After years of operating in blissful ignorance of the markets they allegedly compete in, Click! has come to the conclusion that they’re in trouble and have to do something, and do it quick!

The fact that they haven’t upgraded their system to DOCSIS 3.0 – like Comcast did three years ago isn’t to blame. The fact that people are ditching traditional cable TV in droves – “cutting the cord” – in favor of streaming media over the internet (like Netflix and Hulu) isn’t to blame.

Nope.

According to a presentation at the Tacoma Utilities Board meeting last week, and based on a consultant’s study that is over two years old, Click! Networks has finally come to the startling conclusion that their cable TV customer base has stagnated and revenues are down — mainly due to Comcast offering bundled services. But wait, there’s more – they have a remedy:

“Click needs to offer retail ISP services directly to customers, which means competing side by side with the three existing ISP’s. The wholesale model where customers have to buy data somewhere other than Click is the primary reason for the total stagnation of sales that has occurred since Comcast added the bundle…”

What is the connection here? “The wholesale model where customers have to buy data somewhere other than Click is the primary reason for the total stagnation of sales that has occurred since Comcast added the bundle…”

I challenge Click to prove that.

The whole thing is asinine. The wholesale internet-service business model doesn’t have anything at all to do with stagnation of TV sales. Has anyone at Click! even heard of Netflix? Do they read the news? Have they heard of TV antennas?

What Click really means is that TV sales have dropped off in the past couple years, and they need to make up the difference somewhere else.

Cutting the ISP’s out of the picture and selling internet retail gives them the extra revenue they need. It’s a handy remedy that they can implement right away. A quick fix.

Of course, it’s clear that ISP revenues will decline with Click selling retail. Having Click sell retail internet service will obviously change the competitive landscape greatly.

Quite probably drive the current ISP’s out of business.

So the question at issue then, without mincing words, is:

Is it good public policy for the City of Tacoma to put three local ISP’s out of businesses simply because Click wants the additional revenue for themselves – basically, to prop up an unprofitable, poorly run cable TV franchise? Where the effect will likely eliminate the jobs of the ISP’s employees, and maybe bankrupt the owners?

I believe it is not good public policy.

Click was expressly set up in the late 90′s as a wholesale internet provider. They contracted with three ISP’s (Rainier Connect, Net-Venture and Advanced Stream) to provide retail sales to the public.

Those independent ISP’s have been operating now for over 10 years. They’ve made a tremendous investment of time and money in making Click’s internet operations a success. And the internet side of the operation is a success. Subscriber levels have remained relatively constant, even despite Click’s failure to upgrade its network to the faster DOCSIS 3.0 standards, a move Comcast did nationwide over three years ago.

So now, Click’s TV revenues are falling and they decide to make up the difference by cutting the ISP’s out of the picture?

That’s a very bad idea, from the public policy standpoint. Governments are supposed to promote local businesses, not deliberately send them into bankruptcy.

But Click didn’t stop there with their bad ideas: They have a magic mantra that they believe will for sure make things better – they want to offer bundles. Cable TV, internet access, VoIP landlines, cell phone service, all sorts of neat things all wrapped up together.

Sadly, where bundles were the rage a few years ago (when Click’s consultant’s report was written) lately they’ve lost their popularity. Why? Because they aren’t economical from the standpoint of consumers. Click is a couple years too late. They clearly haven’t done their homework.

The current rage is “un-bundling.”

Comcast’s bundles are for example, a really bad deal – way overpriced. You can get much better deals from other providers on VoIP. But landline phones are a dying breed in any event. The trend in moving away from landline phones is accelerating to the point where some market analysts predict the last landline phone will have its cord cut by as early as 2025.

I disconnected my landline in favor of a cell phone more than 4 years ago, and have never regretted it. Landlines are an unnecessary expense for anyone with a cell phone.

Bundling is not going to save Click.

The truth be known, cable TV service is on a decline everywhere. Comcast uses the bundling mainly as an enticement to prop up its withering TV service – withering for exactly the same reasons Click’s cable TV customer base is “stagnating.” Why? Two words:

Cord cutters.

I cut my cable TV cord over a year ago and I don’t regret it for a minute. I spent maybe $100 on an antenna, and now get about 40 (mostly HD) channels off the air for free (in North Tacoma). For movies I have Netflix and Hulu and other streaming sites from the web. There’s a humongous amount of premium content legally available on the internet if you know where to look.

In metropolitan areas with lots of free, over-the-air channels - like Tacoma – cable TV’s days are absolutely numbered – it’s an obsolete, archaic, outmoded business model. The cord-cutters phenomena is accelerating. Comcast sees that and they’re doing everything in their power to prevent it (along with all the other content providers). Comcast’s biggest fear is that they’ll become simply the owner of big pipes – while losing all the content provision business to upstarts like Netflix.

