Recently, Verizon’s attempts to reach a constructive new
contract with two unions representing the company’s wireline employees in the
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states were unsuccessful, and union leaders
announced their decision to call a strike.
In anticipation of this development, Verizon has
activated an emergency plan to ensure customers experience limited disruption
in service during this time.
The strike has occurred for
the first time in eleven years at the second-largest U.S. phone carrier-Verizon.
It is the New York’ largest wireless carrier, and has 196,000 workers; out of
which 135,000 are non-union.
The strike may delay service calls and
disturb installations for phone and net service. The strike began as
union leaders representing 45,000 workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
state decided to call a strike. The strike is a result of a tough position
Verizon took in its attempt to extract concessions from its workers.
The company is now trying to change the contract terms.
Verizon said it has activated a contingency plan to ensure that customers see
limited disturbance during the strike. The company said it has trained
thousands of management employees and others to fill the roles on the union
workers.
Verizon added 1.26 million wireless subscribers under
contract in the April to June period this year, a result that flies in the face
of the slowdown in new subscribers across the industry in the last two years. A
year ago, Verizon added just 665,000 subscribers under contract.
Verizon’s wireline business posted a 0.3 percent decline
in revenue in the second quarter, an improvement from the 2.2 percent decline
in the first quarter. While its traditional phone business continues to
deteriorate.
That 18-day standoff affected 28 million
customers and cost Verizon $40 million in revenue. The company settled the
dispute by agreeing to a 12 percent wage increase over three years.
During the last strike in 2000, more than 86,000 workers
left their posts for 18 days.
The irony of this strike is that the few
“leaders” of this union will still collect their pay while those real
workers on strike will lose everything. The leaders of the union do not really
care about reaching an agreement because they get paid anyway.
By Abhilasha Sharma
[email protected]
