Vol. 80/No. 21 May 30, 2016
(front page)
A month into strike, Verizon workers reach
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
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