45,000 Verizon workers strike U.S.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

NEW YORK (AP) — Forty-five thousand unionized Verizon Communications Inc. workers from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., went on strike Sunday after negotiations with the telecommunications company over a new labor contract fizzled.

The Communications Workers of America said negotiations in Philadelphia and New York stalled Saturday night after Verizon continued to demand more than 100 concessions from workers regarding health care, pensions and work rules.

Mark C. Reed, Verizon's executive vice president of human resources, called the outcome of the unions' actions "regrettable" for customers and employees.

"We will continue to do our part to reach a new contract that reflects today's economic realities in our wireline business and addresses the needs of all parties," he said in a statement.

The contract that expired midnight Saturday covers 45,000 workers, including 10,000 represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who serve as telephone and repair technicians, customer service representatives, operators and more. Contract negotiations began June 22.

"Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families," CWA said in a statement Sunday.

New York-based Verizon, the nation's largest wireless carrier, has 196,000 workers; 135,000 are non-union.

The CWA said the concessions are unjustified and harsh, given that Verizon is highly profitable — the company's revenue rose 2.8 percent to $27.5 billion in the second quarter. Its growth was largely attributed to its wireless business.

But Verizon said its wireline business has been in decline for more than a decade, and that it is asking for changes in the contract to strengthen the unit. The company said union employees contribute nothing to their health care premiums.

Verizon activated a contingency plan to ensure customers experienced "limited disruption in service" for the length of the strike.

"Tens of thousands of Verizon managers and other personnel have been trained to step in and perform emergency work assignments," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said.

A customer satisfaction survey released in May showed Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. ranked highest among the Big 4 wireless carriers. The survey polled 8,000 households in the first quarter of this year.

Verizon added 1.26 million wireless subscribers under contract in the April to June period this year, a result that flies in the face of the slowdown in new subscribers across the industry in the last two years. A year ago, Verizon added just 665,000 subscribers under contract.

Verizon ended the last quarter with 106.3 million devices connected to its wireless network. No. 2 and chief rival AT&T is trying to leapfrog Verizon in size by buying No. 4 T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.

Lowell McAdam, the former head of Verizon Wireless, became CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. on Aug. 1, replacing Ivan Seidenberg. Seidenberg, the longtime CEO, remains chairman of the company.

[Die Neue Zeit]

More public awareness of private-sector strike action in the US, without spin, is a good thing.

[The Douche]

Gonna go do strike support for this on thursday, my dad worked for verizon for over 20 years, and never crossed a picket, even took me out on some of them when I was young.

[Le Libérer]

I suggest a Verizon user (which I am one) strike of going a few days without texting. I've been waiting to hear word if someone is going to organize one or not.

[Rafiq]

It'd be swell if the government nationalized all those cell phone companies and didn't charge us monthly...

[Kiev Communard]

I hope they will get their demands fulfilled, but I fear that the trade union leadership would arrive at some phony "compromise" at the last minute, so as not to allow the strike to become more radicalised.

[Le Libérer]

Theres a facebook group that has the up to minute organizing info here. (http://www.facebook.com/groups/Verizoncontract2011/?id=218716724847862&notif_t=group_activity)

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I passed three of their picket lines today.

1. About 10 people in red shirts on the side of the road in front of a Verizon building. Half were sitting in lawn chairs. 4 or 5 were holding signs urging people to honk in support.

2. Around 12-15 people wearing red CWA shirts on the side of the road. I think there was another Verizon building behind them. A few were urging people to honk in support, the rest were away from the road talking to each other. One guy was holding a huge flag pole with a large Gadsden flag attached (the one with the snake and the words "don't trad on me" ... note that it's largely associated with the Tea Party nowadays).

3. A few people in red shirts walking back and forth on the side of the road in front of a huge Verizon building.

Of course none of these are as discouraging as the Teamsters picket of a lockout going on a few blocks from my place, which consists of an inflatable rat and a few guys standing and/or sitting behind a police blockade.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Theres a facebook group that has the up to minute organizing info here. (http://www.facebook.com/groups/Verizoncontract2011/?id=218716724847862&notif_t=group_activity)

From a member on that page:

"downtown Brooklyn on bond and Livingston where teamster union 731 local 115 and local 282 are crossing our picket lines doing install work our union members frm 1109 are asking them to leave and they are not !!!!! "

"when confronted they said that was thier orders from there bosses"

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Hate to sound so general and broad, but
I fucking hate the Teamsters.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I don't think it's limited to them at all. I think it's a sign of a general trend that's been going on for years.

[KurtFF8]

I suggest a Verizon user (which I am one) strike of going a few days without texting. I've been waiting to hear word if someone is going to organize one or not.

From what I understand, this strike only affects workers who work in the landline section of Verizon. The wireless part of the company is not unionized and their workers are not on strike.

I would hope there is a renewed effort by the CWA to include them during this action but I have not heard anything about it.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The most I've heard/seen is that some workers picketed outside of wireless shops on their own. A few reportedly have prevented packages from arriving at said stores by convincing the delivery personal not to cross their lines.

