> Verizon said that the average annual salary and benefit package for an associate in their Eastern region is $130,000. In the New York City/Long Island region, Verizon technicians currently have an average total wage-and-benefit package worth in over $160,000 a year.

> Verizon said that the cost of medical coverage for an East employee and one or more family members currently averages nearly $20,000 a year. In one of the company's East plans, the annual cost for this coverage is over $23,000 a year. The company said these costs are higher than the national average for family healthcare coverage of about $16,800.

These are well-paying union jobs. The problem is not the union, or Verizon itself. The problem is the constant Wall Street pressure on companies whose workers are unionized and enjoy good pay and benefits. From the perspective of investors, having a division that returns under a billion dollars in net income annually on tens of billions of dollars of invested capital is a huge drag on the whole company.