As someone who worked as a union negotiator for number of years, and dealt with my fair share of strikes and near strikes it is absolutely fascinating to watch it happen somewhere else .

As others have mentioned, Management cannot simply fire these employees - some of you may room remember when Reagan broke the Air traffic controller strike...

What I do you think is likely the case at Verizon given the years of experience I have enough space or two universal truths of unions : truth one is that union management does not have the best interest of their own union at heart. They have re-election in mind and the best path to that is to appear to be strong against management, even when doing so hurts the employees more than not. The second universal truth which many people don't like is that union wages and union benefits are generally significantly better and greater than those that would prevail in the open market. The third universal truth if there is one is that management and union staff simply do not get along - this thread is one such example the term scabs is already come out and we're only on page 2.

This leads to often absurd conversations in union negotiations. To share an example or two , I once approached a large union and offered their employees the opportunity to share hotel rooms when traveling . No obligation to do so but our data showed many did anyway and we wanted to reward that type of behavior as of course it saved the company money. I asked for nothing in return, simply an amendment to the existing rules stating that in addition to a fully paid hotel room the employee had the option at their own discretion to share a hotel room in which case each employee would receive $50 as a cost savings measure. I presented this to the union management who immediately and steadfastly declared it highway robbery and demanded $100 per person. I explained that our average hotel room cost was around $150, so two hotel would cost $300. Offering $200 plus the cost of the hote room would place the total cost at $350 - more than the cost of two seperate hotel rooms. I opened the books. They refused to even present the option to the union. Net result? 20% of the union continues to share rooms, we pay them nothing, the other 80% have no idea this was even ever presented. Who wins?

And the examples like this are numerous - employees demanding free massages after every shift, another union complaining that their healthcare dues which were locked in the early 1970s are now approaching $10 per paycheck for family PPO coverage... In many ways I have found unions to be disconnected from reality and left the industry as a result. You can't change what no one wants to change.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is on strike duty too. It sucks; he's actually been gone for over a week now because he was already away for unrelated training when the strike was called. He's going to miss our son's birthday, and if it extends far enough, our daughter's birthday as well. I'm usually the one who travels for work, so this has been eye opening (and exhausting) for me. I am very very lucky that I have family nearby, an understanding boss, and a flexible job. But it still sucks.

My parent worked at the old AT&T in 60's, 70's and 80's. He said he loved it when strikes happened, a Strike forced his managers to actually do the work their employees would do. It was much healthier for the corporation. More efficient negotiations, more workers covered, and helped balanced the relationship. Managers had to understand what was going on in their department.

i don't know how it used to be, but today's strike duty is mostly lawyers, sales people, financial analysts, and HR personnel covering phone line and FIOS installations and troubleshooting and covering 411 call centers. the managers of the striking employees stay in their management role and manage the lawyers, sales people, financial analysts and HR personnel covering jobs with which they have ZERO connection and max 40 hours of training. the managers of striking employees largely are NOT doing these jobs.

in old AT&T , all managers had to cancel vacation. Managers had to schedule and cover for departments they managed. operators, installation, customer support. Things got delayed if not enough managers, but all managers were working and covering. No one got a pass.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is on strike duty too. It sucks; he's actually been gone for over a week now because he was already away for unrelated training when the strike was called. He's going to miss our son's birthday, and if it extends far enough, our daughter's birthday as well. I'm usually the one who travels for work, so this has been eye opening (and exhausting) for me. I am very very lucky that I have family nearby, an understanding boss, and a flexible job. But it still sucks.

My parent worked at the old AT&T in 60's, 70's and 80's. He said he loved it when strikes happened, a Strike forced his managers to actually do the work their employees would do. It was much healthier for the corporation. More efficient negotiations, more workers covered, and helped balanced the relationship. Managers had to understand what was going on in their department.

i don't know how it used to be, but today's strike duty is mostly lawyers, sales people, financial analysts, and HR personnel covering phone line and FIOS installations and troubleshooting and covering 411 call centers. the managers of the striking employees stay in their management role and manage the lawyers, sales people, financial analysts and HR personnel covering jobs with which they have ZERO connection and max 40 hours of training. the managers of striking employees largely are NOT doing these jobs.

