Unions Threaten Verizon With Strike

Two unions representing Verizon Communications workers along the East Coast have set an April 13 deadline to strike against the company. Among the 39,000 Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-represented employees from Massachusetts to Virginia affected would be workers on the telecommunication company’s Fios TV video service, as well as telephone and broadband services.

“Even though Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years — and $1.8 billion a month in profits over the first three months of 2016 — the company wants to gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families,” the unions said in announcing the deadline. “Verizon is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014.” The unions’ contracts expired in August 2015, and they said it is now time to take a stand after offering “hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings” and still not getting the basic job security they are seeking.