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Striking Verizon Workers to Return to Work Tuesday
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The 45,000 striking Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), will return to work Tuesday under the existing contract as bargaining resumes.
The CWA and IBEW announced:
We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed.
We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward.
Verizon, which amassed more than $20 billion in profits in recent years and paid its top five executives more than $258 million in the past four years, forced workers in Northeast states into a strike by demanding $1 billion in concessions. Seen as an attack on middle-class jobs and workers, the move prompted massive shows of support by working families across the country.
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26 Comments
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This is really great news. We wish you the best in negotiations. See? Solidarity AMONG different unions works!
Great new yes if you need to get paid. no one in this economy can be out of work. Rent/mortgage/car/food. etc etc. 300 a week pay for over 45000 employees = 13.5 million x 2 weeks 27 million of the union pension. The Union gave up. the union settle nothing.the only thing the union just did is close there wallets and when come jan-2012. you will see at least about 1/3 of these employees go. i say about 10000-15000. I believe in fairness. But Greed has over come everything that has started 50-60yrs ago. Unions/Verizon agreement was like a married couple fighting. 1 person will always gives in and the other will always recent that argument (fight).
Wait a moment, NYC1Male, there was NO settlement yet, they simply got an agreement to go back to work on the previous contract until some sort of understanding can be reached for an agreement.
NOBODY GAVE UP ! ! ! ! ! The tension still remains until there can be a valid agreement, and that work is forthcoming! At least the union members can go back to earning a living until something is clarified that can be formalized… hopefully in the workers’ favor, which also is in the corporation’s favor.
Yes. Mr Libris. No settlement was made. like a huge cut on your arm and trying to stop the bleeding with a baby bandage. All that i am trying to say the union can not afford to be on strike. once they heard that verizon was going to replace the employees with temps. they agree to stop picketing. also the union had to pay 300 a week per person which is approx 45000 plus. 2 weeks already consume approx 27 million from the pension funds. please prove me wrong. I already went thru this with new jersey local union in 1998. (I am just Saying)
Well, now you’ve put it into a different perspective, NYC1Male. Your points are valid considerations to be taken into the equation. And I will defer for other people in the unions of Verizon workers to comment on this, because this is their consideration most of all, and I do not know what they think or know about this.
How about it Verizon worker folks? What is your thought on this? Is this respite from the strike a “cave-in” or not ???????
Mr. Libris Fidelis,
If you are so ignorant of the topic under discussion, then why must you continuously post multiple posts?
Why are most of your posts off topic?
Is this a psychological disorder working here? you have nothing better to do? Perhaps you are a paid “agent provocateur”‘
designed to completely disorient and confuse what few posts are actually made here on the AFL-CIO NOW BLOG? The BLOG is for an organization of 11 MILLION MEMBERS and perhaps a few
other workers (Working America members).
Please do your “thinking outloud” OFF LINE and make your comments or posts to follow a thread of thinking related in some way to the topic. Do your research OFF LINE and then come to your conclusions here.
I WOULD GREATLY URGE THE MODERATOR TO LIMIT ESPECIALLY YOU TO ONLY ONE 500 WORD POST. YOU RECENTLY
HAD THREE 500 WORD POSTS ON ONE TOPIC.
HERE YOU HAVE THREE POSTS OUT OF FIVE SO FAR! WHY NOT SET UP YOUR OWN WEB SITE?
Thank you.
May I suggest that the AFL-CIO assign a staffer to edit and fact check these postings. This comment board should read like the Letters section of a magazine with informed editorial comments inserted from the AFL-CIO organization. Rants by persons against the AFL-CIO should not be posted without an official response. (Ex: comment 5. Should he be allowed 500 words?) Flames should not be tolerated. (Ex: comment 4)
Comments by nature are understood to be personal opinions, and may or may not be factual.
Healthy discussion among commentors is included as long as it falls within the AFL-CIO blog commenting guidelines.
Comments are limited to 500 words, and the system does not accept characters beyond the 500 word limit.
I am greatly offended by your prejudiced commentary Jerry, I have mostly respected your input, but not this time. You must be honest in all your postings, Jerry! No vendettas because you don’t like someone!
I would like to post these two items from the World Socialist Web Site, which are admittedly highly critical of the leadership of the unions involved in the Verizon strike. I have a feeling they are fully justified criticisms, especially as we have seen similar “leadership” over the last several years from UAW President Bob Price and AFL-CIO President Trumka.
There is a deepening crisis for working people in this country. The trade union “leadership” is failing terribly the needs of organized labor in both public and private sectors. The self-serving babble that the standards set by the trade unions implicitly provides a standard for unorganized working people has unfortunately not been true for many years.
THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF YEARS OF THIS FAILED LEADERSHIP ARE NOW PAINFULLY EXPERIENCED BY THE ENTIRE WORKING CLASS, TRADE UNION ORGANIZED AND UNORGANIZED WORKING PEOPLE.
