“About 39,000 Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning, including more than 5,000 in MA, a day after the telecommunications giant announced a $300 million investment to bring high-speed fiber optic FiOS Internet and TV service to Boston”.
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The two sides are fighting over pensions (the unions say Verizon wants to freeze them), job security (the unions claim Verizon wants to shift to more contract workers, not to mention pave the way for more layoffs) and health care (Verizon says it’s gotten really expensive).
“We’re trying to keep jobs here”, said Jerry D. Rogers, president of the Newport News-based Local 2205 chapter of Communication Workers of America.
Verizon said it wants to address healthcare issues, citing the rise in medical costs for both retirees and current employees.
As approximately 36,000 Verizon workers went on strike Wednesday, the company promised its customers would be largely unaffected, the New York Times reports. “I know you’ve thought a whole lot about it, and I know your families will pay a price”, he said to the protesters. “All we’re asking for is a fair contract, and they don’t want to give it to us”.
The strike is meant to get Verizon to come back to the bargaining table since the striking workers haven’t had a contract since August.
Union employees say it is their hard work that made Verizon the successful company it is today.
“As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years – that’s a 35 percent tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting”, wrote McAdam, directing readers to the company’s website in a Tuesday statement.
Verizon said that it has worked with union leaders in good faith. It’s the largest strike in the Untied States since Verizon workers walked off the job in 2011. “To preserve and grow America’s middle class, we need to protect good wages and benefits, including retirement security”.
“It is about keeping what we already had”, he said. “What’s disgusting? Union busting”, they said in unison.Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was disappointed by the strike.
Local 2205 has 700 members and just a handful crossed the picket line Wednesday, Rogers said. That strike involved 45,000 workers.
The unions organising the action represent customer service and network technicians.
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After 8 months of working without a contract, thousands of Verizon employees are on strike.
