CWAers Take Verizon/VZW Message to Holiday Shoppers, Football Fans

As holiday shoppers head to the malls, CWA members have been busy leafleting and displaying banners decrying the corporate greed at Verizon/Verizon Wireless.

And starting this weekend, football fans will be getting the message, too. Airplanes flying over East Coast NFL games will pull banners saying, "Support CWA Workers/StopVerizonGreed.com."

If you're attending games in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New York or Boston, be sure to look up and show your support for Verizon/Verizon Wireless workers.

Meanwhile, leafleting, marches and demonstrations continue. Last week in San Francisco, CWA members were among thousands of Occupy activists who marched through downtown, including a stop at a Verizon Wireless store.

"Our AT&T workers know that what you lose or gain can hurt or help them, and that same principle applies to all of us in the 99 percent," Local 9415 Contractual Vice President Coby Rhem told Verizon members on CWA's national phone call last week.

Caroline Dimezza, a chief steward for Verizon in Port Chester, N.Y., discussed how her members took full advantage of Black Friday to leaflet shoppers and are continuing during the holiday season. The positive response from shoppers and passersby who honk and wave is a big morale boost, she said.

"It's really rejuvenating when you've been standing out there for hours and you're getting that kind of support," she said. "You really feel like you're making a difference."