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NLRB Prepares 86-Count Complaint Against Verizon
Labor Board Says Workers’ Organizing Rights Violated
CWA was notified by the National Labor Relations Board for the New York Region that the agency will issue a complaint against Verizon Information Services alleging 86 major violations of federal labor law at VIS operations in New York State.
The NLRB allegations, stemming from a campaign by VIS workers to unionize, range from a supervisor physically assaulting a worker to threats of reprisals, including job loss, loss of stock options, loss of time off for family illness and other coercive behavior to keep workers from joining CWA.
The alleged abuses occurred at Verizon locations in New York City, White Plains, Albany, Buffalo, Lake Success and East Meadow. VIS is Verizon’s yellow pages sales operation, employing 3,000 union-eligible workers in the former Bell Atlantic region.
The labor board also is investigating even more serious charges including the firing of seven union supporters, and is continuing to look at CWA charges at VIS locations in Syracuse and Binghamton, N.Y.
“These allegations amount to the most widespread and egregious anti-union campaign we have ever encountered in the telecommunications industry,” CWA President Morton Bahr said.
VIS employees in Albany were repeatedly pressured to rescind their support for CWA and told they would lose work incentives, promotions, seniority, the ability to take time off to care for sick relatives, and even their jobs, if they supported CWA representation. Workers who attended union meetings were followed and threatened with the loss of their jobs, the NLRB found. Also in Albany, a worker was physically assaulted for joining and supporting CWA.
At the Buffalo facility, the NLRB cited VIS for a similar campaign of harassment, including surveillance of workers involved in union activity and repeated attempts to force workers to rescind their support for CWA. The same pattern of illegal tactics occurred at White Plains, New York City and Lake Success and East Meadow facilities, the Board found.
“What we have documented, and what the NLRB investigators are finding, is a company-wide effort to intimidate these employees into rescinding their union cards signed under our negotiated neutrality and card-check organizing agreement,” said Larry Cohen, CWA executive vice president. “These preliminary findings may only be the tip of the iceberg.”
In February, more than 70 percent of VIS workers in units throughout New York State chose CWA representation through the card-check recognition procedures negotiated by Verizon and CWA in September 2000. The American Arbitration Association certified CWA a month later, but Verizon refused to accept the agency’s decision. Instead, management has pursued its harassment campaign and even filed a federal lawsuit to avoid living up to the contract.
CWA was notified by the National Labor Relations Board for the New York Region that the agency will issue a complaint against Verizon Information Services alleging 86 major violations of federal labor law at VIS operations in New York State.
The NLRB allegations, stemming from a campaign by VIS workers to unionize, range from a supervisor physically assaulting a worker to threats of reprisals, including job loss, loss of stock options, loss of time off for family illness and other coercive behavior to keep workers from joining CWA.
The alleged abuses occurred at Verizon locations in New York City, White Plains, Albany, Buffalo, Lake Success and East Meadow. VIS is Verizon’s yellow pages sales operation, employing 3,000 union-eligible workers in the former Bell Atlantic region.
The labor board also is investigating even more serious charges including the firing of seven union supporters, and is continuing to look at CWA charges at VIS locations in Syracuse and Binghamton, N.Y.
“These allegations amount to the most widespread and egregious anti-union campaign we have ever encountered in the telecommunications industry,” CWA President Morton Bahr said.
VIS employees in Albany were repeatedly pressured to rescind their support for CWA and told they would lose work incentives, promotions, seniority, the ability to take time off to care for sick relatives, and even their jobs, if they supported CWA representation. Workers who attended union meetings were followed and threatened with the loss of their jobs, the NLRB found. Also in Albany, a worker was physically assaulted for joining and supporting CWA.
At the Buffalo facility, the NLRB cited VIS for a similar campaign of harassment, including surveillance of workers involved in union activity and repeated attempts to force workers to rescind their support for CWA. The same pattern of illegal tactics occurred at White Plains, New York City and Lake Success and East Meadow facilities, the Board found.
“What we have documented, and what the NLRB investigators are finding, is a company-wide effort to intimidate these employees into rescinding their union cards signed under our negotiated neutrality and card-check organizing agreement,” said Larry Cohen, CWA executive vice president. “These preliminary findings may only be the tip of the iceberg.”
In February, more than 70 percent of VIS workers in units throughout New York State chose CWA representation through the card-check recognition procedures negotiated by Verizon and CWA in September 2000. The American Arbitration Association certified CWA a month later, but Verizon refused to accept the agency’s decision. Instead, management has pursued its harassment campaign and even filed a federal lawsuit to avoid living up to the contract.