Streaming media (ala Netflix) is the wave of the future; it’s just too convenient, and too good a product not to prevail. Cable TV – where you pay for 400 channels and usually only watch a half dozen – is a dead man walking. Comcast may be able to stall-off the death of cable for a short time, but that’s it. It can’t prevent it. It’s inevitable.

Who would have thought Hollywood Video would go toes up? Or Blockbuster Video? Or for that matter, the DVD, which is dying a slow death? The whole content delivery landscape is in the process of changing; with as profound and disruptive changes as when the automobile was first introduced, or electricity.

Cable TV is going down, soon, and the only logical, rational course of action is to get out now while the getting is good. Not prop it up at the expense of local businesses.

If Click wants to remain a player, they need to realize the internet access business isn’t at all static. They’re going to have to ditch the AOL mentality of “all they’ll ever need is 56k” – look what that did for AOL. Click will always have to continue to make periodic speed and bandwidth improvements to their networks if they want to remain competitive.

They need to bite the bullet and upgrade their network to DOCSIS 3.0 – and soon.

And more importantly, they need to figure out some way to get out of the cable TV business, gracefully. If their revenues are down now, just wait another five years.

But most expressly, Click needs to drop their plans to do away with the independent ISP’s that built their internet business

To: Paul Almeida
From: Michael Pellegrini
Subject: Sorry to see an AFL-CIO officer shilling for likes of the RIAA…

Sir:

I am an ILWU member. I’ve been involved in the union movement for over 30 years, working as an International Organizer, as a Business Rep, and have held elective positions.

I am appalled to find the AFL-CIO in bed with organizations like the RIAA and supporting SOPA.

Perhaps this is the “new” AFL-CIO we’re seeing?

I can’t imagine any good reason to support the passage of SOPA – a bill that does away with due process, which will stifle First Amendment rights, kill innovation and generally do away with the Internet as we know it.

With the percentage of union members on the steep decline, is this the new tack for the AFL-CIO – hiring out as a “big guns” lobbyist for whatever deep-pockets, scumsucking organization has the bucks? I suppose that could be quite lucrative.

Because the RIAA and their buddies are indeed scumsucking, lowlife one-cell, life forms. Their business model is outmoded and will soon vanish. But yet they cling to the past, vainly trying to halt progress and innovation – all at the expense of consumers, and our civil rights.

This sort of attempt to halt progress is not without precedent: in the early 1900’s, I suspect the livery stable owners association felt much the same as the RIAA about the advent of the automobile.

But the RIAA is dead wrong.

The AFL-CIO needs to drop it’s support of SOPA, because SOPA clearly works against the best interests of America’s union members.

I’m going to have a chat with the president of our local Central Labor Council and my local union President and see what can be done at our level. Perhaps a resolution to withhold our per capita in protest?

Until then, may I be so bold as to suggest a new plan of action for you: stop sleeping with big business and get your ass out in the field and do some organizing! Or have you forgotten how?

Fraternally yours,

Michael Pellegrini
Tacoma, WA

 
And Mr. Almeida’s response

From:Paul Almeida
Sent:Thursday,November 17, 2011 7:17 AM
To:Michael Pellegrini

Subject: RE: Sorry to see an AFL-CIO officer shilling for likes of the RIAA…

Michael,

I am sorry you have learned about this issue from an unreliable bog or news story. Typically I do not respond to email like this but I am because I believe you
are a good union member. One of our corner stone motto’s is “An Injury to One is an Injury to All.” This bill SOPA will go a long way to saving and creating good union jobs lost to online piracy and counterfeiting. I work for those union members your brothers and sisters.

You have quoted the people who profit from the proliferation of online piracy the BIG tech giants who don’t care about issues important to us, just profits.

I am attaching my submitted testimony to the committee from yesterday, please read all of it. You’ll see at the end the full Executive Council of the AFL-CIO supports our position on this matter. If when you are finished reading the testimony your position hasn’t changed I suggest we agree to disagree.

In solidarity,

Paul
Paul E. Almeida, President
Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

And my response back:

From: Michael Pellegrini
To: Paul Almeida
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: Sorry to see an AFL-CIO officer shilling for likes of the RIAA…

Paul:
Thanks for responding. You sound like a nice guy. I have nothing against you personally.

I don’t doubt that SOPA will temporarily save some jobs, but you have to ask at what cost.

On first blush, the most damning aspect of SOPA, from a labor standpoint, is that one of its biggest supporters is the US Chamber of Commerce. Are you aware of the historical role of the US Chamber vis-à-vis organized labor? I do hope so.

The amount of union worker’s blood on their hands is simply staggering. They may ostensibly be a little kinder and gentler these days – they may not have any Pinkertons’ busting heads or killing people – but their aims and goals are completely unchanged. They are diametrically opposed to everything unions stand for.

To think that the AFL-CIO and the US Chamber of Commerce are now working together on any issue is simply appalling. Next I suppose I’m going to learn that the AFL-CIO Headquarters buys its office supplies at Wal-Mart to save a buck?

