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Happy Manic Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend but it’s time to get back to the grind of work week. With that, comes the Android Overload. These are all the news stories we couldn’t squeeze onto our front page but still felt were worth taking a look at. Today, we have a whole lot of carrier news for you like yet another carrier moving towards the tiered data business model. Also, day 2 of the Verizon strikes and things are starting to get ugly. Have a great night and if you’re reading this in the UK, stay safe! Night.
- Day 2: Verizon strike is starting to get ugly. [Reuters]
- US Cellular announces future tiered data within next 3 quarters. [Engadget]
- LightSquared signs roaming deal with ClearTalk. [EngadgetMobile]
- Google exec assures investors that “We can protect the values of Android.” [ZDNet]
- Sony Ericsson Mini Pro now officially available in the UK. [PhoneArena]
- Oracle asks court to FORCE Motorola to testify. [PCWorld]
- The Samsung Galaxy Gio will launch at Bell and Virgin in Canada on Monday, August 8th, for a price of $250 without a contract. [MobileSyrup]
- HTC buys another small web services firm to help build their cloud multimedia distribution platform.
- Koodo’s Nexus S has dropped to $350.
- GetJar’s Patrick Mork will join Google in September as marketing director for their mobile apps. [ATD]
- US Cellular lost subscribers but gained revenue this quarter.
- The Samsung Galaxy Gio has launched on Bell and Virgin and Canada, free on-contract and $150 without.
- The Sphero (a robotic ball) will launch with Android support.
I have been out of work for months and these guys go on strike. They are lucky to have a job. Fire all of them then they would realize it wasnt so bad after all. Unemployment over 9% they could fill those 45000 positions in a few hours.
you really dont know what your talking about and what the issues are. we didnt just ” go on strike”. the contract is up, and the company wants to away all union workers pensions ( like they did to management 5 yrs ago), and to cut all of our healthcare benefits, while they continue to outsource work. going on strike is the only tool we have as a union to protect what middle class workers have at this point, which i’ll remind you, isnt a whole lot these days. i get that your bitter cause you are out of work, but keep in mind that situation is exactly what unions fight to protect. just because it happened to you is no reason to wish it upon everyone else. please look at the FACTS before you choose a side. ignorance is everyone’s worst enemy.
Yea, I don’t know what I am talking about. Lets see. I have lost more and more benefits the last five years and a 25% pay cut but I was in such a specialized field that I couldn’t move on to something else so after over 35 years I was let go because of downsizing. probably been working longer than most of you guys have been alive. Flame away.
thank you for proving to everyone what a moron you are.. heres your argument – unions are not good – and then ” i have lost more benefits.. let go after 35 yrs.. downsizing”..
so thank you for just further proving my point.. mabye if you had 45,000 people walk out of work to protect your job you wouldnt be in the position you are.. gotta love the mentality of ” since i got screwed, everyone else should to”..
Not as easy to fill those positions as you think.. Many people don’t qualify or have the skills.. then you have to train them, and it is an expensive proposition to train them.. And even though these are decent jobs, even after people are trained, many don’t last very long.. If you want a job, you don’t have to wait for the Armageddon firing of these people fighting for the benefits they have, apply for one there.. they have a pretty good turnover and if you are half decent you will get in.. then you can comment from the other side of the fence.
— To add some numbers..
When I became a CWA worker (not Verizon) a little over 2 years ago, I was part of a group of 250 employees that had less than a year.. 2 years later out of that 250 employees 75 are still there.. of the 28 that I trained with, there are 8 left.. This doesn’t take into account the employees that have come and gone after I was hired.. A small minority of those are firings, with most of those the employee doing it to themselves by not being to work every day, on time.. It’s work ethic, if you have it you’ll make it.
Moral of the story: Unions are worthless.
