A sampling of comments in support of Verizon from FierceTelecom readers:
- Have fun striking without pay--you make what? Approximately $40/hr plus benefits with no more then a high school diploma and want more?! Are you crazy? Your job is already too well paid for the work and because of that, if the job was portable, it would have already have been moved to India/Mexico/China. GET A CLUE.
- Complaining about late hours and paying for health insurance, etc? This is something that MOST people do anyway ... you are LUCKY you have avoided this so far and still have a pension. … you have to work late and in bad weather sometimes? ... We all have to work hard if we want to accomplish something. If you want an easy job, go elsewhere, but if you want high pay, be prepared to work for it--you think the CEO doesn't work nearly round-the-clock making VERY tough decisions?
- In the history of this country there was a time and place for unions and what they were able to offer their members. That time and place has long since passed. Look today at the UAW and what the UNION is doing to the very businesses that employ it's members. The union has driven the cost of production so far through the roof there is no way that American Auto companies can financially compete with foreign makers.
- In the eyes of many American workers today, being in a union is a sign of laziness and weakness. There is a perception that if you can't achieve your goals on your own merit and hard work, join the union ... they'll make sure you have a guaranteed paycheck you're whole life. However, if the unions keep running the companies that pay their employees into the ground, maybe someday we will actually be rid of the massive, unnecessary, over imposing unions and get back to what this country was founded on ... INDEPENDENCE and HARD WORK!
- Go ahead and go out on strike. I’m sure that there are plenty of ex-military and cable/satellite installers that will gladly take your jobs. Unions need to realize that they are nearly dead. As for the selfish, greedy, union mentality of workers, who’s going to keep you from financial ruin when you lose your jobs? Your precious union?
- Went to Verizon.com to apply for a job. Just waiting for you morons to walk out and lose it all. Good luck finding healthcare as good as you have it now. Do you know a good bankruptcy attorney? After Verizon fires you all, you might need one.
- You may want to at least think what it is like for VZ management employees, and what this strike means to them and their families. Better yet, compare your overall benefits with that of a regular VZ employee.... don't be shocked if you find out that unions have it way better!
- The CWA has $200 million. The UAW has even more. Look at the auto workers and what their greed through the years has done to their jobs. When you walk, Verizon will replace you with cable workers or whoever else wants to work. Have you seen the economy lately?? Is your precious union going to pay your bills or give you peanuts while they rake in your union dues. I hate to tell you but the UPS strike in 1997 did nothing more than screw the workers. Fed X ground was born due to that strikee and has taken money from UPS ever since. Take money from the company, take money from the workers. That's how it works. Sad but true.
- Verizon's intention is to let the strikers walk, wait, fire them and replace them with non union workers from the cable industry that currently make a lot less than these spoiled union workers. Face it, Verizon DOESN’T care about your demands; first a walkout, then a lockout, then replacement. The union has $200 million in the bank. What do you have?
- Sadly the CWA wishes to continue the warm featherbeds and fat benefits that are relics of the past. It seems on the surface that the leadership of the Unions have not explained that the door to the goody locker is closing. These unions are relics of the days of Rockefeller and Stanford. These precious jobs they wish to protect will be moved into the hands of non-union workers who are motivated to perform and not grumble over minor infractions of rules dating back to the 1800's. How many employees in modern industry have non-contributory pension benefits? I would suggest that the sunset is on the horizon for these excesses