It is a tragedy that too few AFL-CIO members or perhaps none
of the national and local leaders read, let alone critically consider,
these dire topics.
If the union “leadership” continues to sleep into the 2012 elections, the consequences will allow the extreme right to seize more political power as working cannot support Obama. Workers stayed home in 2010.
———————————————————————
WSWS Perspective Article
Workers denounce union shutdown of Verizon strike
By Andre Damon
22 August 2011
The two unions involved in negotiations with Verizon have agreed to shut down picket lines and send their 45,000 members back to work beginning Monday night, without any agreement from the company to withdraw $1 billion in concession demands.
The move is an effort by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to demobilize the two-week-long struggle of Verizon workers as it was beginning to gain broader support and significantly impact the company’s operations. The shutdown of picketing sets the stage for the union to agree to sharp cuts in health care and pensions, along with the elimination of job security. …
Read the full story here:
( includes interview comments from Verizon workers)
http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/08/20/striking-verizon-workers-to-return-to-work-tuesday/
————–
The betrayal of the Verizon strike
22 August 2011
This article is available as a PDF to download and distribute.
The decision by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to end the strike by 45,000 Verizon workers demonstrates that workers cannot mount a successful fight against the attacks of the corporations unless they break free of the organizational stranglehold of the official trade unions.
Even by the miserable standards of the AFL-CIO, the calling off of the strike after two weeks without a new contract or a retraction by the company of any of its vicious concessions demands stands out as a demonstration of the unions’ cynicism and treachery.
Verizon has made clear that it has not withdrawn its demands for $1 billion in concessions, including the elimination of pensions for new-hires and the freezing of pensions for current workers, huge increases in workers’ health care costs, the elimination of all job security provisions, a reduction in sick days, and an end to all restrictions on outsourcing.
…
Read the full article here:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/pers-a22.shtml
I just wanted to clarify that IBEW 2222 which was also out on this strike did not have a strike fund. Those of us out walking the picket line were doing so without any means of support from the company or the union.
Nice to see a comment from an IBEW member. It seems that the IBEW International did not support the strikers. Is that true? I heard that a group of retirees from an IBEW Local were told that they shouldn’t picket to avoid being sued. Hard to imagine.
From the sidelines, what I see is the union getting what they asked for , NO concessions thus far, and back to work, helping their image to customers that would have been impacted negatively.
So, this looks good for the union, and has shown the Company can NOT run on autopilot as they so often portray. IF they could get by without employees, they WOULD, and they can’t.
I still support the unions, and as a CWA member, understand the demands put upon them, with the remuneration going to the guys on top, though unable to actually DO the work needed to keep the machine going.
http://socialistworker.org:80/2011/08/22/union-retreat-at-verizon
Strikes Work! Plain and simple and the top corporate brass know it. That’s why they are willing to share a very small slice of billions in co. profits to employ the best in their fields… Union Workers! When some CEO or CFO needs surgery, they never shop for the cheapest surgeon, asking them to slash their price or give a cut back on proceedure. They always go with the “best in the field” normally charging the most and a member of some kind of group like the AMA, a kind of union. And why shouldn’t rank and file have the same? But the stats prove it, for the best in the field… it’s Union! Yes, there have been corrupt union bums who tarnish and there still around today. But while corps. work hard to operate “human free” for 100 percent profit, humans are still necessary, even the humans at the top making up to 300 times the average union member who runs the systems that makes your new Verizon state of the art HTC swiss army knife of a phone work effortlessly 24/7/365. It just comes down to one thing… sharing. Are corporate officals willing to share a fare slice of the pie. Come to think of it are you willing to share? Share with your spouse, your kids, your next door neighbor when he needs a ride to the train on a snowy morning? As greed and self-love runs rampant in the US culture, can we remember when sharing for the greater benefit of all, really benefited us all. A worker who makes a good wage, spends a good wage on other goods and services, making America and the world a better place. Stand tall striking Verizon workers… show the nation and the dwindling union members how it’s done. Your Brother in soladarity, Bob SAG/AFTRA
That is the best way you could say how this country is going. Nice Job!
The Verizon worker’s way to victory in this war is to get involved, demand respect , and support the UNION .
It’s bizarre that this is being hailed as a victory by some people. Didn’t the strikers lose a couple of weeks’ pay? For what? The company hasn’t moved from its demands and the workers just gave up their strongest bargaining tool: the withholding of their labor. Unless the new talks result in a better deal that doesn’t sell out the new workers, this is a disaster; it will embolden corporate america to continue its attack on the working class.
I received this email from the Business Manager of my local union:
“We will not be sending any of our members to the CWA picket in Chicago. IBEW is on strike against Verizon Communications and not Verizon wireless. Any picketing by our members will open up the IBEW and this Local to lawsuits. Any lawsuit for unlawful secondary activity could result in a costly award of Section 303 damages. We are under directive from President Hill NOT to engage in any activities at Verizon Wireless stores.”
To ibewdonna: I’m sorry we couldn’t give you more support.
