Starting at 6am this morning, about 39,000 Verizon employees from Massachusetts to Virginia went on strike. The strike is over new contract issues that are over eight months old.
The workers are members of unions Communication Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. They’re Verizon electricians, installers, costumer service representatives, repairmen, drivers, and other employees. They represent nine states and the District of Columbia. Most of them put down landline services and FIOS Internet services. Keith Pruce is a union president, who is right on the picket line. Like most strike workers, Pruce says this has to be done to maintain jobs and a standard of living, and they’ll be on those lines as long as it takes. Another striker says without a fair contract, Verizon will be able to move jobs overseas. Strikers accuse Verizon of everything from cutting health care to freezing pensions to making layoffs easier. Verizon wants to stop people from working at home at length. Some strikers complain this will allow jobs to be outsourced. One father of 3 fears, “I feel if the company had the opportunity, they would just lay people off.” Verizon said they prepared for this strike by training by hiring non-union workers to fill in. But how long will that last?
I can understand why some workers are so concerned. So far in 2016, companies from Yahoo to Sears have laid off many. Remember the outrage in Indiana when air conditioner company Carrier layoff workers? Look at how many tech companies have either sent jobs overseas or have offshore accounts. I hope this strike doesn’t last long because if it does, service could get severely crippled; I don’t care how many replacements they have. The strikers had better hope this doesn’t last long. Remember the 1981 air traffic controller strike? Remember what the end result was to all those workers?