Uncle Sam tells Verizon and worker unions to settle spat

The US Department of Labor (DOL) said it is now working with Verizon and the Communication Workers of America (CWA) to negotiate an end to a worker strike that is entering its second month. On Sunday Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez had a sit-down meeting with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, CWA president Chris Shelton, and …

[Alan Mackenzie]

This article is, shall we say, a bit light on substance. Like, for example, what the two sides disagree about. I read the whole article through, waiting to get to this substance, and it never came. Maybe it's a secret which neither side is prepared to divulge.

Come on, Register, you can do better than this.

[chivo243]

@Alan Mackenzie

I've noticed of late that there are fewer stories, and shorter stories here on El Reg. Are we witnessing the end of an era?

Back to the article, Uncle Sam tells Telco and employes to sort it out. As if that wasn't the goal in the first place.

[Gene Cash]

I thought it was pretty plain:

"In addition to employee benefits and pay, the unions have accused Verizon of failing to live up to its FiOS fiber network deployments and claiming that the company plans to offshore much of its customer support operation.

The CWA took things a step further late last week, claiming its members have evidence that Verizon wants to offshore even more of its customer support jobs than previously believed."

Verizon wants to pay them a pittance and offshore as many as it can. I guess the union gives a damn about fiber deployments because they're projects that would have used more local labor?

[earl grey]

Mostly, no....

Both sides may put forth a few talking points for the press, but for the most part, these types of negotiations cover a myriad of areas from labor, hours, locations, overtime, etc. and you are unlikely to get the full story - ever.

[channel extended]

New Verizon motto...

Can you hear me..........Hello? Hello?

[DerekCurrie]

Verizon: Just sell yourself off, go bankrupt or give up and let's start again

Verizon is a clunky company with a bad attitude toward everyone. It's a grumpy company. So kill it off and let's get in a new company to take over the territories and treat everyone with respect, for a change. Die Verizon Die. Next!

[NotBob]

Re: Verizon: Just sell yourself off, go bankrupt or give up and let's start again

Maybe we could split it like we did Bell not so many years ago. After all, that didn't give us any problems, right?

[User4574]

Re: Verizon: Just sell yourself off, go bankrupt or give up and let's start again

We could always sell it back to AT&T

[fishman]

Re: Verizon: Just sell yourself off, go bankrupt or give up and let's start again

The only reason Verizon doesn't get the hate it deserves is that it competes with Comcast, which is a company that makes Satan look good.

[johnwerneken]

Heavin Forbid!

If the workers are locked out and starve without pay, or the firm goes out of business without workers, good riddance. This operation sucks always has always well. To Hell with both sides, and with the US Government for caring about either.

[zarvus]

Re: Heavin Forbid!

Misanthropic much?