News

Verizon Workers to Strike to Save Good Jobs and Ensure Quality Service for Customers

12 Apr, 2016

Company failing to meet pledges to expand FiOS broadband to millions of customers, but wants to continue shedding workers that install service
Verizon has already moved 5,000 jobs overseas, pressing to send even more jobs to Mexico, Philippines, elsewhere
Despite $39 billion profit in last three years, Verizon pushing to outsource work to low-wage contractors, force family-busting transfers
Walkout by nearly 40,000 workers from Massachusetts to Virginia is largest U.S. strike in years

Strike Locations Listed Below

After ten months trying to reach a fair contract, nearly 40,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia will be walking off the job at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. The Verizon strike will be by far the largest work stoppage in the country in recent years.

WATCH VIDEO: VERIZON WORKERS SHARE WHY THEY’RE GOING ON STRIKE

Despite making record profits — $39 billion in profits over the last three years — Verizon executives have been pushing to offshore jobs to the Philippines, Mexico and other locations, outsource work to low-wage contractors and transfer workers away from their families for months at a time.

Verizon workers, who are ready to help install promised FiOS lines, the high-speed broadband service, are also frustrated with the company’s delay in providing the much needed service to customers. For years, Verizon has been cutting vital staff — it has nearly 40 percent fewer workers now than a decade ago — and has failed to hire the personnel necessary to properly roll out the service.

In New York City and Philadelphia, Verizon has failed to meet the build-out obligations under their citywide cable franchise agreements. And Verizon has failed to build-out FiOS in Baltimore, western Massachusetts, virtually all upstate New York cities and many towns in Pennsylvania.

“Our families and our customers deserve more from Verizon,”said Isaac Collazo, a technician and CWA member from Brooklyn, N.Y., who has worked at Verizon for 19 years. “Through our hard work, Verizon is making record profits while our families are left with threats to our jobs and our customers aren’t getting the service they need. Striking is a hardship for our families, but we need to remind Verizon executives that the people who build their profits are a critical reason for the company’s success.

Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), have been working without a contract since August 1, 2015 while Verizon executives, who have brought home hundreds of millions dollars in the last few years, have been insisting on:

Offshoring Good Jobs – Verizon has already contracted out work to more than 5,000 employees in the Philippines, Mexico, the Dominican Republican and other overseas locations. These offshore workers handle customer service calls originating in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states. Verizon wants to increase the number of calls — and jobs — that are transferred overseas.
Outsourcing Work to Low-Wage Contractors – Verizon is pushing to dramatically expand its outsourcing of work to low-wage non-union contractors. The company wants to sharply expand the amount of contracting out of outside line work, particularly vital work installing and maintaining telephone poles.
Hanging Up on Wireless Workers – Verizon is also refusing to negotiate a fair first contract for Verizon Wireless retail workers who formed a union in 2014. Verizon says Wireless workers make the company huge profits, but it’s refusing to give them any improvements — even though they’re some of the lowest paid people at Verizon. Also, Verizon is failing to negotiate a fair contract for the 100 wireless technicians who maintain the network in downstate New York.
Call-Center Closings – Despite the high-demand for customer service, hundreds of Verizon workers are at risk of losing their jobs or being forced to commute as much as three hours more each day because of the company's plan to close and consolidate call centers. Working moms like Betsy Derr, a customer service representative in Bloomsburg, Pa., worry that their families and communities would be devastated by the move.
Out of State Assignments – Verizon executives want wireline technicians to work away from home for as long as two months at a time, anywhere from Massachusetts to Virginia, without seeing their families. Working parents like Isaac Collazo, a cable splicer from New York, fear they will be forced to choose between caring for their kids and keeping their jobs.

As the workers have intensified their campaign to protect good jobs in America, public support for a fair contract has grown. Last month, 20 U.S. Senators sent a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam calling on him to “act as a responsible corporate citizen and negotiate a fair contract with the employees who make your company’s success possible.”

Verizon’s corporate greed isn’t just harming workers’ families, it’s hurting customers as well. Service quality has deteriorated to the point that New York State’s Public Service Commission has convened a formal hearing to investigate problems across the Empire State. In the last few weeks, regulators in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have launched similar inquiries into Verizon’s operations.

