A Smaller Strike at Verizon Wireless

Verizon Communications' argument to striking wireline workers is they have to accept deep cuts to benefits to help offset falling sales at its traditional phone business, but 70 striking union members are mounting a different fight -- they work for the company's highly profitable wireless unit.

The group of 70 wireless workers, by contrast, has already had pension accruals suspended, with no pensions for new hires, and its members already pay variable monthly rates towards their health-care premiums. Their benefits generally match those of nonunion employees on the wireless side, which has about 84,000 employees. Among the wireless workers' demands are a cap on their monthly health-care expenses, a restoration of the Martin Luther King Day holiday and increased pay for a special shift on late nights and weekends to help resolve emergencies. The wire-line workers, on the other hand, have been asked by the company to do away with holidays for Martin Luther King Day and Veterans Day. While most of the 45,000 Verizon workers who were on strike for a fourth day Wednesday are employed by the company's land-line business, a tiny portion—less than 0.2%—are part of its Verizon Wireless operations, a legacy from a merger 15 years ago. These employees, who are the only unionized workers at the wireless arm, are part of the striking Communications Workers of America union but are negotiating separately with the company. "Verizon can't tell us they're losing customers, they can't tell us they're not one of the most profitable companies in America," said Dan Gutierrez, a CWA Local 1101 member helping to lead negotiations on the wireless agreement. "I don't see a reason why we can't get a better contract."