unions

Verizon may suspend health benefits for strikers

Verizon Communications plans to suspend health-insurance coverage and medical benefits for any worker still on strike, applying further pressure on employees who have been off the job for more than a week.

It's the latest escalation in a contract dispute between telecommunications workers facing competitive pressure on its legacy landline business and workers who don't want their benefits stripped away. The disagreement over benefits has caused 45,000 employees in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions to walk off the job on August 7, and has resulted in accusations of violence, illegal interference, and legal action.

The latest move … Read more

Verizon strikers organizing through Facebook

Verizon Communications workers on strike are taking to Facebook to organize demonstrations and call out companies and individuals who cross the picket lines, CNET has learned.

Workers have set up a Facebook page that has already garnered more than 5,400 members of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The primary aim is to educate employees on the issue, create a level of solidarity among workers, and organize demonstrations.

While the use of social networks to rally people to a cause isn't new--Facebook was a catalyst in the Egyption revolution--it appears this is the … Read more

Verizon strike gets nasty

Verizon Communications' dispute with its landline workers is getting uglier as it moves from the bargaining table to the courtroom.

The company is seeking injunctions to limit the picket lines, as well as stop what it claims are acts of sabotage, harassment, and blocked access to its facilities. It has been granted statewide injunctions in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and is heading into court in Massachusetts and New Jersey today.

The escalating dispute calls into question the prospect of an immediate resolution to a strike that began over the weekend, when 45,000 workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic … Read more

Verizon workers go on strike

Comcast offers a $9.95 Internet Essentials service to low-income families, the FBI releases an iPhone app that helps parents with a missing child, and Verizon workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic go on strike after negotiations fail to produce a contract.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon workers go on strike HP TouchPad 4G and $50 in the App Catalog Education iMac? AntiSec hackers post police data Comcast $10 Internet Essentials plan FBI Child IDapp in App Store Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (HD) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS HD

Verizon CEO: Hard decisions needed for landline business

After 45,000 Verizon workers walked off the job this weekend, Chief Executive Lowell McAdam issued a letter today to management justifying the need to extract better contract terms, saying that the company must make "additional hard decisions" to keep the cost of its wireline business in check.

The strike represents the first work stoppage for Verizon in 11 years and occurred after the union said the company wasn't taking the negotiations seriously. The reduced benefits Verizon is seeking is illustrative of the pressures its landline business faces, as its traditional phone and Internet services face pressure … Read more

Verizon workers go on strike

Verizon Communications said it couldn't agree to a new contract with its workers, resulting in the first strike at the telecommunications giant in 11 years.

The strike began at 12:01 a.m. ET today as union leaders representing 45,000 workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states decided to call a strike. A majority of the workers are field technicians or work in call centers represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Verizon Wireless customers are unaffected by the work stoppage.

The strike is a result of a tough position Verizon … Read more

Report raps 'hollow hybrids' for weak efficiency

Led by the Toyota Prius, hybrid cars have an image as the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the road. But a rating of hybrids shows that the technology is often being used to boost power rather than efficiency.

The Union of Concerned Scientists last week released a hybrid scorecard that found a mixed bag on the environmental improvements from hybrids now available. The guide's author also said "forced features" such as high-end sound systems are raising the cost of hybrid vehicles.

The rating shows that mileage for hybrids varies greatly, depending on how hybrid power trains, which combine battery-powered motors with a gas engine, are used. The Prius has the best mileage, with a combined 50 miles per gallon, but there are a number of non-luxury models that get 21 miles per gallon.

Nine of the 10 top-selling hybrids get more than 30 miles per gallon, but only 13 of the 34 hybrids in the list reduced pollution by more than 25 percent, compared to their conventional gasoline-only counterparts. The Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid SUV, for example, emits 10 percent less pollution, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Automakers are still producing hybrids that fail to deliver on the technology's potential to dramatically improve fuel economy," scorecard author Don Anair said in a statement. "Their focus on maximizing power over consumer value risks the future of hybrid technology."

Hybrids made their mark by maximizing fuel economy but, as the Union of Concerned Scientist study shows, the technology can be used in all manner of vehicles, including SUVs or sporty cars, such as the Honda CR-Z. With rising fuel efficiency mandates coming online in the U.S. and other countries, more hybrid models are expected to come to market. But fuel-conscious consumers would do well to look less at the technology and more at the actual mileage rating. … Read more

Meet the man who wants an Apple retail union

Cory Moll's only been with Apple since 2007, but in that time he's seen and heard enough to make him want to change the way the company runs its retail business.

Moll is the self-appointed leader of the Apple Retail Workers Union a labor movement seeking to band together employees at Apple's retail stores to help get better wages, and in some cases, treatment for what he describes is a job he and his fellow employees love doing, minus how it's being managed from the inside.

For outsiders, the news that Apple employees would be unhappy … Read more

Microsoft blasts EU antitrust fine in appeals hearing

Calling it "excessive," Microsoft criticized in an appeals hearing today the 899 million euro fine imposed three years ago by European Union antitrust regulators, according to Reuters.

The fine, equivalent to $1.35 billion in 2008 and $1.27 billion today, penalized Microsoft for failing to comply with sanctions in a case involving the information it provides to other companies to allow their products to work with Microsoft software. The fine specifically addresses the rates that Microsoft charges to license its interoperability protocols and patents to third parties.

At the time, the fine was the largest ever imposed … Read more