Of course what should be happening is a broadening of the strike to bring those workers, and others, into the struggle. But so far it looks like things are largely being held within the narrow confines of "acceptable union activity" (I even saw some warnings that anyone picketing a Verizon Wireless store needed to write "wireless" on their sign "to protect the union").

[La Peur Rouge]

"Tens of thousands of Verizon managers and other personnel have been trained to step in and perform emergency work assignments," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said.

In my city one of these people decided to drive through a picket line and hit two Verizon workers. One woman ended up on the windshield and last I heard was sent to a hospital and another worker's arm was injured. It always amazes me how these people can live with themselves.

[Metacomet]

Had to spend a long few days listening to people make fun of the strikers (the usual, lazy, ungrateful, overpaid:rolleyes:)

Solidarity. I don't have a cell phone plan (pay as I go) but if i did I'd stop using it in support. And If I see any of them around here (more a Sprint area) I'll give them a shout out.

[Rusty Shackleford]

im off work tomorrow ill see if i can go cheer em on tomorrow (if i can find a picket!)

[Leftsolidarity]

My aunt is heavily involved in this. So proud of her.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Special thanks to a conservative website (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45430) for this great info:

"By Tuesday, Verizon was looking for injunctions from courts in Pennsylvania and Delaware, to halt union vandalism and physical confrontations. The company also put out a $50,000 reward for 'information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals that intentionally damage Verizon cables or facilities, or cause or attempt to cause physical injury to any Verizon employee or contractor.'"

Verizon put out a press release (http://newscenter.verizon.com/assets/wrapper/2011-bargaining/Verizon-update-release.pdf) claiming:

"Ten incidents of fiber-optic lines being deliberately cut in the Bronx, Pomona, Farmingdale and Guilderland in New York; two separate incidents in Tewksbury in Massachusetts; incidents in Bel Air in Maryland, and East Dover, Oakland and Plainfield in New Jersey.

"An outage due to stolen electronic equipment in Cedar Grove, N.J., affecting a local police department, among other customers.

"An incident due to tampering with a heating system at a central office in Manhattan."

This video is floating around of a dad and his daughter trying to stop a scab from crossing their line: http://www.mrctv.org/videos/striking-verizon-protester-bullies-non-union-replacement-worker-places-daughter-front-moving-truck

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

In my city one of these people decided to drive through a picket line and hit two Verizon workers. One woman ended up on the windshield and last I heard was sent to a hospital and another worker's arm was injured. It always amazes me how these people can live with themselves.

"In a statement earlier today, the CWA said it has received nearly two dozen reports of Verizon picketers being hit or narrowly missed by company vehicles driven by Verizon managers or non-union workers.

"In one instance, which took place in Howell on Sunday, the victim was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion, said Bob Master, a spokesman for the union.

"'All I can tell you is that we've never had this before,' said Master, adding he has been involved in four CWA telephone strikes since 1996. 'It appears there's a pattern here of reckless driving.'"

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/verizon_strike_picketing.html

[TwoSevensClash]

I was at a picket in NJ. four police officers told us we were blocking traffic, being unsafe, and intimidiating mangers and customers. the union attonery however called their bluff and the police left!

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

What city was the picket in? Did you try to promote communist positions at all or just go to show support?

[The Douche]

My dad told me an old story about when he was the shop steward for a shop in florida when he worked for what was at the time "Bell South", when they were on strike and they pushed dumpsters in front of the gate to the garage where the trucks are and then chained them up so the bosses/scabs couldn't get to the trucks.

He also told me one night somebody slipped in and let the air out of every single truck tire in the garage.


CWA can actually be somewhat militant in some areas.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

"You’ll have real service problems," Bob Master, a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America. "If any piece of the network breaks down, it could get a lot worse. They’ll have a terrible time trying to make those repairs."

Verizon officials acknowledged today a series of outages affected "thousands" of customers in Manoloking and other areas in New Jersey and New York. In a statement, the company blamed a dozen "sabotage" incidents — in Newark, Plainfield, and Cedar Grove, among other towns — that began around the time the strike commenced, and have damaged cable lines and facilities in the region. Affected customers include hospitals, as well as fire and police departments.

Meanwhile, the CWA issued its own statement denouncing three incidents in which picketers were injured by vehicles driven by Verizon managers, in Howell, Raritan and Queens.


- Thousands affected by outages in NY and NJ due to strike (http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/verizon_strike_union_workers.html)

[wunderbar]

I'm visiting the northeast right now and I walked in an IBEW picket line in solidarity a couple days ago. I saw on Democracy Now today that the strikers get their last paychecks today and that while CWA has a strike fund, IBEW unfortunately does not.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Nebraska IWW is planning a sudden picket as of this morning and I think we're going to hit the streets this afternoon across from a Verzion, at one of the busiest intersections in the city.
I wish we could do more. I think a few others are trying to hatch up better ideas.

I know we're far from NYC, but gotta show support somehow, I guess.

