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Reuters reports:
About 37,000 AT&T Inc (T.N) workers, or less than 14 percent of the company's total workforce, began a three-day strike on Friday after failing to reach an agreement with the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier over new contracts.
This is the first time that AT&T wireless workers are on strike, which could result in closed retail stores during the weekend, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union. The workers on strike are members of the CWA.
The workers are demanding wage increases that cover rising healthcare costs, job security against outsourcing, affordable healthcare and a fair scheduling policy.
Other coverage at UCOMM Communications Blog and The New York Times
Previously on SoylentNews: Largest Labor Action in 5 Years Slated for Wednesday, April 13 Against Verizon
[Ed. Note: This story was rewritten with a different source because the original story substantially altered the quoted material and contained a longer off-topic text than the section quoted. As always, the original submission is available at the link below.]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @12:34AM (6 children)
Why isn't there a Kibbutz for laid-off American tech workers who trained their H-1B replacements? Why isn't the Free Software Foundation employing unemployed coders to finish GNU? Why is the FSF a charity non-profit organization, when instead the FSF should be a charitable organization? Why does FSF take instead of give? I'll tell you why. Stallman's longterm goal stated in the GNU Manifesto was to suck the government teat, specifically the teat of the National Science Foundation. That was the endgame: GNU fully funded by NSF. Too bad it never happened.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @01:19AM (2 children)
Stallman's longterm goal [...] was to suck the government teat
There are currently lots of extremely wealthy individuals, educational institutions, and for-profit corporations receiving gov't subsidies.
This, while extracting gobs of income from the economy and doing everything they can (some legal and some very shady) to avoid paying taxes.
Stallman's plan is to make available what he and his disciples produce to everyone without paying (not even limiting use by the military--an entity he dislikes).
Many would see gov't getting involved in funding this as a fine example of Liberal Democracy.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @01:51AM (1 child)
Haven't you noticed how money flows in one direction: toward FSF. I know very well, as I have donated money to FSF, and I have also written GPL software (not for GNU, thus I retain the copyright), but there's nothing liberal democratic about FSF. FSF is purely communist. FSF doesn't give. FSF takes. FSF takes donations and FSF takes copyright assignment. FSF does not give to promote the cause of free software. FSF takes as much as it possibly can from sponsors and volunteers. FSF is one monumental communist leech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @04:14AM
Cause lawyers to fight bad lawsuits cost nothing.
Sounds like someone wants a free ride, hypocrisy strong with you today?
(Score: 1) by tftp on Monday May 22 2017, @01:46AM (2 children)
Some form their own startups, which is exactly what I proposed. Some - but not all. This road requires a different set of skills. But programmers or IT people are not the most disadvantaged ones here. Unwanted bank tellers and telephone sanitizers - those are in real trouble, especially if middle-aged. Chronically unemployed are a complete write-off, as far as HR people are concerned. It's, basically, this group of people - those who can never find a job - that has to consider alternative occupation. Ideally, that would be managed from the top, but Presidents always appear to be busy with something else. This job may have to be sponsored by the taxpayer, but it will be still better than twiddling thumbs (which is the current activity on social security, if one is receiving the benefits - and not everyone does.) But why to invent things, everything has been invented [wikipedia.org] before us :-) Such things were done before [wikipedia.org] - and nobody can say that there is absolutely nothing to be built or repaired in the country. For starters, they could wash off the graffiti from all the overpasses... Honest pay for honest work. Only the disabled should receive benefits without working. For everyone else, however, free money corrupts the soul.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @02:15AM (1 child)
Don't scrub that artwork off the bridge, because it's not graffiti. It's a neighborhood mural which was permitted by the city council. There isn't much actual graffiti these days since amateur artists have turned to social media which affords them a global audience with little effort. Sure the occasional joker tags a construction site to screw with the crew, but naturally it gets cleaned up in the course of construction work. Your example for starters of cleaning graffiti is a nonstarter because it doesn't really need doing these days. Unless you can come up with some other unskilled makework job that can be done easily by former bank tellers, I'm afraid you're going to have to pay them to do nothing.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Monday May 22 2017, @02:25AM
OK, then _in my world_ it's the city council that will be scrubbing the concrete. They earned the privilege.
Most of the bridges are rusty and need painting, if not worse [wikipedia.org]. When the workers are done with that, I'd like them to add two lanes to all interstates and state highways. With superchargers for EVs every ten miles. This can't be done over the Internet.