Verizon Workers' Strike "Most Important Labor Battle Going on Today"

[1776Forever]

Verizon Workers' Strike "Most Important Labor Battle Going on Today"
Friday 19 August 2011
by: Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! | Video

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Juan, before we move on to our first story, the Verizon strike is extremely significant. You wrote about it in your column this week in the New York Daily News.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes. Well, I called it the most important labor battle going on in America today, not only because of the size of the numbers of workers involved—45,000 workers up and down the East Coast of the United States, from Virginia all the way to Massachusetts—and it’s against one of the biggest companies in the United States, Verizon. And what makes this especially significant is that it is a strike against a company that is doing very well. We’re not talking here about a General Motors or a that’s in financial trouble. But Verizon is literally swimming in cash. In the first quarter of this year, it tripled its profits, compared to the previous quarter, and it’s been consistently outperforming the stock market now for the past several years. And yet, even with such a profitable company, you have a situation where it is demanding unprecedented givebacks from its workers. And really, this means, if Verizon, such a profitable , can insist that its workforce has to do all of these cuts in their living standards, what does it mean about any other company in America?


http://www.truth-out.org/verizon-workers%E2%80%99-strike-most-important-labor-battle-going-today/1313765351

[drm604]

1. K&R

This is a big deal. As the article says, this is the Wisconsin for private unions. If they give in on this, to a company that is swimming in profits, what happens next?

This is union busting by Verizon, plain and simple.

[1776Forever]

3. I am sick that Verizon/Frontier is the only phone/internet service I can get in this area! If I had

any choice at all I would change - I keep looking! 20 BILLION $$$$ profits and they want to cut the benefits of their workers and ship MORE jobs overseas! Disgusting!!!:grr:

[Omaha Steve]

2. K&R!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

4. Solidarity kick and recommend. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

5. VW is without question shamefully attempting to break their workers

and help bring about the collapse of unions. This is actually one of those strikes where its
just for additional profit - but at the downgrade of living conditions for the workers, and one the president should put his walking shoes on and participate in.

We're not talking shared sacrifice here, were talking greed!

[Divine Discontent]

6. kick

[Dystopian]

7. KandR

peace~