To speak very plainly, the Chamber of Commerce, the MPAA and the RIAA are greedy cocksuckers intent on nothing more than buttfucking the American public and in particular, the American workers in any and every way they can. And if you think otherwise, then you’re much more naive than any senior union official should ever be.

The livery stablemen’s unions probably suffered greatly from the introduction of the automobile. But that doesn’t mean that the unions should have acted to restrict the use of cars.

You have to think of the greater good – or in this case, the greater evil. The recording and motion picture industries are failing because their business models have become outmoded with the advent of the internet.

But rather than impinge on our civil rights and stop progress, they need to find a new niche and a new way to do business – or simply admit defeat and pull the plug.

Some livery stables – the forward thinking ones – started catering to the new automobile crowd. They thrived.

Other ones – the ones locked in their traditional business models, went out of business.

The RIAA and MPAA are the livery stables of the 2000′s.

As an aside, my views about the dangers of legislation like SOPA weren’t gained on “unreliable b[l]ogs” and fringe news stories. Given below is a sampling of current coverage.

Labor’s got a tough row to hoe right now. Union membership levels are at all-time lows, and to make things worse, you have the grand attacks against our very basic union rights occurring, in places like Wisconsin and Ohio and other states.

Labor needs to get tough and brainstorm and try some new tacks to recapture our lost members.

But what we don’t need to do is ally ourselves with one of our biggest historic enemies, The US Chamber of Commerce, and greedy, moronic, scumsucking, latter-day Luddites like the RIAA and MPAA.

Time to get back to the drawing board, I think.

Fraternally yours,
Mike Pellegrini

“The right to bargain collectively is at the bottom of social justice for the worker, as well as the sensible conduct of business affairs. The denial or observance of this right means the difference between despotism and democracy.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in an address to the Senate, May 8, 1937.

These rights have been a mainstay of US labor law for nearly 80 years, first coming into being as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 – later codified as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Public employees gained bargaining rights somewhat later – in the case of Wisconsin, about 60 years ago.
Now the government didn’t just grant employees the right to organize out of benevolence; no, these rights were hard won with the blood of workers.
The 50 years leading up to Roosevelt’s New Deal were filled with costly and often exceptionally violent strikes. Many workers and not a few scabs died. Employers lost millions in productivity.

It was under this backdrop, that workers gained the right to organize. It was seen solely as a means to avoid bloodshed and the costly loss of productivity. Bargaining rights were not something given; the rights were hard-earned with the blood of countless workers – and that’s a very important distinction.
The first section of the NLRA says it all:

“Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively safeguards commerce from injury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain recognized sources of industrial disputes arising out of the differences as to wages, hours or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees.”

Something your forefathers fought and died for, bought and paid for with their blood, something which has endured for such a long time, is not something you expect to see change. Particularly in this supposedly enlightened age.
But Governor Walker’s changes wipe all that out for Wisconsin public employees. Mr. Walker would do away with public employee unions.
Make no mistake, the changes on the table in Wisconsin would very much do away with public employee unions. Two key provisions insure that, by:

1. Outlawing current union shops – where all employees in a bargaining unit must join the union or pay equivalency fees to the union for their fair share of the cost of representation, and
2. Mandating automatic decertification elections every year, where the unions have to win a 51% majority of all employees in the bargaining unit – not just a simple majority of those voting.

No union could exist with conditions like that.
So if the law passes, then there will be no more public employee unions in Wisconsin. None. They’ll be dead.
The unions have already agreed to the wage and benefit cuts, but Governor Walker still presses on with his agenda. So it’s crystal clear that the budget mess they’re in is all just a facade for the real agenda - busting the unions.
There are eight other states with similar legislation on the table right now. If Wisconsin is successful in busting their unions, then the other states will surely follow. All of them.
So after public employee unions are decimated, what next? I don’t think the Tea Party and their right-wing cohorts are going to stop with public employees.
Public employee unions are the core strength of the union movement in the United States, with 36% of all public employees belonging to unions. That compares to just 6.9% of all private sector employees.
It’s clear that after they’ve decimated the strength of the union movement, they’ll start mopping up exercises to do away with the rest.
The events we’re watching unfold could well be the beginning of the end of the union movement as we know it in the United States.
I can see the Koch brothers wringing their hands in happy orgiastic, anticipation.
So are we going to stand idly by and let this happen?
The remedy for the situation labor finds itself in is obvious.
Labor needs to get in touch with its roots, circa the late 1800′s through the early 1900′s.
We need to return to the methods of our forefathers. Time proven methods. And Governor Walker and the others need to be thoroughly and completely educated on the reasons precisely why collective bargaining laws exist, and the full range of possibilities of what can happen when the laws are suddenly gone.

“The tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson hit the nail on the head. I for one will not go quietly.