To perky1: I, too, find it hard to imagine. I was planning on going in a plain, white shirt and nothing with an IBEW ID on it.
Bob Kastigar
IBEW Local 1220, Chicago
Your posting is critically important, Kastigar. The legal arsenal of the corporations is extensively potent, given how our nation is not a Democracy where the peole would decide if such laws were desired.
The legal system is what castrated the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1990s, and yet people blame the ACLU for being so impotent.
This is why I have always posted the warning that we must be sophisticated in how we resort to union activities, because simply causing trouble is counterproductive in the legal view.
We as society are responsible for allowing The Establishment to legally and legislatively take Democracy away from us, and we are responsible for the need to restore Democracy to our society and to our political system, so that the economic system must also obey society’s mandates. I hope that even Jerry Wells will agree with me on this.
I put in 4 hours on the CWA and IBEW picket line on Thompson Rd., E. Syracuse, in Upstate New York. I was 10 minutes into my 5th hour, when it was announced.
I was proud to support my Sisters and Brothers of the CWA and IBEW.
In Solidarity,
Ralph Lyke
Local 624, UAW
Thanks for backing IBEW and CWA, md. I’m an IBEW Pittsburgh member, but not with Verizon. I’ll back the UAW anytime your union needs it.
I think Verizon and the repugs were scared about the industrial sized can of worms they opened — $22 billion in profits & $258 million in bonuses to 4 execs, in 4 years, but $0 federal taxes and $1.3 billion in tax-payer subsidized rebates last year. Then they want $20 grand in concessions per year from each employee? Nazi whack-jobs.
The unions and Dems are gearing up to kick some big corporate butt, so they called the workers back to the bargaining table. It looks like the same move that Gov. Kasich is trying in Ohio.
Solidarity,
Mike Mc
Local 5, IBEW
Hang tough! We need more unions. Everyone who works in America should belong to a union. Anyone who doesn’t think unions are necessary should have their head examined. Big business will always try to take everything. They think their intitled to it just because they are rich. We have got to get the word out, fight the rich like they fight us. May God be with us in this endever. Reelect Barock Obama in 2012! Vote democratic!
Unfortunately, Michel, there are those workers who say, “Gawd, pay a union $50 every month out of my paycheque? That’s an awful lot of money!”
Others think “I don’t want to get in any trouble with my employer for being part of a union.”
Both of these false notions contribute heavily to people’s misperceptions about union history. And those people really do not want to know the truth. This is why I say, we need to educate the PUBLIC as much as the work force about what is REALLY going on!
My non-union aeronautial engineer contracting father tried very much to persuade me from working for the railroad. But I wanted to become a locomotive engineer because I loved railroading and I loved locomotives and trains. When he found out that I earned more than HE did as a college degreed-aeronautical mechanical engineer, he was flabbergasted! And yes, I proudly belonged to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers! But I also found out that the United Transportation Union was created by the railroads out of their several infiltrated other unions (BLF&E, BRT, etc etc) that they had taken over, and I stayed away from the UTU!
Correction… I started out as a member of Brotherhood Of Locomotive Firemen And Enginemen before I was promoted to engineer, and remained for a short time as it was absorbed into the corporation-owned United Transportation Union.
After I discovered that the truth was the United Transportation Union was owned by the corporations, I went over to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and THEN I stayed away from the UTU! But then I watched as the BLE also was infiltrated and conquered by the members of the Association of American Railroads as well! And that was why I was fired for refusing to make an unsafe move, because my local chairman was a company implant sabateur, and he had replaced a very good local chairman named Leon T. Beers who had been an OSHA inspector prior to becoming a locomotive engineer — fired at the reaquest of the railroads because HE DID HIS JOB! Leon was then subsequently fired by Southern Pacific as our local chairman because he opposed the company’s arbitrary decison to terminate a BLE member without complying with our union agreement! That set the stage for me being fired!
So go out and support your brothers in a white shirt. Can’t you see that the officials of the union can’t advise you to do so without legal ramifications, but what you do on your own is not binding on them. As for union leadership and their intentions. Do you attend your local meetings? Do you ask questions to find out what the intention of leadership is? We all must play a more active part and not just sit at home thinking someone else is doing all the hard work necessary to maintain our position. Corruption is everywhere so it would hardly surprise me to find greedy individuals within our ranks. That is why attendance is so important, to voice our concerns, pressure our leadership and demonstrate our solidarity and resolve. As for members of socialist organizations who are quick to point to our leadership failures. I do appreciate your input to the discussion and struggle of working people, but the human disease of predation upon other humans is not unique to capitalism, corruption can be found everywhere. In order for you to gain any traction within American society you MUST eliminate the word “socialism” from your lexicon. That word has been painstakingly and thoroughly perverted in the minds of common American conscience. The ideology is a valid one that many would likely embrace but as long as it is stigmatized by the label it will be shunned out of ignorance and lack of education. The ability to think critically and objectively has been replaced in our society by a follow the crowd mentality at a very young age. The importance of this issue cannot be overstated.