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When I heard this morning that thousands of Verizon employees went on strike, my first thought was that they must be insane. Who with any sanity would dare go on strike in this economy? I thought, with 9% unemployment and people begging for even part time jobs, to do such a thing would be just absolutely crazy. But then I heard that the company was actually trying to do pretty draconian things to the work force including making them pay $3000 a year in premiums and deductibles for insurance that they now get for free. While free medical and dental is probably pretty liberal and few people get it free, a $3000 deductible is pretty draconian. And the company also wants give backs of 2 holidays a year, give ups of job security and pay raises tied only to a supervisor's review, elimination of the pension plan and other stuff. While this stuff might be understandable for a company in trouble such as GM or Delta Airlines were last year, I fail to see any logic in a company that made $3 billion in profit last year making such demands from its workers. Some of the things the company wants are reasonable but most of this is quite unreasonable. It is like they want to take advantage of the bad economy to try to break the union. I don't know where people come down on this but when you see these guys working in manholes and on poles in all kinds of bad weather doing what appears to be a fairly dangerous job, I just sort of feel that their pay is well earned. It is not a job I would want to do.
When I heard this morning that thousands of Verizon employees went on strike, my first thought was that they must be insane. Who with any sanity would dare go on strike in this economy? I thought, with 9% unemployment and people begging for even part time jobs, to do such a thing would be just absolutely crazy. But then I heard that the company was actually trying to do pretty draconian things to the work force including making them pay $3000 a year in premiums and deductibles for insurance that they now get for free. While free medical and dental is probably pretty liberal and few people get it free, a $3000 deductible is pretty draconian. And the company also wants give backs of 2 holidays a year, give ups of job security and pay raises tied only to a supervisor's review, elimination of the pension plan and other stuff. While this stuff might be understandable for a company in trouble such as GM or Delta Airlines were last year, I fail to see any logic in a company that made $3 billion in profit last year making such demands from its workers. Some of the things the company wants are reasonable but most of this is quite unreasonable. It is like they want to take advantage of the bad economy to try to break the union. I don't know where people come down on this but when you see these guys working in manholes and on poles in all kinds of bad weather doing what appears to be a fairly dangerous job, I just sort of feel that their pay is well earned. It is not a job I would want to do.
People need to realize that corporations and the rich are flush with cash - when people talk about how the economy sucks, they are talking about how things are just getting worse and worse for the common folk.
I don't have a problem with unions. Corporations make it a point to screw over their employees as much as they can.
I don't give a flying fig about Verizon or their employees. Any settlement will eventually be passed on to the consumer. IMO, as Obama's grip on the presidency gets shakier, we are going to see a spike up in strikes as unions look ahead to losing a pro-union WH and their friends in the NLRB. Ford will probably be next UAW Ford Start Talks, Vow To Avoid Strike « CBS Detroit
People need to realize that corporations and the rich are flush with cash - when people talk about how the economy sucks, they are talking about how things are just getting worse and worse for the common folk.
I don't have a problem with unions. Corporations make it a point to screw over their employees as much as they can.
I have a problem with some unions. Especially public employee unions. They need to be curbed. And even private sector unions sometimes do outrageous things but I have less of a problem with them because, as a conservative, I am of the view that private sector employees have a right to contract for their work as much as other people like actors, professional athletes and CEOs do. If they want to be contract privately via a union, that is fine with me because it is between them and their employer. Public sector unions however are often heavily involved in essentially choosing their own bosses and all of us have to pay whatever promises are made to them. That is why their powers should be more limited.
