Eric Rabe
Eric Rabe
asking business contract eliminated jobs manage means union unit work
We are asking each business unit to manage their work flow, which means managers' jobs have been eliminated, not the union positions, and we have eliminated contract work,
contract fully impossible intense late people predict remains sides since talking talks unions yesterday
We have been talking with the unions since late yesterday afternoon, ... non-stop intense talks with all sides fully engaged. It remains impossible not predict when these talks will end in a contract and get people back to their jobs.
allow approve company continue contract process remain street unions willing
We continue to negotiate, and we continue to be hopeful. However, the negotiating process is a two-way street and the unions have not been willing to approve a contract that would allow the company to remain competitive.
anxious contract deadline helpful people point ready serious union
When you get to a point where you think people are ready to go home... that sometimes is helpful to have a deadline to get people focused, ... I think people are serious about getting a contract and getting things back the way they should be for customers. I think the union people are just as anxious to do that as we are.
agreement believe continue continues contract fervent hope negotiate process progress quickly reach strike within workers
It's our fervent hope that we will be able to negotiate that contract and get it over as quickly as possible. We continue to believe that we've made progress and that the end of this negotiation process continues to be within reach. We believe we can reach an agreement quickly and get workers back on the job. We want this strike to be over.
bargaining confront continue continuing difficult exhausting frankly issues plug sort status
The status of the bargaining is that we are continuing to talk. We continue to frankly plug through some of the more difficult issues that confront us. It's become sort of an intense, exhausting sort of a process. We're working through the issues one at a time.
competitor effective goes objective second strike wireless
As this strike goes into the second week, the objective of this is for us to be able to be the most effective competitor in the wireless sector,
accurate amount amplified hard information issue position stories tend true work
But getting our accurate position out there on this issue is something we've had to work hard to achieve, ... A sizeable amount of inaccurate, or even blatantly biased, information makes its way to the web, and the more sensational stories - true or not - tend to get amplified by repetition.
payroll
She is not on our payroll at this point.
address agree call centers customers face hard issue job people provide question raised service solution stress tough union work workplace
Now the union has raised the issue of workplace stress, and we're working on a solution to that too, ... The work done in call centers we all agree is tough and the people that do this work face a hard job. The question is, how can we address issue of job stress and still provide customers with the service they want and that they deserve?
built couple date expect extra good permission plans start stick sure
When we started making plans to start the service, we didn't know for sure what date the FCC would give us permission to start, so we built in a couple of extra days. We're going to stick to schedule. We don't think AT&T has a very good case, and we don't expect them to get a stay.
address conscious demands looking program variety ways
We're looking at a variety of ways to address the demands of the marketplace. We're also very conscious of program contracts.
change issues move movement moving positive seen situation
We have seen some positive movement on some of the issues, but this is a situation with a lot of moving parts. Those issues could change as we move to other issues.
behavior business negotiate normal outrageous refused
We think their behavior is outrageous for normal business commerce. Essentially they have refused to negotiate with us.