[TwoSevensClash]

What city was the picket in? Did you try to promote communist positions at all or just go to show support?
totowa and just showing support. a huge inflatible rat was up yesterday. verizon has got injunctions in several states and is seeking one in nj.

[TwoSevensClash]

a verizon manager almost ran a picketer down and another one tried to fight us today. the cop who showed was pro labor:laugh:

[KurtFF8]

^Not surprising. Police in many places have had their pensions cut, so you haven't seen nearly as much animosity between them and the pro-labor demonstrators.

This can be problematic in advancing a more radical union movement though of course.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Updates:

Some wireless workers are striking too, but apparently they only make up .8% of the Verizon Wireless work force.

Injunctions have been issued against the union in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. They're being sought in New Jersey and Massachusetts now.

The CWA bureaucracy has said that all it wants is "negotiations" and is up for discussing anything and everything (read: ready to make concessions).

[ckaihatsu]

Verizon strike





Tell Verizon: With record profits, don’t demand $1 billion in cuts from your workers







Dear Chris,

Verizon made billions in profits in just the last four years -- but right now, the telecom giant is demanding $1 billion from its own workers in pay and benefit cuts.

Worse, rather than negotiate fairly with their employees, Verizon representatives cut off all negotiations and are refusing to talk.

So more than 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike demanding that Verizon stop its attack on the middle class. If Verizon sees the public and its customers behind the striking workers, the company can be forced back into good faith negotiations.

Sign the Change.org petition by the Communications Workers of America asking Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam to restart negotiations and stop Verizon's attack on the middle class.

If $1 billion in cuts is hard to grasp, consider this: Verizon is demanding each of its employees forfeit $20,000 in wages and benefits every year.

Verizon's executives aren't forced into outrageous cuts with their workers. In the last four years, Verizon's top five executives were paid more than a quarter-billion dollars.

While Verizon makes record profits, its workers shouldn't be made to suffer. Let Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam know you stand with workers against the company's refusal to bargain. Click here to add your name to the workers' petition on Change.org:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-verizon-stop-attacking-the-middle-class

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Jess and the Change.org team





This email was sent by Change.org to [email protected]
Start a petition. Unsubscribe from future weekly updates. Edit your email notification settings.

[Lynx]

Verizon has the backstabbing union leadership in its pocket, and an economy with high unemployment - two ingredients conducive to obtaining concessions.

[Fulanito de Tal]

Nebraska IWW is planning a sudden picket as of this morning and I think we're going to hit the streets this afternoon across from a Verzion, at one of the busiest intersections in the city.
I wish we could do more. I think a few others are trying to hatch up better ideas.

I know we're far from NYC, but gotta show support somehow, I guess.

Can you take and post pictures of the protest you are attending? I would like to see what it looks like.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Verizon has the backstabbing union leadership in its pocket, and an economy with high unemployment - two ingredients conducive to obtaining concessions.

Yep, they've already said 'everything is up for negotiation'. They didn't even want to let the strike unfold; they offered to keep working without a contract.

The AFL-CIO's website doesn't even mention the strike, one of the biggest in years.

[Kiev Communard]

The AFL-CIO's website doesn't even mention the strike, one of the biggest in years.

This once again validates a Left-Communist/worker-anarchist critique of the trade unions as ultimately pro-capitalist, conservative bodies. The working class needs not the trade unions (which are anyway currently ineffectual in discharging their previous wage-increase function), but the fighting unitary organizations that would combine the functions of economic and political struggle within them, thus overcoming the bourgeois separation between the party and the union, and preventing the development of both vanguardist and trade-unionist illusions.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ Don't forget, comrade, the "functions of cultural struggle" as well (a la SPD).

[DaringMehring]

Was at a demonstration today. I am not in one of the struck areas, but we wanted to show support so several unions and community supporters got out people and we marched with signs in front of a Verizon store. About 35 people. Cops got called but didn't do anything.

A little contingent from ISO came. They marched in line for like 5 minutes then left, leaving their sign behind, which were good signs, though they said "socialistworker.org" on the bottom, kind of shamelessly & a bit awkwardly. Can't blame em. And hey, they were there, so...

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

They're going to back to work on Monday, without a contract.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2011/08/20/verizon-workers-to-return-to-work-without-a-new-deal/

[Welshy]

Is there any hope that this will turn into a wild cat strike, or is that completely wishful thinking?

[KurtFF8]

Is there any hope that this will turn into a wild cat strike, or is that completely wishful thinking?

It depends on how the negotiations go of course. If the rank-and-file feel like they were betrayed by the call to go back to work and that the leadership is willing to give up too much, then that possibility may develop. But without knowing the internal workings of the situation or how the negotiations are going, it's quite impossible to know.

[Binh]

Is there any hope that this will turn into a wild cat strike, or is that completely wishful thinking?

Unlikely, but I suspect many workers will do deliberate slowdowns, work to rule, and other on-the-job actions.

[Euronymous]

https://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/veri-a22.shtml