Verizon Workers Put Company on Notice

Thousands of CWA and IBEW members at Verizon rallied at "One Year 'til Expiration" actions from Boston, Mass., to Virginia on August 2, sending a message to Verizon that CWA will safeguard good jobs, quality health care, and other benefits in contract negotiations that begin next June.

Union members and activists also criticized the company's assault on the rights of Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless workers who want union representation, as well as Verizon's plan to sell telephone lines in New England to FairPoint Communications.

Contracts covering some 70,000 CWA and IBEWers at Verizon East – Verizon territory from Maine to Virginia – expire August 2, 2008. "All of us want to win a good contract, to stop the sale, and tear down the wall at Verizon Business," said CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton. "This can only be accomplished through mobilizing and building community support, and that's our plan for 2008."

Rallies were held in Boston, Mass.; Baltimore, Md.; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Petersburg, Virginia; Morgantown, Charleston, and Poca, West Virginia; and other locations.

CWAers at Verizon West held a support rally in Upland, Calif., to show their solidarity with next year's Verizon bargaining. The Verizon West contract, covering 6,000 workers, does not expire until March 2010, but workers spotlighted management's interference earlier this year in an organizing effort by DSL technicians in California.

In New York City, more than 3,000 CWA and IBEW members held their "One Year 'til Expiration" rally on June 27; Verizon West workers also rallied that day in Long Beach, Calif., to protest the company's union-busting.