Liz McElroy of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO field communications staffer Nora Frederickson send us this report about a Verizon action in Philadelphia.
As 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) on the East Coast continue their strike against Verizon to maintain quality, middle-class jobs, union locals in southeastern Pennsylvania decided to take their message directly to the public – at the local ballgame.
More than 500 CWA Local 13000 and Local 13500 members and their allies showed up for the Philadelphia Eagles pre-season game at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia last night–not to tailgate but to educate Eagles fans about the real reasons behind their strike at Verizon.
Members of the local unions there as elsewhere in New England and south through Virginia, have been on strike since Sunday. Rather than reward the hard work of Verizon employees who have provided the quality service that earned the company more than $32.5 billion in revenue over the past three years, management continues to insist on cuts that total $1 billion. That’s about $20,000 per Verizon family. These workers have played by the rules—and now Verizon wants to break them.
Union members from AFT, AFSCME, NALC, PSEA, PASNAP and UFCW joined the leafleting to show their support. Retired Letter Carriers (NALC) Local 157 member Joe Piette said he joined union members in leafleting because the strike is about more than just their negotiations with Verizon:
Workers are under attack. I’m here to support these strikers because we all need strong unions in this country.
The Philadelphia fans were overwhelmingly supportive of the workers, many stopping to talk with the union members about their strike and what it means for the middle class.
State Representative Bill Keller (D) joined the crowd to express his support for the Verizon strikers and to talk about the bigger picture.
We need to be talking about putting people back to work, not destroying the good middle class jobs we have. Labor is always with me and I’m standing with them.