The period in American history leading up from the Civil War to World War II was particularly violent and bloody for labor. It was through that struggle that many of the very most basic rights we enjoy today came about. These include:

• Abolition of child labor

• The eight hour day

• Unemployment insuance

• Social security

• The right to form and join unions, and bargain collectively

To give a glimpse of the background that led up to these changes, here’s a list of the major strikes that took place in the United States from after the Civil War on (courtesy of Wikipedia):

1850-1899

• New England Shoemakers’ Strike (1860)
• Molders’ Lockout (1866)
• Anthracite Coal Strike (1868)
• Troy New York, Collar Launderesses’ Strike (1869)
• Lynn Massachusetts, Shoe Workers’ Strike (1872)
• Tompkins Square Riot (1874) (New York.)
• Coal miners strikes of 1875

• Great Railroad Strike (1877)
• Cigarmakers’ Strike (1877)
• Cohoes New York, Cotton Mill Strike (1882)
• Cowboy Strike (1883)
• Lynchburg Virginia, Tobacco Workers’ Strike (1883)
• Molders’ Lockout (1883)
• Fall River Massachusetts, Textile Strike (1884)
• Union Pacific Railroad Strike (1884)
• Cloakmakers’ General Strike (1885)
• McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Strike (1885)
• Southwest Railroad Strike (1885)
• Yonkers New York, Carpet Weavers’ Strike (1885)
• Augusta Georgia, Textile Strike (1886)
• Cowboy Strike (1886)
• Eight-Hour Strikes (1886)
• McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Strike (1886)
• Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886
• Troy New York, Collar Launderesses’ Strike (1886)
• Haymarket Affair (1886)
• Bay View Tragedy (1886)
• Port of New York, Longshoremens’ Strike (1887)
• Lafourche Parish,Louisiana, Sugar Cane Workers Strike (1887)
• Burlington Railroad Strike (1888)
• Cincinnati Shoemakers’ Lockout (1888)
• Baseball Players’ Revolt (1889)
• Fall River Massachusetts, Textile Strike (1889)
• Carpenters’ Strike for the Eight-Hour Day (1890)
• Savanna Georgia, Black Laborers’ Strike (1891)
• Tennessee Miners’ Strike (1891)
• Homestead Strike (1892)
• Buffalo switchmen’s strike (1892)
• Coeur d’Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892 (1892)
• Coxey’s Army marches on Washington D.C. (1894)
• Cripple Creek miners’ strike of 1894
• Pullman Strike (1894)
• Great Northern Railway Strike (1894)
• Bituminous Coal Miners’ Strike of 1894
• Haverhill Massachusetts Shoe Strike (1895)
• Brooklyn, New York Trolley Workers’ Strike (1895)
• Leadville Colorado, Miners’ Strike (1896)
• Lattimer Massacre Strike (1897, Pennsylvania )
• Marlboro Massachusetts, Shoe Workers’ Strike (1888)
• Buffalo New York, Grain Shovellers’ Strike (1899)
• Cleveland Ohio, Street Railway Workers’ Strike (1899)
• Coeur d’Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899 (1899)
• Newsboys Strike of 1899 (New York City)

20th century

1900s

• Anthracite Coal Strike (1900)
• Machinists’ Strike (1900)
• U.S. Steel Recognition Strike of 1901
• Machinists’ Strike (1901)
• San Francisco Restaurant Workers’ Strike (1901)
• Anthracite Coal Strike (1902)
• Chicago Teamsters’ Strike (1902)
• Cripple Creek Colorado, Miners’ Strike (1902)
• Colorado Labor Wars , Western Federation of Miners (1903–1904)
• Oxnard Strike of 1903
• Utah Coal Strike (1903)
• New York City Interborough Rapid Transit Strike 1899-1904)
• Packinghouse Workers’ Strike (1904)
• Santa Fe Railroad Shopmen’s Strike (1904)
• Goldfield Nevada, Miners’ Strike (1907)
• Pensacola streetcar operators’ strike (1908, Pensacola, Florida )
• New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 “Uprising of the 20,000″ (1909)
• Georgia Railroad Strike (1909)
• Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909 ( McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania )
• Watertown Connecticut, Arsenal Strike (1909)

1910s

• 1910 New York Cloakmakers Strike , also known as “The Great Revolt” (1910)
• Westmoreland County Coal Strike of 1910-1911
• Chicago Garment Workers’ Strike of 1910-1911
• Lawrence textile strike , often known as the Bread and Roses strike (1912)
• Louisiana Timber Workers’ Strike (1912)
• West Virginia Mine War of 1912-1913
• Ludlow Massacre Strike (1913)
• Paterson silk strike (1913)
• BLE Strike in New York City (1918)
• Coal strike (1919)
• Boston Police Strike (1919)
• Steel strike of 1919

