In the same month 3 years ago Verizon avoided a strike by giving a 10.5 percent wage increase, but today this was not the case. It’s being widely reported that Verizon workers have gone on strike this Sunday, August 7, 2011.
Thanks to the work back in 2008 a strike was prevented, which is not the case this month that marks the first strike in 11 years at Verizon Communications Inc. The failure to reach any agreement meant that around 45K workers walked out today, and most of them were from Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The area of business these workers are in is landlines, and this area is known to be decreasing in revenue each year thanks to the popularity of cell phones, and also the good deals that cable companies are offering to landline users.
Verizon have been prepared for this strike and part of the preparations included training nonunion managers, which will handle maintenance, network repairs, and customer service calls. WSJ is reporting that the largest union, The CAW, has put by over $400 million as a contingency fund. Talks are planned to continue for the hope that some sort of deal could be reached.
It will be the hopes of customers that there will be no major problems with the Verizon services they use during the strike, as a shortage of staff could cause problems getting services up and running in a timely manner. At the time of writing all services seem to be running fine. The managers replacing multiply jobs will have to work 6 days a week for around 12-hours a day, and the CWA are ready to support their members with $300 a week from the 30th day of the strike, and $200 a week from the 15th day.
What is your view of Verizon striking, especially during a time of hardship for the whole country?
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