VERIZON STRIKE LOCATIONS FOR MEDIA
PLEASE RECONFIRM WITH LOCAL CONTACTS LISTED BELOW

For a full list of strike locations, visit: http://standuptoverizon.com

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

6:00 AM
230 West 36th Street
Media Contact: Bob Master 917-657-6483, Al Russo 347-538-1196, Pete Sikora 917-648-7786

MASSACHUSETTS

BOSTON
6:00 AM
Verizon Building, 6 Bowdoin Square
Media Contact: Don Trementozzi (401) 465-1277, Russ Davis (617) 413-0713

MARYLAND

ANNAPOLIS
7:30 AM
1820 Forest Dr
Media Contact: Scott Pruett (410-268-2107)
BALTIMORE
7:00 AM
Telephone Building, 320 St. Paul Street
Media Contact: Bill Dulaney (410) 299-0529
SILVER SPRING
11:00 AM
Chesapeake Complex, 13100 Columbia Pike
Media Contact: Marilyn Irwin (301) 775-7992

VIRGINIA

ARLINGTON/FALLS CHURCH
6:00 AM
2935 Gallows Road
Media Contact: Stacie Adams, (703) 256-2200
NEWPORT NEWS
7:00 AM
200 New Market Fair
Media Contact: Jerry Rogers, 757-595-2205
NORFOLK
11:00 AM
3131 Sewells Point Road
Media Contact: Chuck Taylor, (757) 650-5800
ROANOKE
7:30 AM – 9:00 AM
CSSC Central Office, 225 Franklin Road
Media Contact: Chuck Simpson, (540) 389-2204

PENNSYLVANIA

PITTSBURGH
7:00 AM
Verizon Building, 416 7th Avenue
Media Contact: Kate McTighe, 412-821-4220 and 412-952-0519 (cell)
PHILADELPHIA
8:00 AM
9th and Race Streets
Media Contact: Jim Gardler, (215) 564-6169

NEW JERSEY

LIVINGSTON
6:00 AM
290 West Mt. Pleasant Ave
Media Contact: Seth Hahn 732-306-7729
NEWARK
12:00 PM
540 Broad St
Media Contact: Seth Hahn 732-306-7729
ROBBINSVILLE
6:00 AM
600 Horizon Drive
Media Contact: Seth Hahn 732-306-7729

NEW YORK

ALBANY
6:00 AM
158 State St
Media Contact: Mike Panzerino (518) 441-0751, John Vanderburgh 518-469-5533
BUFFALO
6:00 AM
65 Franklin St
Media Contact: John Mudie, (716) 430-7729
EAST SYRACUSE
6:00 AM
6360 Thompson Rd
Media Contact: Chris Ryan 315-708-5498, Nikki Tonas (315) 491-2163
HAMBURG
6:00 AM
141 West Main St
Media Contact: Larry Miklos, (716) 997-9846
LAKE GROVE
12:00 PM
1 Smith Haven Mall
Media Contact: Mike Gendron 516-398-7136
NANUET
6: 00 AM
33 Rt. 304
Media Contact: Todd Kelsey, (845) 476-0443
ONEONTA
6:00 AM
245 River St
Media Contact: Pete Dawes 315-527-5581, Laine Madison (607) 435-8568
NEWBURGH
6:00 AM
1428 Rt 300
Media Contact: John O'Malley, (845) 656-3730
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
6:00 AM
230 West 36th Street
Media Contact: Bob Master 917-657-6483, Al Russo 347-538-1196, Pete Sikora 917-648-7786
UTICA
6:00 AM
617 Broad St
Media Contact: Pete Dawes 315-527-5581, Laine Madison (607) 435-8568
VESTAL
6:00 AM
3122 Shippers Rd.
Media Contact: Jake Lake (607) 427-0247
WATERTOWN
6:00 AM
610 - 616 Coffeen St
Media Contact: Dave Wilson (315) 408-8582
WHITE PLAINS
6:00 AM
111 Main Street
Anthony Pugliese, (914) 939-8200 Joe Mayhew 914-374-6848