45,000 Verizon Workers Strike As Last-Minute Contract
Negotiations Fall Through  Having trouble reaching your Verizon
telephone contact today? Could be because he or she, along with
45,000 other workers, went on strike at midnight following
failed 11th-hour contract negotiations.  Verizon claims
customers will only experience "limited disruption" due to the
strike because manager-level employees and retirees are quickly
filling the just-vacated union ranks. The company also claims
any cost cutting to its wired workforce leading up to the strike
are due to a reduced need for wired services and increased
growth in the wireless sector.  Additionally, Verizon noted via
a statement that 130,000 of its 196,000 workers cotribute to
health care premiums, and that it would like "to bring [its]
union more in line with what the rest of the workers pay."
Nevertheless, I saw a sea of red outside of my local Verizon
store late this morning. The strike is in effect. [Slate]