Activists Rally Against VeriGreedy Verizon

Hundreds of CWA activists and allies make the trip to Huntsville, Alabama for Verizon's annual meeting.

CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins talks with demonstrators following the shareholder meeting, inside, he called on Verizon to end its practice of excessive executive compensation.

Students and activists tell Verizon: Huntsville is "Occupied."

Hundreds of CWA members, activists and allies descended on Verizon's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, protesting the company's excessive corporate greed and war against the middle class.

Protesters from the 99 Percent Spring Coalition came from as far away as New Orleans and New York City to rally in front the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala.

A group of college students from the University of Central Florida made the 11-hour bus trip from Orlando to join the fight, while UCW-CWA members from the University of Tennessee made the trek from Nashville. Jobs with Justice, the AFL-CIO and the Greater Birmingham Ministries also lent their support, helping post VeriGreedy signs all along Interstate 565.

"They thought they could escape the voices of working people by taking their meeting to Alabama," said Alabama AFL-CIO President Al Henley. "Well, it looks like they misjudged our sense of solidarity here in the South."

The rally marked the kickoff of an even bigger campaign for new Verizon and Verizon Wireless contracts. More than 45,000 employees went on strike nearly a year ago, but today workers still don't have new contracts, as the company continues to demand that employees accept cuts to their pensions and other benefits, totaling $1 billion a year.

"Enough of the attacks on middle-class jobs while paying executives obscene salaries and dodging taxes," said CWA Chief of Staff Ron Collins. "Enough of outsourcing good jobs to low wage workers here and overseas. Enough of deepening the digital divide in communities most in need of a reliable and fast Internet connection that comes with FiOS. Together with activists who have raised their voices at dozens of shareholders' meetings and other events during this 99 Percent Spring, we are building a movement. A movement of people who are fed up and ready to stand united against corporate greed and impunity."

Jennifer Travis, a Verizon maintenance administrator in Pittsburgh, talked about being fired on "outrageous and false allegations" after never once being disciplined or written up in her 15 years at the company.

"Several of my brothers and sisters were fired or disciplined last August for similarly trumped up charges," she told protesters outside the meeting. "What many of us have in common is our highly visible status as union leaders and activists. It makes me wonder if the company retaliated against us in an effort to intimidate other members who would consider standing up for their union in the future. If that's true, it's flat out bullying and it's disgusting."

Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, said the public will no longer tolerate Verizon's membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

"ALEC is a tool of the radical right wing in this country that is determined to cut government services, take away workers' bargaining rights, and limit or kill important regulations, among other things," she said. "It brings into stark relief the insidious relationship between politics and corporations, and the influence that corporations and the rich wield in our political process. We are here to send a message to Verizon today: You cannot hide your relationship with ALEC and its radical right wing assault on our democracy."

Other speakers included Jazmine Salas, vice president of the Student Labor Action Project, University of Central Florida; Patrick Welsh, president of the Retired Members' Council Board, CWA District 1; and Scott Douglas, executive director of the Greater Birmingham Ministries.

Outside, CWA members chanted a twist on the familiar chant: "You can't run! You can't hide! This time we'll be right inside!"

Inside the meeting, Collins urged shareholders to support a proposal requiring Verizon to issue a full disclosure of its various lobbying activities, and lashed out against the company's membership in ALEC. Representing workers, Collins also spoke out against lavish executive compensation packages that are "beyond what is reasonable and appropriate" in the current economic climate.

Read CWA's alternative annual report here. And check out this blog post from Campaign for America's Future.

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