1920s

• Battle of Matewan (1920)
• Alabama Miners’ Strike (1920)
• Clothing Workers’ Lockout (1920)
• West Virginia Coal Wars (1920–21)
• Battle of Blair Mountain (1921)
• Seamen’s Strike (1921)
• Great Railroad Strike of 1922
• Herrin massacre (1922)
• Anthracite Coal Strike (1922)
• Bituminous Coal Strike (1922)
• Railroad Shopmen’s Strike (1922)
• Portland Waterfront Strikes (1922)
• Anthracite Coal Strike (1925)
• Passaic New Jersey, Textile Strike (1926)
• Bituminous Coal Strike (1927)
• Columbine Mine Massacre Strike (1927)
• New Bedford Massachusetts, Textile Strike (1928)
• Loray Mill Strike (Gastonia, North Carolina, Textile Strike) (1929)

1930s

• Imperial Valley California, Farmworkers’ Strike (1929)
• Tampa Florida, Cigar Workers’ Strike (1931)
• Battle of Evarts , Harlan County Mining Strike (1931)
• California Pea Pickers’ Strike (1932)
• Century Airlines Pilots’ Strike (1932)
• Davidson-Wiler Tennessee, Coal Strike (1932)
• Ford Hunger March Detroit Michigan (1932)
• Vacaville California, Tree Pruners’ Strike (1932)
• Briggs Manufacturing Strike (1933)
• California Farmworkers’ Strike (1933)
• Detroit Michigan Tool and Die Strike (1933)
• New Mexico Miners’ Strike (1933)
• Harlem New York, Jobs-for-Negroes-Boycott (1934)
• Kohler Strike, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (1934)
• Imperial Valley California, Farmworkers’ Strike (1934)
• Auto-Lite Strike (1934, Toledo, Ohio)
• Textile Workers’ Strike (1934)
• Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934
• Rubber Workers’ Strike (1934)
• Textile workers Strike (1934)
• 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike
• NewarkStar-Ledger Strike (1934.)
• Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Metal workers’ strike (1935)
• Pacific Northwest Lumber Strike (1935)
• Southern Sharecroppers’ and Farm Laborers’ Strike (1935)
• Atlanta Georgia, Auto Workers’ Sit-Down Strike (1936)
• Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike (1936)
• Flint Sit-Down Strike (1936)
• RCA Strike (1936)
• Seafarer’s Strike (1936)
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer Newspaper Strike (1936)
• Rubber Workers’ Strike (1936)
• S.S. California strike (1936)
• Remington Rand strike of 1936-1937
• Flint Sit-Down Strike General Motors (1936–1937)
• Hershey Pennsylvania, Chocolate Workers’ Strike (1937)
• Memorial Day massacre of 1937 “Little Steel Strike”
• Chicago Newspaper Strike (1938)
• Maytag Strike (1938)
• Hilo Hawaii Massacre (1938)
• Chrysler Auto Strike (1939)
• General Motors Tool and Diemakers’ Strike (1939)

• Ford Motor Strike (1939)
• Disney animators’ strike (1939)

1940′s

• Allis-Chalmers Strike (1941)
• Captive Coal Miners’ Strike (1941)
• Detroit Michigan, Hate Strike against Black Workers (1941)
• International Harvester Strike (1941)
• New York City Bus Strike (1941)
• North American Aviation Strike (1941)
• 1942-43 musicians’ strike
• Bituminous Coal Strike (1943)
• Detroit Michigan, Hate Strike against Black Workers (1943)
• Detroit Michigan Race Riot (1943)
• Hollywood Black Friday
• Philadelphia Transit Strike (1944)
• Port Chicago mutiny (1944)
• Kelsey-Hayes Strike (1945)
• New York City Longshoreman’s Strike (1945)
• Montgomery Ward Strike (1945)
• Oil Workers’ Strike (1945)
• Bituminous Coal Strike (1946)
• Electrical Manufacturing Strike (1946)
• General Motors’ Strike (1946)
• Pittsburgh Power Strike (1946)
• Railroad Strike (1946)
• Steel Strike (1946)
• Hawaiian Sugar Strike (1946)
• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Strike (1947)
• Telephone Strike (1947)
• Longshore Strike (1948)
• Hawaiian Dock Strike (1949)

1950s

• Atlanta transit strike of 1950
• “Salt of the Earth” Strike of New Mexico Miners (1950)
• 1952 steel strike (1952)
• Louisiana Sugarcane Workers’ Strike (1953)
• Kohler Strike (1954)
• UNITE Strike (1955)
• Southern Telephone Strike (1955)
• East Coast Longshoreman’s Strike (1956)
• Steel Strike (1956)
• Musicians Union strike (1958)
• Steel strike of 1959

1960s

• General Electric Strike (1960)
• Seamen’s Strike (1960)
• 1960 Writers Guild of America strike
• 1962 New York City newspaper strike (1962)
• East Coast Longshoreman’s Strike (1962)
• Delano grape strike (1965–1970)
• 1966 New York City transit strike
• St. John’s University strike of 1966-1967
• Railroad machinists’ strike of 1967
• Copper Strike (1967)
• Chrysler wildcat strike (1968)
• New York City Teacher’s Strike of 1968
• Florida statewide teachers’ strike of 1968
• Charleston, South Carolina, Hospital Workers’ Strike (1969)
• The President National Strike (1969)

