*Ø* Blogmanac | Can you hear me now, Verizon? Three strikes, you're OUT!
From Lisa:
As Verizon gets bigger, their batting average plummets!
Strike One: Data-mining a captive audience.
Verizon was already on my shit list for unilaterally deciding that the money they extort from me each month to have an unpublished telephone number (I still have trouble fathoming that it costs money to not do something!) didn't really mean that I didn't want to be contacted by telemarketers... THEIR bleeping telemarketers!! They say I have to "opt out". Up theirs!! They opt me out of my money every month... peace and quiet is what I pay for!
Now I have even more reason to look for another provider:
Strike Two: Verizon wants helpless employees.
[Please use this phrase and link on your own site to googlebomb Verizon.]
The incident I'm about to describe could easily be interpreted as a "gun rights" issue... but, IMHO, it is as much or more about how much say your employer has over what you do when you're not at work.
Last December, Libertarian activist Jeffrey "The Hunter" Jordan was driving home from out of state and got stopped for speeding. Long story short: despite having a concealed carry permit, Jeffrey was arrested and charged with a felony because he was carrying a gun and ammunition.
Jeffrey has yet to stand trial. You will see on his supporters' web pages that there are many legal issues that may result in his exoneration; the verdict is certainly not a foregone conclusion. (I am particularly interested to hear the outcome of their "full faith and credit" argument. You may recognize that phrase from all the homophobic panic about gay marriage.)
Before he even made bail and got back home (a matter of days, btw), Jeffrey's employer, Verizon, suspended him without pay. There was a message on his answering machine, basically telling him not to bother to come to work.
Think about that. On what did they base their decision, if they hadn't even heard from Jeffrey?! They have never claimed that the suspension was for "absenteeism" or some other version of "not showing up". There seems to be absolutely no employment-related violation on Jeffrey's part.
Verizon has a written policy against carrying guns while on company property or on company business... neither of which apply to Jeffrey. He was on his own time and minding his own business. WTF?!
Verizon has engaged in some Rove-worthy evasiveness and intimidation when it comes to Jeffrey. To this day, they refuse to give him a hearing or severance pay, both of which are mandated by his union contract. They also have thusfar refused to pay him previously earned wages. Their only "statement" about Jeffrey's situation has been a vague reference to his alleged violation of some company policy; they did, however, find time to demand that Jeffrey's supporters censor their web pages.
In an effort to save Jeffrey's job, most of the webmasters who were approached (steamrolled) agreed to delete the specified information.
It was after the webmasters' good faith effort that Jeffrey received the certified letter telling him that he had been terminated... retroactively!! (Jeffrey's union, however, is being given a different story, and continues to work on his "suspension"!)
Last time I checked, organizations that make threats and demands but give nothing in return are called terrorists...!
Activists suspect Verizon's intransigence is based on the fact that the charge is a firearms offense. Does Verizon instantaneously suspend (and surreptitiously fire) employees arrested for all offenses — disorderly conduct, trespassing, shoplifting — before they are proven guilty?!
The ultimate irony — or insult — is that Verizon may have paid for firearms training for their executives a few years ago!
Employers increasingly seem to believe that they have the right to run employees' lives — prohibiting things like smoking or drinking in one's own home — or wanting to carry a gun, a right guaranteed (for now, anyway) by the 2nd amendment. What they want to ban on their own property is one thing; to try to tell an employee what they can do in the privacy of their own home or car, off company property, is a gross overstepping of bounds.
LET VERIZON KNOW THAT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO JEFFREY IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. If you have Verizon landline or cell service, consider taking your business elsewhere. And contact Verizon to let them know why you left.
[Stay tuned for Strike Three!]
P.S.: Dig the creepy inscription on the wall of the courthouse where Jeffrey's trial will take place. (Warning: it is 1184 x 888 pixels, over 360kb... might be a killer on dialup connections.)
