Hasn't anyone else considered that the slowdown at US West may have
something to do with the fact that the 35,000 union people trained and paid
to run the computers were on strike, and thus... NOT THERE! ?
Read the following email. Talks failed - there was a strike. I won't
comment on what I went through trying to get a phone line. Thousands of
others complained to the government. An investigation was opened and
announced last week.
>Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: 1998/08/15
>Forums: alt.society.labor-unions
>Bargainers for US West Inc. and the union for 35,000 of its workers reported
>progress in labor talks with a federal mediator Friday, but big differences
>remained a day before a strike deadline.
> The current contract between the regional telephone company and the
>Communications Workers of America expires at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, and US
>West's union workers have already authorized their leaders to call a strike
>if no agreement is reached.
> Both sides reported some movement in talks Friday. But disagreements
>over mandatory overtime, scheduling and US West's proposal to link pay to
>performance remain unresolved.
> "I wouldn't call it [the movement] significant," CWA spokesman Bill
>Thornburg said.
> Thornburg said negotiations were expected to continue around-the-clock
>ahead of the strike deadline. The union represents more than half the phone
>company's 51,000 employees in 14 states.
> David Beigie, a spokesman for US West, said it was "an encouraging
>sign" that both sides were willing to continue talking through the night.
> The company has arranged for 15,000 managers to fill in Sunday morning
>in case of a strike, Beigie said.
> Denver-based US West, the dominant local phone service provider in 14
>Western states, asked late Thursday for a federal mediator to take part in
>the talks. The union agreed, and negotiators and the mediator started
>working Friday morning.