1970s

• Salad Bowl strike (1970–1971)
• U.S. Postal Service strike of 1970 first U.S. nationwide strike of public employees
• General Motors Strike (1970)
• New York City Police Strike (1971)
• Longshore Strike (1971)
• Farrah Clothing Workers’ Strike and Boycott (1972)
• Lordstown Ohio, Auto Workers’ Strike (1972)
• Philadelphia Teachers’ Strike (1972)
• 1972 Major League Baseball strike
• Baltimore police strike (1974)
• 1974 UPR strike
• Bituminous Coal Strike of 1974
• Washington Post Pressmen’s Strike (1975)
• Atlanta Sanitation Workers’ Strike (1977)
• Coors Beer Strike and Boycott (1977)
• J.P. Stevens Boycott (1977)
• Willmar Minnesota, Bank Workers’ Strike (1977)
• Bituminous Coal Strike of 1977-1978
• Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, Newspaper Strike (1978)
• Independent Truckers’ Strike (1979)
• Art Strike 1977–1980

1980s

• 1980 New York City transit strike (April 1980)
• 1980 AFTRA/Screen Actors Guild strike (summer 1980)
• Air traffic controllers’ strike/Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1981)
• 1981 Writers Guild of America strike
• 1981 Major League Baseball strike
• Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983 (1983)
• Yale University Clerical Workers’ Strike (1984)
• Hormel Meatpackers’ Strike (1985)
• Los Angeles County Sanitary Workers’ Strike (1985)
• Yale University Clerical Workers’ Strike (1985)
• Chicago Tribune Strike (1986)
• Trans World Airlines Flight Attendants’ Strike (1986)
• United States Steel Lockout (1986)
• Major Indoor Soccer League Lockout two-week lockout (1986)
• International Paper strike (1987)
• Professional Football Players’ Strike (1987)
• 1988 Writers Guild of America strike
• Eastern Airline Workers’ Strike (1989)
• Bell Atlantic Strike (August 1989)
• Nynex Strike (August 1989) Lasted 4 months.
• Pittston Coal strike (1989–90)

1990s

• Art Strike 1990–1993
• 1992 NHL players’ strike
• Timex strike (1993)
• 1994 Major League Baseball strike
• Detroit Newspaper Strike (13 July 1995—14 February 1997)
• 1997 UPS Strike

21st century

• Verizon Strike (August 2000)
• Jeffboat wildcat strike (2001)
• Actors Strike 2001
• University of California strikes (2003)
• 2003 Broadway Musicians Strike
• Southern California Supermarket strike of 2003-2004
• 2004–05 NHL lockout
• 2005 New York City transit strike
• 2006 USW Strike
• 2006 AK Steel Strike
• University of Miami 2006 custodial workers’ strike
• 2007 Freightliner wildcat strike
• 2007 Orange County transit strike
• Hayward teachers strike (2007)
• 2007 General Motors strike
• 2007 Chrysler Autoworkers strike
• 2007 United Space Alliance strike ]
• 2007 Broadway Stagehand Strike
• SEMCO Energy Gas Company Strike (2007)
• 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike
• 2008 University of California strike
• 2008 American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. strike
• 2008 Sundance Kabuki Cinema Sex in the City strike
• Boeing Machinists Strike of 2008
• 2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery strikes

• Automatic yearly elections where 51+% of all employees in a bargaining unit would have to vote in favor of union representation or the union would be decertified;
• No more union shops where membership or an equivalency fee are required as a condition of employment;
• Would limit wage increases to a small percetage based on the increase in the cost of living;
• Would force employees to pay nearly 13% of their healthcare costs;
• Reduces employers pension contributions.

And those are just the highlights. Basically, it would do away with public employee unions in Wisconsin.

No subtlety or subterfuge here. This is an open frontal assault on workers – union busting on a grand scale, like hasn’t been seen in this country in 60-80 years. And conducted by a state government, no less.

For the full details of the legislative changes Click here

The unions involved have already agreed to make the wage and benefit concessions. But even so, the republican controlled legislature insists on pressing ahead to repeal their collective bargaining rights. Governor Walker says he will not back down.

No, they’re not being subtle at all. It’s obvious that their real agenda is to do away with unions. Money is not the real issue. It’s worker’s rights.

The battle is on!

Wisconsin employees have been fighting back hard, with union members holding massive demonstrations at the capitol in Madison on a daily basis. They’ve been staying away from their jobs, conducting mass sick-outs.

The Tea Party has also been busy conducting its own counter demonstrations. Based on this, we can only assume that doing away with unions will become a mainstay of the Tea Party platform all over the US. Not that I can say I’m surprised.

If conservatives are successful at outlawing public employee unions in Wisconsin, then emboldened, it’s a given that similar battles will soon be fought in every state.