Liberty Round Table press release
"Unofficial" Free Hunter page
"Official" Free Hunter page
Liberty Activist Blog
From Lisa:
As Verizon gets bigger, their batting average plummets!
Strike One: Data-mining a captive audience.
Verizon was already on my shit list for unilaterally deciding that the money they extort from me each month to have an unpublished telephone number (I still have trouble fathoming that it costs money to not do something!) didn't really mean that I didn't want to be contacted by telemarketers... THEIR bleeping telemarketers!! They say I have to "opt out". Up theirs!! They opt me out of my money every month... peace and quiet is what I pay for!
Now I have even more reason to look for another provider:
Strike Two: Verizon wants helpless employees.
[Please use this phrase and link on your own site to googlebomb Verizon.]
The incident I'm about to describe could easily be interpreted as a "gun rights" issue... but, IMHO, it is as much or more about how much say your employer has over what you do when you're not at work.
Last December, Libertarian activist Jeffrey "The Hunter" Jordan was driving home from out of state and got stopped for speeding. Long story short: despite having a concealed carry permit, Jeffrey was arrested and charged with a felony because he was carrying a gun and ammunition.
Jeffrey has yet to stand trial. You will see on his supporters' web pages that there are many legal issues that may result in his exoneration; the verdict is certainly not a foregone conclusion. (I am particularly interested to hear the outcome of their "full faith and credit" argument. You may recognize that phrase from all the homophobic panic about gay marriage.)
Before he even made bail and got back home (a matter of days, btw), Jeffrey's employer, Verizon, suspended him without pay. There was a message on his answering machine, basically telling him not to bother to come to work.
Think about that. On what did they base their decision, if they hadn't even heard from Jeffrey?! They have never claimed that the suspension was for "absenteeism" or some other version of "not showing up". There seems to be absolutely no employment-related violation on Jeffrey's part.
Verizon has a written policy against carrying guns while on company property or on company business... neither of which apply to Jeffrey. He was on his own time and minding his own business. WTF?!
Verizon has engaged in some Rove-worthy evasiveness and intimidation when it comes to Jeffrey. To this day, they refuse to give him a hearing or severance pay, both of which are mandated by his union contract. They also have thusfar refused to pay him previously earned wages. Their only "statement" about Jeffrey's situation has been a vague reference to his alleged violation of some company policy; they did, however, find time to demand that Jeffrey's supporters censor their web pages.
In an effort to save Jeffrey's job, most of the webmasters who were approached (steamrolled) agreed to delete the specified information.
It was after the webmasters' good faith effort that Jeffrey received the certified letter telling him that he had been terminated... retroactively!! (Jeffrey's union, however, is being given a different story, and continues to work on his "suspension"!)
Last time I checked, organizations that make threats and demands but give nothing in return are called terrorists...!
Activists suspect Verizon's intransigence is based on the fact that the charge is a firearms offense. Does Verizon instantaneously suspend (and surreptitiously fire) employees arrested for all offenses — disorderly conduct, trespassing, shoplifting — before they are proven guilty?!
The ultimate irony — or insult — is that Verizon may have paid for firearms training for their executives a few years ago!
Employers increasingly seem to believe that they have the right to run employees' lives — prohibiting things like smoking or drinking in one's own home — or wanting to carry a gun, a right guaranteed (for now, anyway) by the 2nd amendment. What they want to ban on their own property is one thing; to try to tell an employee what they can do in the privacy of their own home or car, off company property, is a gross overstepping of bounds.
LET VERIZON KNOW THAT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO JEFFREY IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. If you have Verizon landline or cell service, consider taking your business elsewhere. And contact Verizon to let them know why you left.
[Stay tuned for Strike Three!]
P.S.: Dig the creepy inscription on the wall of the courthouse where Jeffrey's trial will take place. (Warning: it is 1184 x 888 pixels, over 360kb... might be a killer on dialup connections.)
Liberty Round Table press release
"Unofficial" Free Hunter page
"Official" Free Hunter page
Liberty Activist Blog
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