Labor notes: Unity, public support force Verizon back to the table
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Unionists used solidarity and public pressure to push Verizon to restart talks for a new labor pact with more than 45,000 courageous members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), who returned to work in late August after a two-week nation-wide strike. More than 35,000 CWA and 10,000 IBEW members went back to work Aug. 23 after a two-week strike backed by unions across America and many middle-class workers who sympathized with the Verizon employees. The strike action was the largest U.S. walkout since 73,000 autoworkers struck General Motors in 2007. CWA and IBEW members walked out Aug. 7 to protest Verizon’s demands for $1 billion in workers’ concessions, including a pension freeze, fewer sick days, jacked-up health costs and an increase in outsourced jobs overseas, according to information on the AFL-CIO’s website, www.aflcio.org. In returning to the table, Verizon also promised to indefinitely extend terms of its expired contract with the unions; the company had threatened to allow heath care benefits to expire Aug. 31 for workers on strike at the time. UUP showed its support for the striking unionists; members from several chapters, including UAlbany and Cortland, joined Verizon picket lines. UUP members and several UUP staffers who are CWA Local 1141 members walked Verizon picket lines in Albany during the strike. CWA, on its website (www.cwa.org), said that public pressure played a major role in forcing Verizon back to the table. CWA said the strike caused huge backlogs and delays in FiOS service installations and that Verizon took out full-page advertisement in The Washington Post and other newspapers to apologize to customers. In August, The New York Times reported that the work stoppage caused “significant” installation and repair delays for its landline phone and FiOS service for a number of New York City customers. — Michael Lisi
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