I understood their purpose decades ago, but with the media nowadays (news and social), you could very quickly bring attention to what your company is doing wrong. Not only that, but job search trends would make it nearly impossible for a company to not remain competitive in salaries and benefits, unless they want to choose from the bottom of the barrel.
your right unions are worthless these days, cause obviously corperate america has gotten much more honest, and giant compainies are focused on people being able to live and feed their families. let me remind you that a generation ago most familes were able to live pretty good with only 1 working parent, while they lived comfortably in their middle class home, driving a new car that they were able to BUY and not lease. let me remind you that the cost of a home has nearly DOUBLED in the last 10 years, while saleries as a hole have only gone up about 15%.. let me remind you that nj property taxes are the HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY. let me remind you that most familes cannot afford to live without 2 sources of income these days, and the days of growing up at home with your mother raising you is just a dream for many families. let me remind you that YOU ARE LIKELY MIDDLE CLASS , and that when you side with these compainies you are only hurting yourself and your peers.. maybe you should take a look at how many compaines have left their employess that devoted 30 – 50 years of service broke with no retirement benefits or 401k packages, while they bankrupted the company and made off with 100’s of millions for the few board memebers that were “in the know”. maybe you should realize THE FACT that MANY of these compainies were allowed to get away with this, and that is a big part of the reason the economy is like this, and why many of you people are out of work. maybe you sould take into consideration that while Verizon cries they are loosing money , that have PROFITED 19 billion dollars last year, and have spent over 250 MILLION in bonus’s on the top 5 executives while they continue to OUTSOURCE JOBS. maybe you should realize that taking away what little we have as middle class americans does not help us as a whole.. maybe you should also realize that YOUR UNEMPLOYMENT benefits gets paid from my paychecks too.. take into consideration how much better middle class people had it just one generation ago, and maybe you can realize that me asking to not have my pention taken away isnt asking a whole lot.. but your idea is obviosuly much better. maybe you should realize that it takes alot more than just paying for your own cell phone to live. if you are at home living in your parents basement playing with your new iphone maybe you shouldnt even have an opionion yet..
I’m sorry dude, but tl;dr. Couldn’t you have shortened that up a bit? >.>
ill make it short.. your all a bunch of stupid rednecks, and just because your employer treats you like shit does mean everyone else should suffer like you..
It’s a wonder you even had a job if this is the attutude you give to your customers. Typical, if someone doesn’t agree with you they are all dumbshits. Sorry we all can’t rate up to your standards.
What a dipshit.
another beauty of being a union, i dont have to kiss anyones ass to keep my job. i can say whatever i want to say, to who ever i want to say it to – which is why our boss’s are more prone to trest us with respect. – my work speaks for itself too.. and btw – you are verizons customer – not mine. if you tell me i dont deserve what i have – i will put you in your place without having to worry about my job. the union fights for the good of the american middle class – your attitude is screw everyone else so long as your happy.. maybe if you were a team player you would still have a job
I am very sorry that New Jersey is so expensive, and that the wages haven’t risen along with cost-of-living, but here are two facts for you. 1. Right to work states average a lower unemployment rate than states without right to work laws. 2. Right to work states average a lower cost of living than states without right to work laws. Do people in right to work states lack the basic necessities? Are right to work states just overrun with poverty stricken areas, where neither parent can afford to stay at home? The answer to both of those questions is obviously “no”. I have lived in 6 states throughout my life, the first five of which were not right to work states at the time I lived there. One of those areas was just north of Detroit, MI. The 6th state is a right to work state, and the difference in both cost-of-living and quality of life is nothing short of amazing. Taxes (property and income) are ridiculously lower. Yearly growth (economic and population) continues to outpace the previous year. General cost-of-living is also significantly lower from gas prices to housing prices to day care costs (if needed). All of that on top of the fact that we’re not talking about strikes on the news; the news is constantly announcing businesses moving to the area or expanding their existing presence in the area. I would definitely like to hear how unions have benefited their union dues payers, and how those benefits have translated into a better quality of life, financially and emotionally.
This is a sad day for “the belief project”
Unions are still needed. Despite what you complain about, without Unions, we would all be treated like illegal aliens…and I don’t see people lining up to clean toilets for under minimum wage.
sure we would. is that why non-union auto manufacturing plants in the US are struggling, and workers are forced to work 20 hour days for little-to-no pay? wait, they’re not, and they actually have higher safety track record than unionized US plants.
the only reason that may be true is some cases – which i find hard to beileve is accurate at all, is – is because 2/3 of all the jobs THERE USE TO BE have been outsource oversea’s.. so again – glad you feel it was worth giving up 10,000 american jobs to save 3,300.. but hey keep siding with the companies cause im sure they have your best intrest in mind.. you matter to them- keep telling yourself that
People only find it hard to believe because they’ve been brain-washed into thinking nothing exists outside what they’re accustomed to.
