VZ contract

[Adam_777]

This sucks !Why do the companies have to wait until last minute ? The company I work at was merging two shops, making one out of a non and a Union shop.They wanted us out so they could have more control over everything.They love the moochers and the suckups with no real skills.They hired more guys in the other shop and trimmed ours down.They brought it to the labor board and asked for a vote.Our BA went and postponed the vote and brought the stacking and favoring to the labor boards attention.We worked on a couple guys and the company new they were turning and fired.We had majority and the Union stayed.This is Penske Truck Leasing in Cranston RI .Local 255 serviceworkers USWU.They'll try anything to get the union out and pay unskilled and undertrained people.Give em Hell !I still do.

[lurch]

Originally Posted by Adam_777

This sucks !Why do the companies have to wait until last minute ? The company I work at was merging two shops, making one out of a non and a Union shop.They wanted us out so they could have more control over everything.They love the moochers and the suckups with no real skills.They hired more guys in the other shop and trimmed ours down.They brought it to the labor board and asked for a vote.Our BA went and postponed the vote and brought the stacking and favoring to the labor boards attention.We worked on a couple guys and the company new they were turning and fired.We had majority and the Union stayed.This is Penske Truck Leasing in Cranston RI .Local 255 serviceworkers USWU.They'll try anything to get the union out and pay unskilled and undertrained people.Give em Hell !I still do.

Why do you blame the company? Maybe it is the Union who will not accept what the company has to offer? If the Union would negotiate with companies so that BOTH parties are happy then maybe there would be less strikes....just a thought

[Adam_777]

Originally Posted by lurch

Why do you blame the company? Maybe it is the Union who will not accept what the company has to offer? If the Union would negotiate with companies so that BOTH parties are happy then maybe there would be less strikes....just a thought

Not in my case.We just signed a contract last year.No problems in negotiating a contract.It was a local management problem.The trail runs deep and the merge of the two shops was in the making for at least 3-4 years.Most of the non-union employees have been there under 3 years.They were hired for short money and given large pay raises to foil them because the company knew they would have to bring them to our pay scale which was always 4-5 dollars/hr more.So the new crew saw fat pay raises and pizza party's every friday.The Union shop that I've been in going on 11yrs has guys from 24 down to 5 yrs being the lowest.We got the work that the non union guys couldn't do.Pretty much anything besides an oil change.When they saw our contract they saw the pay raises and were convinced they do better on their own.Just one instance of the company trying to pull the blinders over these guys eyes.There's more but I don't want to bore you.

[reelecstasy]

Originally Posted by lurch

Why do you blame the company? Maybe it is the Union who will not accept what the company has to offer? If the Union would negotiate with companies so that BOTH parties are happy then maybe there would be less strikes....just a thought

If you actually knew what the company is looking for as far as cuts in our benefits, taking insurance away from retires, canceling pensions for anyone retiring after 2009, wanting us to pay more for our health insurance are just a few off the top of the list. Each and every point was a take away.
Meanwhile;
Verizon 2007 Revenue Tops $93.5B

Telecom heavyweight Verizon Communications reported its 2007 year-end and fourth quarter earnings this morning. The company's 2007 revenues were $93.5 billion, an increase of $5.3 billion over 2006. As usual, the firm's wireless unit helped the company meet its fourth quarter and year-end expectations with its robust growth.

Fierce reporters have broken down the company's fourth quarter results and what they mean to each market segment: wireless, mobile content, IPTV and telecom.

Here are the stories:

Verizon net income up 12% on wireless, FiOS
Wireless and FiOS broadband efforts again proved to be the growth engines for Verizon Communications, as the telco posted second quarter earnings marked by a 12 percent boost in profit over last Read more...
Verizon says it'll raise FiOS prices again
Verizon's FiOS users can expect to pay a little more, the company said during its earnings call yesterday. FiOS broadband has seen steady Read more...
Verizon posts 263K TV customer boost
Verizon Communications this week reported a 9.8% increase in profit for the first quarter of 2008. Verizon said net income totaled $1.64 billion, with revenue rising about 5.5%.

I wont bore you with more, but if you are curious.. http://www.fiercetelecom.com/special...-2007-earnings

All this revenue was gained and carried on the back of the employees. For VZ to turn around at the end of this contract and submit their proposals of take aways etc is disgusting to me.
THAT is why you need a Union......Sometimes when the game is this big with so much money at stake you NEED a union, we are talking about 65,000 union members and their families...

"Verizon, who has been screwing it's wireless and business workers who want to join unions, who has taken down a veterans flag which was flown over Iraq and Afghanistan from it's Verizon business office, and has allowed subcontractors who enslaved undocumented workers to do Verizons work, is playing hard ball with it's 65,000 union workers on the East Coast, but these workers have been preemptive and are geared to storm........"

Oops, forgot to add Ivan Seidenberg's pay (CEO) Total compensation
$20,277,512, not a bad year, wonder what he has to pay for his health insurance

[lurch]

It is funny that every VZ person I talk to ALWAYS mentions the CEO's salary and the high profits that VZ make during contract time.

Does the Union think that the profits should be divided by the 65K employees??

Do the folks who climb poles actually think that they deserve to have a salary and benefits package close to what a CEO or upper management have??

So with that mentality, a person who empties trash and works for a trash emptying company that makes 10Billion in profit should make 200K$ / year and have all of the benefits that their CEO should have because they are very profitable?

The VZ wireless employees who sell cell phone behind a desk should be making more than 8-15$ an hour? What skills do they have that would warrant a 70K/year job?

I know you are going to say that the employees should be making a "decent wage", and they should but not when they have a low level job. Sorry but most of the VZ workers who are laborers do not deserve to make the same salary or have the same benefits package as management even if the company had a 10 trillion dollar profit.

[Mike P]

VZ Wireless is non-union to start with. Maybe that's why they're only making $8-$15 an hour.

[lurch]

Originally Posted by Mike P

VZ Wireless is non-union to start with. Maybe that's why they're only making $8-$15 an hour.

So are you saying that they are underpaid for their skill set? IMO they have ZERO skills and should not be paid like they have a valuable skill set like the wireless engineers who design the network.