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: In one of the largest U.S. strikes in recent years, nearly 40,000 Verizon workers walked off the job on Wednesday after contract talks hit an impasse. The event got a boost as U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders joined them at a Brooklyn rally ahead of the New York primary next week. The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that jointly represent employees with such jobs as customer services representatives and network technicians in Verizon Communications Inc's traditional wireline phone operations. The strike could affect service in Verizon's Fios Internet, telephone and TV services businesses across several U.S. East Coast states, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia. Verizon and the unions have been talking since last June over the company's plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period. The workers have been without a contract since its agreement expired in August. Issues include healthcare, offshoring call center jobs, temporary job relocations and pensions.
No dog in the fight over at Verizon, that's between themselves to figure out, but a big fat Hell No to unionized software shops. You want all those idiots that can't code their way out of a paper bag or turn on their box without help to have guaranteed job security instead of just a slight chance of bubbling up into management? Unless you're one of those idiots...
White-collar work and unions don't mix. A union is a mechanism by which one may put more bullshit between himself and getting the job done and is another layer of politics to have to deal with.