Building on a successful strike against Verizon last year, on May 19 the Communications Workers of America hit the picket lines again to protect their livelihoods against corporate greed in the telecom industry. 21,000 AT&T Mobility workers in 36 states; 17,000 AT&T wireline employees in California, Connecticut and Nevada; and 2,000 DirectTV workers went on a three-day strike.

There was an outpouring of community support for the strikers in central Ohio. At 3 p.m. picket lines formed outside multiple AT&T stores in Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Hilliard, Upper Arlington and Westerville.

“Hey Randall, you can’t hide. We can see your greedy side!” 50 protesters chanted outside the AT&T store in the OSU Gateway district. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson took home $28.4 million in 2016. AT&T Mobility made $13 billion in profits last year.

The AT&T Mobility workers have been working without a contract since February. AT&T has not budged on its offer of a 2 percent raise, which would not be enough to cover increases in health care costs. But the strikers’ main issue is not pay. They are more concerned about the company’s outsourcing jobs. 

As 'mental health' issues gain more attention, sympathetic and
otherwise, in a wide variety of contexts and countries around the world,
the opportunity for inaccurate perceptions of what causes these issues,
and how to treat them, are likewise expanded.

So if you or someone you know is supposed to have a 'mental illness'
such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa or post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), I would like to give you the opportunity to
consider an explanation and a way forward that you are unlikely to have
come across.

My first suggestion is that you ignore any label that you have been
given. These labels are an inaccurate and unhelpful way of labeling the
appropriate, diverse and complex emotional responses that a normal human
being will have to emotionally disturbing events. It is inaccurate
because words such as these imply a 'disorder' that a normal individual
should not have in response to emotionally challenging events in their

Let me now also extend my deep and heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of the distinguished heads of state who made this journey here today. You greatly honor us with your presence, and I send the warmest regards from my country to yours. I know that our time together will bring many blessings to both your people and mine.