Crunch Time
In 2 weeks CWA and Verizon’s contract expires at midnight. As a member of the executive board of the union, this is a real stressful time. This is also the first time I have faced a strike as an officer of the Union. Mobilizing people, making picket schedules(if we strike), traveling up and down the state, and trying to find time to actually do my job combined with wanting to be with my family, church and friends are the source of the stress. I find myself questioning what I am made of and if I am the right person for this job of union vice president.
Then I remember, give yourself to Jesus everyday and ask that his will be done in your life and things will be ok. Life is filled with conflict, some we can do something about,some we can’t. So what I need to do is ask for peace in the storm. Notice what I said. Peace IN the storm not from the storm. Peace is not absence of conflict, it is remaing calm in the midst of it.
We as Americans are in the midst of one of the worst storms we have seen and we are all feeling the effects. Our economy is worse than it’s been in years. The job scene is bad. People are out of work and losing homes and Iam sad about that. This is probably why I am having a hard time with the union business I was talking about.
Everybody wants to blame somebody for the mess we are in. the poor blame the rich, the rich blame the poor. We want to blame the Chinese for sending us cheap stuff made with tainted materials . I personally find myself blaming corporate America and our government for all this mess in our country. We are supposed to be the most powerful county in the world with the strongest economy but look what has happened. Companies who were created in the US, built by US hands and manned by US workers have been decimated by greed. Being motivated by greed, they have resorted to sending our work to other countries to be done by people who work for pennies.Their money stays in their economy not ours. The corporations have lied to everyone . Look at Enron. In the interest of the bottom line and looking good on Wall Street, they wasted their employees pensions. Something they were promised. Pretty sad. They want to blame the unions for their financial problems. Granted ,some union leadership has earned the reputation for being crooked. What we need to look at are the honest, hard working people who deserve to make a fair wage, have great healthcare, and the opportunity to save for a life after work.
When I went for an orientation at Verizon, I was told that I was working for one of the best companies in the world, that i would be taken care of as far as benefits and retirement were concerned. What I wasn’t told was that these benefits were the result of nearly 50 years of bargaining between the union and the company. Now they want it all back. Why? Bottom line. They are blaming us for rising healthcare costs when they need to be going after the healthcare companies themselves. Not the workers who have families to take care of. About 2 or 3 years ago ,Verizon started taking benefits away from their low level mgt. They started requiring them to pay for their healthcare and froze their pensions which now thes folks won’t have the retirement they thought they would. Guess what the CEO did? Gave himself a raise on his own pension after he gutted theirs. And people say that union workers are bad people. Unions helped build and maintain the middle class which shrinks a little more when a union member retires or passes away.
I knew this blogging thing could get crazy but wow this is so theraputic! Had no idea I would end up there. Anyway with the possibility of a strike looming, I am nervous but I know God will take care of me and my family through all this. I trust God. Not man. Through the negotiations I pray that both sides can come to an agreement soon so we don’t have to strike. God bless us all.
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