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Verizon Union Workers End Strike

About 45,000 employees will return to work, though a deal has yet to be struck.

Verizon Communications and union leaders on Saturday said that striking employees in the area will return to work on Tuesday, though there is no deal on a new contract.

The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said they've agreed to stop the two-week strike because the provider of phone, cable and Internet services started to bargain in good faith.

Union employees will work under the terms of the contract that expired on Aug. 6, the day before Verizon workers walked out. There is no deadline to reach a new deal, Verizon added in a statement.

Since then, there have been protests throughout Long Island.

Verizon also said it planned to "quickly address any backlog in repairs and unfulfilled requests for service."

Jason August 20, 2011 at 07:38 pm
I would agree with that statement, ordinarily,however, these are not muni workers. These workers bargain in good faith out of profits and revenue, and we all know Verizon is in no way cash strapped.
They do not affect any tax base as those municipal workers,and teachers who do not create revenue. There are many jobs out there just as Verizon who maintain these same perks,many unfortunately, out of a tax base,those of which I agree with your remark wholeheartedly. I am not a present Verizon worker,however, I am a retiree.
BRB August 20, 2011 at 08:09 pm
That would be true if Verizon wasn't such a profitable company. Your attitude is part of the problem in our country right now. There are many companies that are sitting on billions of dollars in profits and it is stagnating our economy. These companies need to start spending, stop layoff's and give backs, and fuel the economy. Then we will all begin to see a rebound. Why should you, or anyone have to contribute when a company is showing huge profits. These employees contribute to the success of that company and should be rewarded. I applaud them for standing up for people like me that were let go because my company got greedy!
Shlomo_Jackson August 20, 2011 at 11:18 pm
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I think one of the big reasons they went back was the fact that Verizon was cutting off their health care at the end of the month. Don’t think the strikers wanted ObamaCare. All the company has to do is hold on until the 31st when their contracts end and the unions are Eff’d.
Shlomo_Jackson August 21, 2011 at 12:20 am
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1) Verizon union workers go on strike 2) Huge number of sabotage incidents to the wired network 3) Verizon says they’re cutting off the health care to the strikers 4) Strikers target CEO’s home 5) Union caves 6) Back to “work” Now they get to go fix the sabotage that they undoubtedly did themselves.
Donna Marie August 21, 2011 at 02:07 am
Their contract is extended indefinitely!!!!!!! The reason they went back to work is bc Verizon got smart and decided that they actually have to negotiate with their workers.
Shlomo_Jackson August 21, 2011 at 09:50 am
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Verizon’s health care plan is what President Obama commonly referred to as a “Cadillac plan” – expensive and luxurious – during his push to get health care legislation through Congress. The new law will levy a 40 percent tax on all health care plans with individual coverage worth more than $10,200 and family coverage worth more than $24,000. The best part is… the Union supported this Obamacare Plan for the rest of the country! ..this is called payback
K August 21, 2011 at 02:54 pm
Wow, I am shocked at all the jealous tirades. Schlomo- exactly what acts of vandalism are you referring to? I had heard of some in New Jersey, but nothing local. There are bad eggs in all walks of life; you cannot blame all the workers for the acts of a few. Most Verizon workers believe in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. Yes, there are some who take advantage, but most of us are glad to have a job and feel that if the company is making profits, why shouldn’t we share in it? We are not municipal workers; our benefits do not come out of your pocket. Our benefit package should be paid by the company that we helped make profitable. I for one was forced to work overtime, missing many important events in my children’s lives to help make this company as profitable as it is today. I’m not asking for a raise, I’m asking to keep what I have as long as the company is making huge profits. If the company begins to lose money then we should be expected to contribute to our benefits, but not until then. Stop the sour grapes, or correct the spelling of your name to shmo….
Clem August 21, 2011 at 09:37 pm
With your and Obama's logic, and Congress' trade treaties, we'd all be eating rice and working for $3 per month. Why not? It's good enough for the Chinese. AFter all who do we think we are?
Shlomo_Jackson August 22, 2011 at 12:47 am
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If the Unions had just stayed true to their original purpose… protecting workers rights… instead of getting so deeply involved in politics, they wouldn’t be losing members like crazy.
Marc Rosen August 23, 2011 at 03:58 pm
These are all excellent points. Nowadays, one of the few reasons many people have a landline is because if you're a homeowner and have homeowner's insurance, you get a discount on your rates if your home has a security system installed. I've never heard of a qualifying security system that doesn't require an active landline to function. Also, depending on the type of high-speed internet service (if any) one subscribes to, it may pay to include at least the basic phone service in the package you get.
On the subject of this strike, though, this is the private sector, and there are labor laws. Those laws protect the rights of workers to organize into collective organizations (aka unions), to collectively bargain with their employers in good faith via representation, and the right to organize and execute peaceful public demonstrations if negotiations are obstructed, if employers refuse to negotiate, if negotiations are not conducted in good faith, or if other serious grievances exist that cause negotiations to fail. Of course, labor laws are much more extensive than that, and do afford more protections than that to both employee and employer. There is, however, a bit of a fly in the ointment when it comes to strikes. It's considered bad form for anyone in a union to cross ANY union's picket line, even if it's not your own union. When it looked like my college's non-academic staff was going to strike, many of the older students had good reason to worry from this!
Marc Rosen August 23, 2011 at 04:12 pm
To clarify, the staff in question at my alma mater IS union, and this happened back in 08 or 09. The contract had expired at least 1 or 2 years prior, and administration simply refused to speak to the union about another contract, period. Calls made by the union rep weren't returned, and as a writer for the campus newspaper at the time, when I tried to investigate the story, I was "advised" after only my first polite inquiry to relevant personnel that any further requests for information would be considered harassment. I also never got a call back from the union rep.
Thankfully, negotiations were opened within a few months of our inquiries, and they did come to terms for a contract. However, given how quickly we stopped asking, I doubt our questions had much to do with it. I did, however, hear from many of my classmates who were getting second or third degrees that since they were in unions themselves, if the building entrances were obstructed by the picket lines, they'd be unable to go to class without violating their own union's protocol unless they searched for and found an open entrance with no picketers in front of it (which, to be fair, I know of two entrances to the main campus that are unlocked 24/7, one of which is an obscure side door that most people don't even realize is there).

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