http://themilitant.com/2016/8021/802102.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 21 May 30, 2016
(front page)
A month into strike, Verizon workers reach
for solidarity
BY CANDACE WAGNER
NEW YORK — Unionists at Verizon entered the second month of their strike
standing strong and reaching out for solidarity.
Some 39,000 members of the Communication Workers of America and the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers walked off the job April
13 in nine states and the District of Columbia. Among the issues the
unionists are fighting are Verizon’s plans to close call centers and
increase outsourcing, raise health insurance costs and cut pensions.
U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly issued a temporary restraining
order May 10 ordering strikers to cease picketing hotels where Verizon
houses strikebreakers. A series of actions by strikers employing
whistles, air horns, noisemakers and a trombone, along with pressure
from unionized hotel workers, have convinced a number of hotel managers
to ask the scabs to leave. The petition to block the hotel actions was
filed by National Labor Relations Board Regional Director James Paulsen,
underlining the non-neutral character of the NLRB.
The Obama administration is intervening in the dispute to press for a
settlement. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez convened negotiations between
the CWA President Chris Shelton, IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson and
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in Washington May 15.
Protests at Verizon stores across the country in solidarity with the
strikers continue. Most workers at the stores and in Verizon’s wireless
division are not unionized; the strike involves workers in the company’s
landline, internet and television services.
The CWA is asking other unions to adopt a Verizon store to picket. The
New Jersey State AFL-CIO is encouraging affiliates to adopt a store and
contribute to the strike fund. The Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO
lists Verizon picket lines across the area to attend. And the
Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO is encouraging unionists to leaflet at
three downtown stores.
The Hotel Trades Council here, whose members have joined strikers’
marches, adopted the picket line at 43rd St. and Lexington Ave, where
unionists were loudly urging passersby to boycott Verizon when this
reporter joined them May 16. “Our members picket every day from 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m., and we’ll be there until the strike is won," John Turchiano,
who edits the hotel workers’ online magazine, said in a phone interview.
“We are one with the 39,000 strong striking workers who walked off their
jobs to fight for their rights for decent jobs and benefits," reads a
statement by BIEN Philippines, an organization of call center, payroll
and other office workers for companies based outside the Philippines.
BIEN invited a delegation from the CWA, including three strikers, to the
Philippines for a four-day solidarity tour. They learned that workers in
the call centers there are being forced to work overtime answering calls
from Verizon customers that are usually answered by workers who are
currently on strike. For the same work done by union members in the
U.S., the Philippine workers are paid $1.78 an hour. A promise from a
Verizon representative for an overtime premium of $1.07 an hour hasn’t
showed up in their pay.
During the trip the CWA members were joined by BIEN, the May First
Movement Labor Center (KMU), and other local labor groups May 11 in
picketing a Teletech call center where Verizon calls are answered. Later
that day when the group attempted to meet with Verizon officials at
their corporate office, they were told to leave and then followed by a
private security group, which called a police SWAT team.
Related articles:
Indiana aerospace workers reject cuts, fight lockout at Honeywell
On the Picket Line
Australia truck drivers discuss fight for safety, unions
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home