Anonymous wrote:My husband is on strike duty too. It sucks; he's actually been gone for over a week now because he was already away for unrelated training when the strike was called. He's going to miss our son's birthday, and if it extends far enough, our daughter's birthday as well. I'm usually the one who travels for work, so this has been eye opening (and exhausting) for me. I am very very lucky that I have family nearby, an understanding boss, and a flexible job. But it still sucks.

My parent worked at the old AT&T in 60's, 70's and 80's. He said he loved it when strikes happened, a Strike forced his managers to actually do the work their employees would do. It was much healthier for the corporation. More efficient negotiations, more workers covered, and helped balanced the relationship. Managers had to understand what was going on in their department.

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just fire the striking employees and hire new ones?

There is a legal right to strike in most cases:

https://www.nlrb.gov/strikes

The Verizon strike is legal. Firing striking workers is bad for all concerned which is why it is (usually) prohibited.

(When reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers, that was because federal employees are prohibited from striking).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend whose husband is striking. He has a pension with them and they are threatening to cut it. You better believe he's fighting for that, that's his future financial security on the line.

OP, you now know what it's like for HER when a natural disaster strikes somewhere on the east coast. Her DH is often sent into the fray to get communications up and running again. They do not put him a nice cushy hotel room. He sleeps in his truck and works dawn to dusk. Yes he is paid for it, which is why he does it. But there is another side to this story and it's not because all the striking workers want "unlimited sick time".

Thank you.

Some seriously out of touch people on this site.

Bunch of rich out of touch lawyers.

Unions brought a huge number of benefits to the average worker.

No f'cking gov lawyer every helped an average worker.

Anonymous wrote:My husband is on strike duty too. It sucks; he's actually been gone for over a week now because he was already away for unrelated training when the strike was called. He's going to miss our son's birthday, and if it extends far enough, our daughter's birthday as well. I'm usually the one who travels for work, so this has been eye opening (and exhausting) for me. I am very very lucky that I have family nearby, an understanding boss, and a flexible job. But it still sucks.

OP here. yeah, i feel for you!!! i have some extenuating health circumstances with one of my children which has made this very, very difficult this time around. i, too, have an understanding supervisor and (somewhat) flexible job which definitely helps. and i, too, am usually the traveling spouse but my mom flies in and helps my DH when i am gone...she is sick and cannot come this time to help. hang in there!!!

My husband is on strike duty too. It sucks; he's actually been gone for over a week now because he was already away for unrelated training when the strike was called. He's going to miss our son's birthday, and if it extends far enough, our daughter's birthday as well. I'm usually the one who travels for work, so this has been eye opening (and exhausting) for me. I am very very lucky that I have family nearby, an understanding boss, and a flexible job. But it still sucks.

It's almost like the people who regularly do this work earn their pay and then some.

My mother was on strike duty during the last strike. It was awful. The first day of training involved testing the physical capacity of everybody. She was required to climb and lift things. Basically she was useless as a 60 year old woman. They always paired her up with a younger man who did most of the work out in the field.

Anonymous wrote:I find it odd that OP asked about spouses on strike duty. Couldn't someone reading this forum be on strike duty themselves? I have a friend (a woman) who is on strike duty for Verizon.

OP here. i am on lunch break from my FT, non-strike duty job. i guarantee you that the Verizon people on strike duty do not have time to check DCUM. also, i want to connect with SPOUSES because i am one. not sure why this is "odd"?

I find it odd that OP asked about spouses on strike duty. Couldn't someone reading this forum be on strike duty themselves? I have a friend (a woman) who is on strike duty for Verizon.

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy for scabs and their families.

OP here. i have zero contempt for the striking employees. it would behoove you to leave families out of this mess.

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy for scabs and their families.

Yes, so hard to feel for people who are out there working instead of bitching and not doing their job.

It's hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy for scabs and their families.