Verizon CEO Says Union Workers Slow Progress

Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam blames his union workers for slowing progress towards a wireless world and remaining too loyal to outdated technology. He blames them, that is, when he’s not praising those same workers for their fast, expert handling of June’s collapse of Verizon networks in Virginia due to extreme thunderstorm damage. When it’s convenient for contract negotiations, Verizon says union workers drag their feet on new technology. When union workers perform brilliantly to put FiOS and landlines back in service in 100-degree heat, Verizon is glad to join customers in applauding its workforce.

In fact, CWA members have long supported forward-looking strategies to expand new telecomm technologies and provide better service for customers across the country. The problem is that McAdam and Verizon are now trying to abandon rural customers who depend on copper landlines for affordable phone service and DSL lines for broadband. CWA opposes McAdam’s attempts to “kill the copper” and eliminate landlines in rural America because it hurts consumers while padding the Company’s bottom line.

McAdam has said he sees the end of landlines as a “pot of gold” for Verizon’s FiOS service. But 18 million customers in the United States depend on copper landlines. With a move to wireless broadband and phones, rural consumers will see more expensive calls and Internet, plus tough usage limits. McAdam’s plan for big profits for Verizon will increase the digital divide and leave consumers in sparsely populated areas with few choices.

Ultimately, Verizon is setting the stage for a push against unionized workers by scapegoating unions for slowing “progress.”

Don’t believe the hype. Union workers have been at the forefront of progress in this country and will continue to be. But we won’t sacrifice rural consumers for corporate greed. We will stand with citizens in rural communities and in inner cities where Verizon refuses to deliver high speed Internet. (See Verizon/Cable Deal: Taking the Fight to Baltimore's City Hall.)