You don’t truly think unions keep jobs in the US? Find a list of plants or businesses which have been outsourced/relocated overseas, and then tell me how many of them were union compared to how many were not. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that many international companies with a manufacturing presence in the US, just happen to choose right to work states? Do you really think it’s because of cheap labor??? Do some research.
Fun fact for the day. The #1 exporter of automobiles in the US is BMW. They have been for several years, and they’re unlikely to lose that designation considering they just completed a $1 billion expansion, and hired 1,600 more workers. The expansion increased yearly production from 160,000 to 240,000. 70% of the vehicles are tagged for export, 20% of which are going to China. There isn’t a single union worker in that plant, but according to you, they must all be miserable. (rolling eyes)
The verizon strike is on the landline side. Most of those people will be without job soon anyway. And Joshua, there are plenty of non union companies that treat their employees well. They will attract the best talent and the others will become a memory. At this point unions are not needed.
correct – and after 25 years of service and multiple promotions, someone will come knock on your door and say – ummm – the boss decided to buy a boat, and he doesnt wanna loose any of his own money- so we found some college kid that will do your job for 1/3 what we are paying you.. so im leaving you with no job , no pension, no healtcare – but ill give you 2 weeks severence pay cause thats what required by law, and have a nice day.. and btw – thanks for all your hard work..
VERIZON = CORPORATE GREED
Why is the only Overload I’m interested the only one with no link?
Gonna have to look into that Sphero thing… Might be cool.
make no mistake – if it were up the compainies, they would take away everything we had. as far as right to work states – let me also remind you that most of those people that choose not to join unions uausally earn less, are treated worse, and are the FIRST TO LOOSE THEIR JOBS.. also another fact – when workers are given the choice of joining or union or not, most do – cause it only benefits them. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THE UNION DOES FOR ITS WORKERS. and the fact of the matter is that if most of the unemployed people were in a union, they would not be unemployed.. as far as the moron that said ” fire them all ” great plan – solve unemployemnt by firing more people. let me also remind you, that the company relies on its skilled workers to run its day to day operation, and we are not exactly stocking shelves here.. i promise alot of people couldnt not handle what we do, and my line of work is also listed as one of the mosr dangerous jobs. the mentality some of you have is the reason why so many people are suffering – cause all you want to yell is ” ME ME ME!!!” , instead of ” US US US!!”.. do you think we are enojing not getting paid right now?? every week im out of work cost me my weekly salary and any 401k contributations that would be matched by the comapany.
its amazing that some of you people think the union just ” decided to strike” and that we are doing something wrong. the comany is trying to take away peoples pensions, and reduce their healthcare beinefits. why would you, as middle class people, support these things being taken away from over 45,000 people so the top 5 executives can get bigger bonus’s?? the ceo gave himself a bonus of over 20 MILLION dollars last year. let me say that word again – BONUS – as in, on top of what they already make.. your attidue should be ” we should all have these things” , instead of “since i dont have it, you shouldnt either”.. you should all run for congress and use a slogan like ” instead of trying to make anything better, i’ll make sure we all suffer “.. or ” screw you people – its every man for himself “
just to give everyone an idea of how well verizon treats its OWN MANAGERS -cough- NONUNION EMPLOYEES.. 4 years ago one of my old bosses was fired. he had 28 years of service in the company, and had already had his pension taken away the year before. one day day 3 exectuives walked into his office and informed him that he was terminated, because he was in possesion of illecit material. now the details surrounding this were such – the manager in this construction office had moved out of another office 2 yrs before that was down the hall. haning on the wall in that office, was a calander that was sent from one of our vendors – from Hilti to be exact. on the calander was a picture of a girl, wearing a tanktop and hard hat holding a hilti drill. the manager wasnt even the person that hung the calander, but because he was the last assigned person to that office, to manage 25 other union members, he was terminated after 28 years or service, and given NOTHING for devoting more than half his life to this compnay. thats one out of 100 stories on how horribly they have treated THEIR OWN.. if they will do that to their own managers what do u think they would do to us if they were allowed to..
Typical union bashers are just bitter folk who are jealous of the benefits that unions have brought to its members. They would rather see 45000 families suffer than ever speak out against CEOs like Seidenberg who makes 55000 dollars a day! So these idiots think its better for society as a whole for 45000 families to lose their jobs to be replaced by 35000 people making half what the union member makes. Who wins here? Ivan Seidenberg and Lowell McAdam who can get bigger salaries, bonuses and perks! Look at the big picture people!