New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all workers (1 Viewer)

[TheDemSocialist]

Almost 40,000 striking Verizon employees go back to work on Wednesday, after contract negotiations assisted by the U.S. Labor Department yielded a breakthrough, ending the largest walkout in America in half a decade. The Communications Workers of America, one of two unions that walked out, has touted the deal as a victory for labor. And while unions frequently hype their success, in one key area they’re right – and it could have huge repercussions for the labor movement’s foray into the fastest-growing sector of the workforce.
One would expect trade-offs out of any labor negotiation, but CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers appear to have gotten a good deal. That’s perhaps because of shares falling at Verizon during the six-week strike, and analysts slashing revenue estimates. Even CEO Lowell McAdam admitted that installations and new orders dropped significantly. I guess it’s hard to get work done without trained workers.
The major points of contention between labor and management incorporated big themes of the economy – things like outsourcing, monopolization, and automation. But the biggest issue was that Verizon had two businesses: a “wireline” business of installing and managing phone and fiber-optic cable, and a wireless business that mainly involved selling cell phones in retail stores and maintaining the wireless network. The wireline business is unionized; the wireless business mostly isn’t.

Read more @: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all workers

:applaud:applaudAmazing job by the workers at Verizon and members of the CWA and IBEW! Hopefully like this article implies this will open up the floodgates for Verizon workers to join the unions and also will give more momentum to many other workers who are in need of a union and fair representation when negotiating a contract!

 

[joG]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

Read more @: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all workers

:applaud:applaudAmazing job by the workers at Verizon and members of the CWA and IBEW! Hopefully like this article implies this will open up the floodgates for Verizon workers to join the unions and also will give more momentum to many other workers who are in need of a union and fair representation when negotiating a contract! [/FONT]

I wonder if selling telephone handsets is the kind of job you should unionize. My bet would be against that.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

I wonder if selling telephone handsets is the kind of job you should unionize. My bet would be against that.

The author of the OP would see unionized cashiers selling Chinese made trinkets in a big box store as a good idea. Those that favor unions see having any job as giving one's agent the power to force the (evil?) employer to increase the workers' pay and/or benefits.

 

[joG]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

The author of the OP would see unionized cashiers selling Chinese made trinkets in a big box store as a good idea. Those that favor unions see having any job as giving one's agent the power to force the (evil?) employer to increase the workers' pay and/or benefits.

Yes. Their seem to really be people around that still believe that kind of stuff.

 

[What if...?]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

The author of the OP would see unionized cashiers selling Chinese made trinkets in a big box store as a good idea. Those that favor unions see having any job as giving one's agent the power to force the (evil?) employer to increase the workers' pay and/or benefits.

What provides balance when business has put Americans in direct competition with workers with far lower cost of living?

We're being downsized.

The ownership class wants as much as they can get. Like they always have. All the money, all the power. Its how they are wired.

History is replete with examples of their excesses.

And they are doing it again.

They don't need us here anymore. So **** us.

That's the simple truth.

 

[cpwill]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

Another win for government-backed coercion.

Oh well. Verizon's loss is my carrier's gain .

 

[cpwill]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

What provides balance when business has put Americans in direct competition with workers with far lower cost of living?

We're being downsized.

The ownership class wants as much as they can get. Like they always have. All the money, all the power. Its how they are wired.

History is replete with examples of their excesses.

And they are doing it again.

They don't need us here anymore. So **** us.

That's the simple truth.

And they meet up in their corporation buildings, being all corporationy, with their corporate corporateness...

 

[ocean515]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

Read more @: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all workers

:applaud:applaudAmazing job by the workers at Verizon and members of the CWA and IBEW! Hopefully like this article implies this will open up the floodgates for Verizon workers to join the unions and also will give more momentum to many other workers who are in need of a union and fair representation when negotiating a contract! [/FONT]

It will be interesting to see how the additional costs can be absorbed in a very competitive market place.

Verizon already bailed on much of it's landline business in the West, selling out to Frontier Communications. Don't know about Frontiers worker status. I can say from personal experience the transition has been pathetic. People are dropping Frontier in mass.

It seems to me, given the liquid state of communications in this day and age, the union celebrations may be short lived, if the always ignored customer base gravitates towards more cost effective alternatives.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

What provides balance when business has put Americans in direct competition with workers with far lower cost of living?

We're being downsized.

The ownership class wants as much as they can get. Like they always have. All the money, all the power. Its how they are wired.

History is replete with examples of their excesses.

And they are doing it again.

They don't need us here anymore. So **** us.

That's the simple truth.

Tariffs and labor laws which apply equally to all US workers, imports and businesses. Why should US worker A, who happens to work for a big employer, get different protection (pay and benefits) than US worker B, who happens to work for a small employer?

 

[TheDemSocialist]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

The author of the OP would see unionized cashiers selling Chinese made trinkets in a big box store as a good idea.

You bet I would. I practically think all those who sell their labor should have a union.

Those that favor unions see having any job as giving one's agent the power to force the (evil?) employer to increase the workers' pay and/or benefits.

"Strikes work. Strikes have always worked. Strikes still work. Pro-business forces like to deride unions as socialist parasites, but strikes are, in a sense, one of the purest free market actions that workers can take: the refusal to sell labor at a price that is deemed too low. This has the effect of raising the price of labor. Though “Economics 101″ idiots like to pretend that the free market will always magically produce the perfect wage for every job, the reality is that working people—people with less money—are always at a disadvantage when it comes to asserting the leverage necessary to raise their own wages, because they can’t afford to stop working and lose a paycheck. This is the biggest hurdle that strikes have to clear. It’s hard for working people to leave work, demanding better wages and working conditions. It’s a gamble. But it tends to pay off.

As much as workers need wages, businesses need labor even more. The free market has not raised your wages in decades. The government has not raised your wages in decades. You need to raise your own wages. Organize. Then strike. It’s always good to be reminded that it works."
Verizon: Why You Are a Fool if You Don't Want to Join a Union - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money

 

[TheDemSocialist]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

Tariffs and labor laws which apply equally to all US workers, imports and businesses. Why should US worker A, who happens to work for a big employer, get different protection (pay and benefits) than US worker B, who happens to work for a small employer?

Labor laws set a bear minimum protection for all workers equally. You negotiate certain variables beyond that bare minimum with an employer, variable such as protections, benefits, pay, etc. Just so happens when a collective voice negotiates those variables beyond that bare minimum it generally ends up being in favor of the worker.

 

[sookster]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

I don't see how people wouldn't be happy that a representative of the workforce got paid more. Why do you back big corporations? Is it because you create an account, become a part of an online community, but say ideas that totally back the rich minority and not the working class? Highly unlikely, but I am baffled. Do you want the idea that these corporations can make all this money for the idea that you could too if you could of made it that far?

Isn't capitalism supposed to increase the standard of living for all? That means people getting paid more. AND, even IF it is just selling phones, which there is a whole fiber optic network to maintain I might add, so be it. The workers amassed a movement, and got their demands met. Kudos to them, and kudos to the system.

 

[Deuce]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

When individuals exercise their economic freedom to try and negotiate a better salary, it's inherently EEEEEVIIILL.

When the CEO does it, it's just capitalism man.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

Re: New life for the labor movement: The Verizon deal is a huge victory for all worke

Wonder how long it'll be before the layoffs.