61 Wrongly Fired CWAers Back to Work at Verizon; Fight Continues

CWA District 7 Vice President Mary Taylor leads a rally in Denver.

CWA has won back the jobs of 61 members wrongly fired for alleged misconduct during the Verizon strike in August, and is continuing to fight for the other 25 members who were terminated.

"If the parties can't agree on the 25 remaining cases, we strongly believe they should go before a neutral third party arbitrator," CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins said. In addition to the 86 fired CWA members, Verizon fired 39 IBEW members. Of those, 25 workers are back on the job.

One of the fired CWA members who is still fighting for his job was featured on the national CWA phone call on Dec. 15. To listen to a recording of the call online, visit www.cwa-union.org/cwacall.

Recent news stories about Verizon have reported on the firings, but failed to say that most of the workers have won their jobs back.

Leafleting at Verizon Wireless stores and Verizon buildings is continuing across the country, with a special holiday emphasis. On the 15th, CWA members in Washington, D.C., visited the office of Verizon Board Member Rodney Slater, delivering candy coal and singing carols with distinctive union lyrics.

Check out one of them, as sung to a familiar tune, here.