Verizon claims sabotage, calls cops on strikers

The rift between Verizon and its 45,000 striking employees grew wider, after the telecommunications giant called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate allegations of sabotage.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said more than 90 acts of sabotage have taken place since the strike began last weekend. Saboteurs have cut phone lines, Verizon claims, affecting the service of several thousand customers primarily in New York and New Jersey but also in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Young said that these acts "cross the line." A police station and a hospital were among those that lost service as a result of the sabotage, he said. The Communications Workers of America condemned the acts. CWA spokeswoman Candice Johnson accused Verizon replacement workers and managers of driving vehicles into picketing crowds, striking more than a dozen pickets.