In The News: Stewards Train To 'Tear Down the Wall' At Verizon

CWA and IBEW union stewards representing tens thousands of workers at Verizon have joined forces to organize non-union employees at Verizon Business, as well as others in the telecom and cable industries.

Recently, more than 50 members of the two unions' growing armies of stewards met in Braintree, Mass., to plan strategy for their nationwide outreach to former MCI workers at Verizon Business. Since Verizon purchased MCI, the company has erected a barrier to separate unrepresented workers from the company's CWA and IBEW members.

Verizon will have a tough time keeping the wall up, said CWA Local 1101 Steward Keith Purce. "We all work at the same company and do the same work," he said. "We believe that former MCI workers at Verizon deserve the same pay, benefits, job security and workplace protections."