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Verizon workers throughout St. Lawrence County among 45,000 now on strike

Posted 8/7/11

Verizon workers throughout St. Lawrence County went on strike at midnight, joining about 45,000 employees along the east coast. “After weeks of negotiating, we were not able to come to an agreement …

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Verizon workers throughout St. Lawrence County among 45,000 now on strike

Posted

Verizon workers throughout St. Lawrence County went on strike at midnight, joining about 45,000 employees along the east coast.

“After weeks of negotiating, we were not able to come to an agreement with Verizon, said Tom Allen, president of CWA Local 1128 which represents unionized Verizon workers in Massena, Ogdensburg, Potsdam and Malone.

Both the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are on strike against Verizon.

“This strike will go on as long as it takes for Verizon to agree to a decent contract. What’s happening at the Verizon bargaining table is emblematic of everything that is wrong with our country today,” said Allen.

“A hugely profitable company with hugely overpaid executives ($258 million to the top five executives in the last four years alone) is using the recession as an excuse to destroy middle-class living standards for 45,000 hard working employees,” he continued.”

“And Verizon even managed to get a $1.3 Billion (with a B) tax rebate from the federal government. Verizon can easily afford to treat workers fairly and still be very profitable.”

The New York Times is reporting Verizon continued to demand more than 100 concessions from workers— on health coverage, pensions and other matters — and was not backing off many of them.

Verizon executives say far-reaching concessions are needed because of a long-term drop in revenue and profit in its land-line telephone business and because of intense competition in television and Internet services, the Times reported.

In a prepared statement, Verizon said it has activated a contingency plan to ensure customers experience limited disruption during the strike.

Verizon said it has trained tens of thousands of management employees, retirees and others to fill the roles and responsibilities of its union-represented wireline workers. As part of the company’s business continuity plan, those individuals will be reporting to their emergency work assignments, as scheduled, and will continue to provide customers with high-quality support and assistance throughout the duration of the union strike, the Verizon statement says.

“We are confident that we have the talent and resources in place to meet the needs and demands of our customers,” said Marc C. Reed, Verizon’s executive vice-president of human resources. “It’s regrettable for our employees and our customers that the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have decided to walk away from the table instead of continuing to work through the issues. 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. It’s also our intent that under a new contract, Verizon employees will continue to receive competitive pay and benefit programs.”

Verizon Wireless customers and services remain unaffected by this job action.