A number of other states (OH, IN, NJ and others) are already looking at enacting similar laws in the next few months for their public employees. But that’s likely to just be the start.
If it can happen in Wisconsin, it can – and will – happen anywhere. And potentially it won’t be limited to just public employees.

You better believe almost every private sector employer in the country is watching with great interest, just wishing they could do the same exact thing.
No union is immune from this sort of attack. Any successful attack on union rights in the US diminishes our power collectively. And it moves each other union just that much closer to having to fight these same battles themselves.

This is the time to mobilze!

Local public employee unions are planning rallies here in Washington, and I’m sure elsewhere. I urge everyone to get out and show your support for public employees.
And if you can’t, send bucks: Myself, I sent $100 to the Wisconsin State Employees Union. I think I’ll send more next week. If you’d like to donate, here’s a link to the Wisconsin AFSCME website, Click on the “Donate” link there -

I also hope all unions will send groups to Wisconsin to demonstrate solidarity.

So far, the BIAW has spent a reported $500, 000 on its Yes-1082 campaign – a staggering sum of money. But it’s nothing compared to what they potentially can make if 1082 passes. Here’s a detailed look.

It’s all about offering better “case management” than Labor and Industries. Which translated, means screwing legitimate claimants – denying or delaying valid claims – just to save the insurance companies a buck.

Here’s a story about my experience with Safeco Insurances claims management practices.

But wait, there’s more: one of the main insurance companies that would take care of Worker’s Comp in Washington state if this passes is AIG.

That’s right, AIG – the company whose top notch management is so great that the US taxpayers had to come up with $85 billion to bail them out rather than have the company go bankrupt. The same AIG that, right after receiving the $85 billion bailout, sent their executives on a week-long retreat at the St Regis Resort in Monarch Beach California at the cost of $433,000 – of taxpayer money.

So let me get this straight – the BIAW wants to privatize the state Worker’s Comp system – to save us all money – and to carry out this task, they’re going to use AIG, the company that managed itself into bankruptcy, and sends its executives to $433,000 retreats at public expense?

Sure that sounds reasonable.

Foiled in his two recent attempts to claim the governorship of Washington state, Rossi decided to attempt to capture Patty Murray’s (D – Seattle) Senate seat this time.

“That bitch is going down!” Rossi was heard to have said last week, following a press conference. “All those homo liberals in Seattle are gonna eat their words. They stole the last governor’s election, now we’re gonna make ‘em pay!”

Always popular with big business and conservative republicans, Rossi was the number one homeboy for the Building Industry Association of Washington in the last governor’s election. This time for his Senate campaign, he’s branched out and broadened his support to include right-wing religious nuts, greedy millionaires and other fringe lunatics.

Asked what his platform was going to be, if elected, Rossi said, “We’re gonna take the country back for the real Americans – the rich, white, Christian people like me. All those liberal homo assholes are gonna have to move back to California, or something. Yee-ha!”

Governor Palin, the failed vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 elections was elated. “I can see the capitol from my house,” she was heard saying.

In a joint press conference early today, Governor Palin and Ms O’Donnell announced the main points of their platform:

· Christianity will be made the state religion for the United States
· Abortion for any reason will be outlawed
· Corporate taxes will be reduced to 1% or $10, whichever is lesss
· And a whole lot of other important stuff

According to Ms O’Donnell, another important piece of legislation they’ll pursue is a new federal law making masturbation and adultery class three felonies.

“Masturbation is the devil’s work,” said O’Donnell following the press conference. “It’s evil, and is no different than adultery. Sex is something sacred and should never take place outside the holy bounds of matrimony. I think masturbators should be shot on sight. Or maybe have their peckers cut off.”

Asked about her qualifications for office, Governor Palin stated, “I learned a whole lot, let me tell you, in the last election. I think it was a mistake for me to run on Senator McCain’s ticket. If it had been me and Chrissie together then, it’d be a different story now – no Muslim in the White House now, let me tell you.” She went on to add, “John’s a nice guy but he’s kinda weak kneed and he caved to all those godless liberals that want to turn our country into a socialist state. That was a mistake, and it’s one I aim to correct.”

“America needs strong leadership. Strong Christian, leadership, and that’s what Chrissie and I will bring to the table. We’ll put this great country back on the path to righteousness.”

“Masturbation is the devil’s work,” added Ms O’Donnell, “and we must punish these sinners.”

When asked about her response to the high US unemployment rate, Governor Palin said, “Perhaps if everyone will just tighten their belts and pray, we’ll get better. Although I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about – there really are plenty of jobs around. Why all my friends have jobs. Don’t yours?”

“Masturbation is the devil’s work,” chimed in O’Donnell.

One of your people called me a few days ago to talk about DOCSIS 3.0

I’m sorry, I don’t recall his name.

He was under the strong impression Comcast just rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 here in Tacoma in December 2009.

WRONG.

