More than 45,000 Verizon workers are standing strong on picket lines and at rallies and marches for middle-class jobs, as the strike enters its second week. But while the public has rallied for their fight for middle-class jobs—you can sign a petition here—Verizon has lined up with the extremist Scott Walkers, John Kasichs and other far-right elements in attacking working families.
Striking Verizon families have begun receiving letters from the $20 billion company telling them they will lose their health care coverage if the strike isn’t over by Aug. 31.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) has made a commitment to assist striking workers in paying for their health care needs out of the Robert Lilja Members Relief Fund (RLMRF) during their participation in the strike. Click here for more information.
CWA District 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp told a cheering audience of United Steelworkers (USW) at the union’s convention in Las Vegas yesterday:
Verizon has aligned itself with the ultra right wing in this country, which is determined to destroy collective bargaining in the United States. They have their hand in the pocket of every working class family in this country. We will not stand by and let them mug us in broad daylight.
Click here for his full remarks.
More than 1,000 religious leaders have signed a petition to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam urging him to bargain fairly and in good faith with the CWA and Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Interfaith Worker Justice’s (IWJ’s) Jonathan Currie says Verizon has become the latest example of how even profitable corporations are demanding concessions from workers during this economic downturn. Verizon has made billions of dollars in revenues in recent years and rewarded its executives with millions.
People of faith in this country are deeply concerned with the way working families are being punished in this economy….There is no reason for a company like Verizon to demand huge cuts in pay and benefits from its workers.
Meanwhile, the IBEW reports that Verizon has been using thousands of inadequately trained replacement workers and managers to try and perform the jobs of the skilled Verizon workers on strike. The results have not been pretty.
Says IBEW Local 2321 Business Manager Ed Starr:
We’re seeing people without the right safety equipment, trying to do the job without doing the proper pre-work safety checks. These are the kind of screw ups that would get any of us written up in a heartbeat. The majority of these replacements have no telecommunications training and someone is going to get hurt bad unless Verizon settles this.
A video captured by Middleboro, Mass., Local 2321 shows IBEW strikers stepping in to prevent replacement workers from causing damage and personal injury to themselves and others. Local 2321 has been documenting unsafe working practices on its Facebook page since the strike began.
CWA Local 2205 President Jerry Rogers told the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press:
They want to see if they can break us and they’re not going to.
For more information on events and how you can support striking Verizon workers all along the East Coast, click here and here for events in New York and New Jersey.
Here are other ways you can show solidarity with the strikers and stand up for middle-class jobs:
•Find a local picket line to support here.
•Download leaflets here.
•“Like” the strikers on Facebook here and change your Facebook and/or Twitter profile picture in solidarity here.
•Click here to sign and tweet an act.ly petition demanding Verizon drop its outrageous concessionary demands.
•To tweet about the strike, use the hashtag #verizonstrike and feel free to direct to @VZLaborfacts.
