Union members protest at Verizon meeting

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_505881.html

By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 3, 2007

"What time is it?" chanted Bill George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

"Union time!" shouted a crowd of 600-and-growing union members, rallying on the lawn next to the United Steelworkers Building, Downtown.

This morning's demonstration, one of the city's largest in recent years, presaged Verizon's annual meeting at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, Downtown.

"Verizon and other big international corporations don't much give a damn about workers anymore, they don't even care about the red, white and blue," George said.

Union workers voiced disgust with pension cuts and health care benefits, while executives earn multimillion dollar compensation packages.

"Verizon and other corporations want consumers to pay more, workers to earn less, and CEOs to receive obscene salaries and buy-outs," said Rev. Jack O'Malley, who is chaplain to the state AFL-CIO. "We plan to stop that starting today."

FULL story at link.

[Bravo Zulu]

1. Verizon CEO feels unions' wrath

Friday, May 04, 2007
By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Verizon Communications Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg stood at the podium yesterday, composed, almost stoic, as he faced a red-shirted, mostly hostile union crowd shouting "boo," hurling cat calls and calling him names for about an hour and a half.
Unions and executive pay critics liken corporate chiefs to 21st century Marie Antoinettes -- pampered with private jets, country club memberships and generous pay packages that don't often match shareholders' returns and have little relationship to the lives of the average worker.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07124/783266-28.stm