Striking IBEW union members putting finishing touches on their guest mascot “Porkorate Pig”. They manned the picket lines all weekend and are out in force today, hoping for a better contract from Fairpoint Communications.

I look out on the nondescript Fairpoint building from my office window. I don’t know whether the deal these union workers get is any raw-er than the deal any workingman gets in these days of globalization and technological change. I also don’t know if Fairpoint is really any worse than any other big employer burdened with the bizarre legacies of the breakup of Ma Bell and the ensuing organizational and regulatory stew.

Whatever the merits of the situation, there’s never a winner, at least in the short term, when it gets to this point.