Verizon Union Capitulates...It's time to Write the Obituary for the Labor Movement

New York (CNN) -- Verizon Communications Inc. and union leaders announced Saturday an end to the acrimonious two-week strike that left thousands of workers without paychecks and customers with long waits.
The 45,000 unionized employees who walked out on the company will return to work Monday night, according to a Verizon press release, although the two parties have not yet agreed to a contract.
While Verizon said the sides have agreed "on a process for moving forward," many of the dispute's key points of contention -- particularly health care costs -- remain to be settled.
The employees have been picketing since August 6 to protest concessions that Verizon is trying to get from its employees. Those concessions include the elimination of two paid holidays, the freezing of pensions, the alignment of pay raises with job performance, and the union's contribution of $100 per employee toward health care premiums.
"The major issues remain to be discussed," said the workers unions, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America, in a joint press release.
Additionally, there is no set time frame to resolve the workers' complaints, with no deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement, Verizon said. The workers will return under their contracts from before the strike began