Union Support Building among Verizon Business Workers

Despite Verizon's efforts to build a wall between its non-represented workforce at Verizon Business and its union workforce, a majority of former MCI employees at Verizon Business have demonstrated support for union representation at many locations throughout the country, CWA organizers report.

The workers have been signing up for union representation at an accelerated pace following Jan. 25 demonstrations outside the company's New York City and Boston headquarters. At the rallies, hundreds of Verizon's CWA- and IBEW-represented workers showed support for their Verizon Business co-workers by circulating a petition signed by more than 3,000 union members at Verizon.

This prompted 150 technicians from Verizon Business to sign an "open letter to management" that stated why they wanted a union. One of the signers was John Lindner, a field tech from Long Island who is currently stationed in Iraq. He put the workers' campaign in perspective: "While I am defending the country, my co-workers are defending our job security and are fighting for better working conditions."

"The company's anti-union campaign appears to have backfired as most of the Verizon Business technicians have rejected the company's fear tactics by showing support for union representation," said CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton.

Said a Verizon Business worker from NYC: "I want to express the thanks that I and other workers at Verizon Business felt when our union co-workers came downtown in great numbers and in the cold to support our bid for fair wages and benefits and, most importantly, the right to organize."