Vol. 80/No. 18      May 9, 2016

 
(front page)

Verizon strikers stand up to attacks on their unions

Workers rally, answer bosses’ propaganda

 
TRENTON, N.J. — Two weeks into their strike, Verizon workers across the Northeast have been holding rallies, pickets and following strikebreakers around as they press their fight against the telecommunication giant’s concession demands.

Nearly 40,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in nine states and the District of Columbia struck April 13. Their contract expired Aug. 1. The company wants to raise health care costs, outsource jobs and force some unionists to work out of town for up to two months at a time.

The strikers work for Verizon’s landline, Internet and television service of copper wire and fiber optic cable.

At a rally of hundreds outside the New Jersey Statehouse April 25, many workers took issue with Verizon’s media ads claiming the average pay package for a technician is $130,000 a year.

“If we had everything they’re claiming, we wouldn’t be on strike!” said Larry Fowler, a technician in Somerset.

Fowler’s co-worker Isa Woods said Verizon has not hired in more than a dozen years. “We are working six-day weeks,” he said. “We are seeing a lot of injuries. During every disaster, we are out there seven days a week. And Verizon keeps on making big profits.”

“In some fields, such as customer service, operator and administrative assistant where there’s high turnover, there’s some hiring,” New York technician Miguel Pimentel told the Militant in a phone interview April 26. “For technicians, there’s very little. But the company contracts out similar work to nonunion contractors. For example, they get contractors to install molding in a building, and then we run cable through it. We’re constantly fighting to take back work Verizon contracts out.”

“The most important issue is job security,” Crasner Francois, 34, a call center worker in Livingston, said. He and co-workers help workers at call centers in other parts of the world. “When a worker there needs help, they put a caller on hold and call us to talk it through.”

Francois’s family worked on the land in Haiti. “Everyone in the world needs jobs,” he said, “but companies go where people are paid less. We need to create more work for everybody.”

Some other unions joined in solidarity, including Amalgamated Transit Union Local 824, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 194, representing New Jersey Turnpike workers.

Henderson Fleming said Local 194 beat back efforts to privatize the highway. “Working on the turnpike, like at Verizon, can be rough,” he said.

“When we picketed, the Verizon workers joined us,” said Douglas Armstrong, a member of ATU Local 824 from the Freehold area.

“When people say the strike is all about money, I tell them, no, it’s about health care for retirees and active workers,” IBEW Local 827 Business Agent Rich Spieler said. “It’s about how the company is sending jobs away.”

Verizon wants to cap pensions at 30 years, and take away pension credits for those with more than 30 years.

The union is organizing roving pickets that follow strikebreakers to work locations, then picket nearby.

A group of CWA Local 1000 members from the 411 information call center in Manahawkin, spoke with the Militant. “They call us all ‘surplus’ workers, meaning they want to get rid of us,” said Jodi Grant, vice president of the local’s operator services.

“We must average 22.7 seconds per call or can be disciplined,” said operator Mary Compton. The operators must follow a script, have their keystrokes monitored, and cannot “oversearch” for information. Supervisors listen in. “I can easily come home with a headache every day,” she said.

“We are trying to help people,” Compton said. “It’s a normal interaction among human beings to talk with courtesy. It is not right that I could be disciplined for responding ‘thank you’ twice in a call or for going over 22.7 seconds.”

At the call center only one worker at a time may go to the bathroom, and workers must hold up a flag to indicate they need a break, Compton and Grant said.

“We’ve gotten more support than ever in the past,” said Grant. “Shore Medical Center nurses, who had their own contract fight, have joined us.”
 
 
Related articles:
Workers discuss how to take on steel job cuts in UK and world
‘Teamster Politics’: lessons of 1930s battles for fighters today
Verizon strike is fight for all workers!
Cargill fires workers, challenges jobless pay
 
 
 
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