Tasty sends a huge shout-out to 45,000 members of the CWA and IBEW who are on strike against Verizon in the Northeast! The giant telecommunications company is trying to force deep benefit cuts on workers and their families… even though Verizon is making billions in profits. (Sound familiar, Kaiser workers? B/t/w, Kaiser’s greedy CEO just announced 2nd quarter profits of $663 million --which are 64% higher than last year).
The strike at Verizon -- the largest work stoppage in the U.S. in four years -- is an important fight for all of us. Why? Because Verizon is like so many companies that are trying to use the recession as cover for making deep cuts to our wages and benefits, even though U.S. corporations are earning record profits.
Check out this article in the New York Times (kinda wonky!), entitled “Off the Charts: As Corporate Profits Rise, Workers’ Income Declines.” It begins:
“These are the worst of times for workers, and the best of times for companies...”The article reports that in 2010, U.S. corporate profits reached the highest level ever recorded as a proportion of our national economy. And this year, corporate profits have jumped even higher. At Kaiser Permanente, for example, executives have harvested a staggering $5.7 billion in profits during the past 2 ½ years!
Despite all these profits, U.S. companies -- and some sell-out unions like SEIU -- are trying to convince workers to slash pensions and other benefits they’ve established through decades of struggle. These snake-oil salesmen, with shoulders shrugged and palms turned upwards, try to tell us, “In these troubling economic times, you can’t expect to do any better…”
Well, Tasty says “HELL NO!” Keep up the fight, Verizon workers! And that goes for everyone at Kaiser Permanente and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, too!
Please click here to send an email to Verizon’s CEO and show your support workers and their families.
