You have to admit, calling the unions and asking for a meeting on April 28 only to hand over a last best final offer is so arrogant I can't even describe it
How is that "bargaining"? Take it or leave it?
More constructive would have been here's our latest offer and wait for a counter offer. At least some movement could have been made
So I do blame Verizon for the length of this strike. Bet you now there's some additional movement
"This is 2016 and landline phones are becoming extinct as is most wireline technology."
Right. That's why the rest of the world is laying down fiber left, right and center and has been over the past decade. You know, all these stupid European and Asian telecoms and ISPs, who lost their shirts in the process. Not.
Try to find another talking point or ask your supervisor for one.
@yyr: If you think things are so terrible at this "once great company" then go find another job at a different company. Why stick around and complain if it's so terrible?
Frankly, I think your problem is that you're still living in the 1980s when landline phones were something everyone used. This is 2016 and landline phones are becoming extinct as is most wireline technology. The union is not progressing with technology so all it can talk about is the good old days when the company was a monopoly wireline phone company.
Your line of thinking is what causes companies to shrink and go away. Sure it would be great if it were still 1980 and phone companies still brought in billions from POTs lines and LD. If you don't evolve with technology (where advances seem to come in dog years) then you'll become extinct. I'm sure there were a few Atari employees who lamented that "once great company" too; the difference is Atari followed your line of thinking and went away whereas VZ is evolving with the times.
Neither side appears to be moving.
However, NO ONE, especially on this board, has any idea, clue, etc what is going on.
No one knows when the union will come back if at all. I assume, when the union accepts a contract, they will have there jobs back, but I do not know labor law.
I do hope it is soon.
I am a left behind It dude.
"No givebacks" is negotiation. Asking for more benefits and not compromising on your initial offer is "not negotiating ". Who in these "negotiations" is in the same place they were in August 2015? LBFO is the same as the FBFO, hasn't changed in any meaningful amount except removal of threats.
Well is chanting no givebacks really not negotiating?
How about if we took a stand and said we want improvements. Another weeks vacation , 7 hour workday, 2 more holidays, dental that pays 100% of everything with no cost to member, same with vision. Triple time for all forced OT
If that was the unions opening at bargaining , you can bet we would be accused of all sorts of things.
But that's the company opening, givebacks across the board and we are supposed to believe the union is not bargaining?
Seriously, what if the union opened with all those demands and then said ok last best offer double and half for all forced OT, 3 extra vacation days, etc???
Does verizon really support veterans. Why fo they got to go there
@yyr ... good story and I believe it. I had a teacher much the same as your Mr. Kerrigan. It was about 28 years ago out managers came back from a 2 day meeting. They announced to us that in 30 years wireline would be gone and something called wireless would rule the roost. They laid out the coming technology and how fiber would support wireless. They said there would be merger after merger so there would be only a few large companies left and the remaining companies would be too small to be a bother. Packet switching was going away and would be replaced in part with fiber/soft switch and wireless.
We all said 'no way'. We were wrong.
@yyr - I love your Mr. Kerrigan story
Who are you to say what these employees are worth? That's beyond an ignorant statement. Let me guess you are a scab. Probably one that stands in a group of 4 with your hands in your pockets trying to figure out how to use a ladder.
I had a English literature teacher in my senior year in high school in 1974. Mr. Kerrigan was nothing short of a genius. In our last class of the year he sat on the edge of his desk and lite up a cigarette, yes the teachers were allowed to smoke in those days. He proceeded to tell us about the computer revolution that was going to take hold of the world and the fiber optically connected global network that would allow information to spread throughout the world at the speed of light. He also went on to tell us that due to this fact it would bring the end to the United States as we knew it. He said that the US would be gone in 50 years. That brings us to 2024. So all this dismantling of the middle class is just a symptom of the impending doom that awaits us. In my 60 years on this planet, I have only seen this country spiral downward culturally and morally. Yes we have more "things" but we have lost common sense, common courtesy and the true American culture that made us great. So be prepared for the next 8 years to be more of the same with the final result being the loss of our way of life. Very very sad state of affairs in this once great nation and it looks like Mr. Kerrigan was spot on. He is since gone but was truly a visionary.
In my 38 years at Verizon, we've always chanted "no givebacks" during bargaining. And as for the Union not bargaining, I guess it depends which team you support in this game as to which side was unwilling to bargain with the other.
Interesting take. I look at it this way; the Union telling the Verizon 'No give backs' is saying the Union will not negotiate. Verizon was left with no other choice but to do the LBFO.
No Give Backs = No Negotiations
As well; Verizon offered a very good package on the items they are required to bargain on. The fact the Union feels like they should be able to hold the company hostage on non-mandatory bargaining items such as call centers and employee movement was to the Unions detriment.
That is what I call arrogant.
..and also their Fed-Exing the last-best-final offer to the members resulted in NLRB Charges which hopefully also is used against them in bargaining
why should they bargain at this point? You are not needed. They are already offering you far more then you are worth.
No doubt highly unprofessional and completely designed to agitate Union and 39,000 employees. Shows the hubris, petty stupidity and just plain evil that occupies the upper brass. They released the LBFO to the public before the bargaining committee got to the table and they found out via text messages from members that they posted it while at the table- no reason to do that except to humiliate and anger- it shows the type of scum Reed and co really are.