When I heard this morning that thousands of Verizon employees went on strike, my first thought was that they must be insane. Who with any sanity would dare go on strike in this economy? I thought, with 9% unemployment and people begging for even part time jobs, to do such a thing would be just absolutely crazy. But then I heard that the company was actually trying to do pretty draconian things to the work force including making them pay $3000 a year in premiums and deductibles for insurance that they now get for free. While free medical and dental is probably pretty liberal and few people get it free, a $3000 deductible is pretty draconian. And the company also wants give backs of 2 holidays a year, give ups of job security and pay raises tied only to a supervisor's review, elimination of the pension plan and other stuff. While this stuff might be understandable for a company in trouble such as GM or Delta Airlines were last year, I fail to see any logic in a company that made $3 billion in profit last year making such demands from its workers. Some of the things the company wants are reasonable but most of this is quite unreasonable. It is like they want to take advantage of the bad economy to try to break the union. I don't know where people come down on this but when you see these guys working in manholes and on poles in all kinds of bad weather doing what appears to be a fairly dangerous job, I just sort of feel that their pay is well earned. It is not a job I would want to do.
oh wow, so the employees want to keep their free health care rather than actually PAY for part of it. too bad, i think they should contribute just like everyone else does. i also think that job security needs to be given up as well, and they should have to actually WORK to keep their jobs.
public sector unions need to die and let the civil service laws that already protect public sector employees deal with any issues. as for private sector unions, they need to be reigned in and their power reduced substantially. union employees have had it far too good for far too long in this country, and they need a reality check. i say if the union goes on strike, and it lasts for too long, then verizon should just FIRE EVERY UNION employee and replace them.
oh wow, so the employees want to keep their free health care rather than actually PAY for part of it. too bad, i think they should contribute just like everyone else does. i also think that job security needs to be given up as well, and they should have to actually WORK to keep their jobs.
public sector unions need to die and let the civil service laws that already protect public sector employees deal with any issues. as for private sector unions, they need to be reigned in and their power reduced substantially. union employees have had it far too good for far too long in this country, and they need a reality check. i say if the union goes on strike, and it lasts for too long, then verizon should just FIRE EVERY UNION employee and replace them.
From free health care to $3000 premiums and deductibles is an extreme jump, wouldn't you say?
And all those civil service laws that protect workers... where do you think the basis for those came from? Union workers fighting for decent working conditions and pay over the last 120 years. The American Dream is disappearing, is it a coincidence that unions have been villified at the same time?
oh wow, so the employees want to keep their free health care rather than actually PAY for part of it. too bad, i think they should contribute just like everyone else does. i also think that job security needs to be given up as well, and they should have to actually WORK to keep their jobs.
public sector unions need to die and let the civil service laws that already protect public sector employees deal with any issues. as for private sector unions, they need to be reigned in and their power reduced substantially. union employees have had it far too good for far too long in this country, and they need a reality check. i say if the union goes on strike, and it lasts for too long, then verizon should just FIRE EVERY UNION employee and replace them.
I have to disagree, unions today are a very fragile shell of their former selves. One might point out that since the 1980's, income adjusted for inflation has actually gone down for the average American. Which is when Reagan fired all the FAA controllers, and signaled the end of unions having any real power.
I think we need more unions today, not less.
I will agree that the public sector is a bit different - governments are different than for profit entities, there is no real incentive for them to mistreat employees the way there is that incentive in the private sector, and as someone pointed out, unions donating to their future bosses create something of a conflict of interest.
It's a dying business. If they cut costs, it will survive a little longer than otherwise. The union can choose between a small number of grossly overpaid jobs, or a larger number of merely good jobs. I think we all know which way they will go...
From free health care to $3000 premiums and deductibles is an extreme jump, wouldn't you say?
And all those civil service laws that protect workers... where do you think the basis for those came from? Union workers fighting for decent working conditions and pay over the last 120 years. The American Dream is disappearing, is it a coincidence that unions have been villified at the same time?
$3000 in premiums is about what normal people pay per year for the health insurance on average, and most deductables are about $2500. do i think it is an extreme jump? no i dont.
as for civil service laws, those were on the books LONG before public sector unions entered the picture. the reason they were instituted was to encourage people to work for the government despite the lower pay. government employees were also enticed by better benefits than private employees were. and yes private sector unions are slowly going away, because they are forcing themselves out of the job market, howver public sector unions are growing and it needs to stop. public sector unions are a big reason why the various governments around the country are having financial problems, what with the extremely cheap insurance rates and retirement benefits given to those employees.
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