As I told the guy, Comcast rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 here in the Seattle Tacoma area slightly over a year ago – mid-December 2008. Check out this thread on dslreports.com and please note the posts’ date: DOCSIS 3.0 available in Tacoma

Yes, that’s right: Comcast rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 in Tacoma in mid-December, 2008. The first post in the thread is dated 12-19-2008.

And you guys thought the roll-out had just happened? Seriously? And according to what the guy told me, you’re just now getting ready to ask the city council for money to build-out a DOCSIS 3.0 system?

This really disturbs me.

How on earth could you people have missed a major market event such as that?

The guy I talked to told me that the vast majority of your customers are at the Res 1 level, so that was another reason Click saw no real incentive to upgrade. Well duh! You ever suppose the reason all your customers are at Res 1 is because the other products are so inferior that anyone interested in real bandwidth and real value will go to Comcast?

Take another look:

1. Current Comcast prices:
   1 Mbps down and 384 Kbps up – $24.95 per month
   15 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up – $19.99 for 6 months then $42.95 per month
   20 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up – $52.95 per month
   30 Mbps down and 7 Mbps up – $62.95 per month
   50 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up – $99.95 per month
2. Click packages:
   3 Mbps down and 256 Kbps up – $32.95 per month – “Res 1″
   10 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up – $42.95 per month – “Res 2″
   15 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up – $62.95 per month – “Res 3″

With price and speed differences as shown above, what incentive exists for the discerning customer to choose Click? Hometown loyalty? You offer BAD deals. Not even mediocre, but actually bad. Click is a terrible value. A vastly inferior and over-priced product.

What you have remaining – the core Res 1 subscribers are obviously the people who don’t care. And you still have no $24.95 price point package to compete with Comcast.

But by ignoring the market and allowing yourself to be non-competitive, you’ve driven away many other people who would otherwise subscribe.

I’m really concerned that your current management is running Click into the ground, and squandering the investment made by the people of this city.

Things must change, and quickly.

An open letter to Click! Network Management

Sirs:

Comcast started offering DOCSIS 3.0 connections here in the Seattle-Tacoma area over a year ago. At the time Comcast premiered it’s product here, I called Click! customer service and was assured you were “working” on our DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade and that it would happen sometime relatively soon.

Well it’s a year later, and we still have no upgrade. Comcast customers get twice (or more) the bandwidth we do.

Put this another way – say both Click! and Comcast were selling electricity. Click! sells 10 kWh for $62, but Comcast sells 30 kWh for the same price. That’s what we have with internet bandwidth – Comcast gives their customers double or triple the bandwidth for the same exact price.

And this is a city owned utility! Why should Tacoma residents – who own Click! – pay more for their internet through their own utility? If anything, city utility prices should be less expensive!

Is Click consciously trying to commit business suicide? Are you completely unaware of what the competition currently offers, not to mention what they’re planning? Check out this article. Comcast is planning to offer 250 Mbps service – in the next year or so! And then: read this more current article from CNET.

I would hate to see you guys lose all your customers because you can’t offer competitive packages…

Current Comcast prices:

• 1 Mbps down and 384 Kbps up – $24.95 per month

• 15 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up – $19.99 for 6 months then $42.95 per month

• 20 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up – $52.95 per month

• 30 Mbps down and 7 Mbps up – $62.95 per month

• 50 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up – $99.95 per month

Click packages:

• 3 Mbps down and 256 Kbps up – $32.95 per month – “Res 1″

• 10 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up – $42.95 per month – “Res 2″

• 15 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up – $62.95 per month – “Res 3″

At every price point, Comcast has a better product. Every one! And their $62.95 product is insanely better…

You don’t even have any comparable products at the high and low ends of the range. Stupid, stupid, stupid! This is particularly so, when you could easily throw together a competitive low-end product (designed to woo people away from dial-up) without any network modifications at all!

I’ve got Res 3 from Advanced Stream (one of the Click! ISP’s), but you don’t even provide the advertised 15 Mbps down – mine tops out at just over 11 Mbps down and .76 Mbps up.
With Comcast for the same price, I could get nearly triple the downstream bandwidth and almost 10 times the upstream!

This must change.

I am a loyal Click! subscriber – I’ve been with Advanced Stream for almost eight years.

Yes, I am a very vocal critic. But it really pains me when I see Click! make continual marketing blunders like this – blunders that could spell the end for city owned internet service – and I feel compelled to speak out.

It makes me think perhaps TCI (which became ATT@Home, then later Comcast) knew what they were talking about when they predicted doom for the city of Tacoma if Click! came into being. Please don’t let their prophesies come true.

If the competition is selling gas for 30 gallons for $62 and you price your gas at 15 gallons for the same price, how many customers are you going to have at your gas station? This is Marketing 101.

I believe competition is a good thing – it fosters lower prices – and that’s one reason I want to see Click! continue. I really would hate to see us lose our hometown broadband service, but unless you can offer competitive prices and products, your days are numbered.

Please start offering competitive prices and speeds before all your customers jump ship!

Mike Pellegrini