45K Verizon Employees Strike, Customers Could be Affected

By Ray Downs, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, August 07, 2011

Tens of thousands of Verizon workers went on strike today, arguing that the communications giant is trying to stick them with an unfair contract, including drastic cuts to medical benefits, despite showing record profits in recent years. In total reports say that 45,000 Verizon workers took part in the strike.

“It’s all about corporate greed destroying middle class families,” said Vinny Galvin, a trunk assigner for Verizon and a chief steward for Communication Workers of America (CWA), the striking union. Galvin was picketing along with several other union members wearing red t-shirts and holding signs, in front of Verizon headquarters in New York City on Sunday.

“Corporate America just wants to destroy the middle class,” he added.

Medical benefits are one of the focal points of the contract disputes. Verizon wants union workers to start contributing between $1,300 and $3,000 for family coverage, depending on the plan, The New York Times reported. Verizon executives say that would be a similar plan to what nonunion workers have.

Verizon would also like to freeze pensions and cut vacation time, workers outside the Verizon headquarters said, which they consider unacceptable.

“All we want is a fair contract,” said Monica, a Verizon service representative who declined to give her last name. “Just a fair contract and job security.”

“Verizon is sitting on big assets – it has $100 billion in revenue and net profits of $6 billion,” the CWA said in a statement. “Verizon’s executive compensation is sky-high, and Chairman Ivan Seidenberg is paid 300 times what an average worker earns. The top five company executives were paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars over the past four years.”

Indeed, Ivan Seidenberg is listed on Forbes as the tenth highest paid CEO in the country, with over $36 million earned in the past year, approximately five times the average for CEOs of telecommunication services companies.

In January of this year, when quarterly financials came in, Verizon posted profits of $4.65 billion, nearly twice what they posted the year before. In addition, they added 872,000 new customers, over 200,000 more than expected, according to Endgadget.com. Despite the strong numbers, shares managed to drop slightly at 1.3 percent.

Verizon says it needs to make the cuts in order to compete with internet companies like Vonage and Skype, as well as non-union companies like Comcast and Time Warner, The New York Times reported.

Verizon also said that union workers are very well paid, with field technicians earning over $100,000 dollars including overtime. But union representatives say that number is actually around $60,000 before overtime. The actual amount is likely somewhere in between.

Although the number of striking workers is vast, Verizon is not expecting service interruptions. However, landline customers could experience delays in customer service and technical help.

As union picketers marched in front of Verizon headquarters, cheering the cars honking in support and jeering at picket-line crossers walking out of the building, the mood was one of determination to keep what they have and win the contract negotiations.

“We’re going to stay on strike until we get a fair contract,” Galvin said.

“We’re going to picket stores and discourage customers. And the scabs will hear from us, too,” Galvin said, referring to the picket-line crossers, moments before some of the walked out of the Verizon building.

Galvin then picked up a bullhorn to address them. “You’ve sold your souls to corporate America,” he said.