Verizon strikers end action, remain vigilant
Published Aug 24, 2011 2:32 PM
An estimated 2,000 striking Verizon workers and their
supporters gather Aug. 19 outside Verizon’s main office
at 1717 Arch Street in Center City, Philadelphia, and
march to Verizon’s business office for a noon-time rally.
WW photo: Joseph Piette
|
The 45,000-strong, two-week strike of Verizon workers in nine states along the
East Coast and mid-Atlantic regions is over. For now.
The militant strikers have pushed the corporation back to the bargaining table.
They had walked off their jobs on Aug. 7 after their contract expired and
Verizon refused to negotiate. The company would not budge on its demands for
100 concessions from its unionized workforce. That Verizon would agree to
bargain shows the effectiveness and strength of the strike, although the fight
is far from over.
On Aug. 19, the Communication Workers of America and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — which represent workers in the
landline division and new FiOS Internet and cable operations — reached an
agreement with Verizon Communications to resume and restructure negotiations to
focus on key issues.
The next day, the two unions announced that striking CWA and IBEW members would
return to work on Aug. 23, and — in what is clearly a concrete gain for
the workers — the old contract would be back in force indefinitely, until
there is a settlement with a “fair” contract. There would be no
cuts now in pensions or sick days, no imposition of higher health insurance
costs and no loss of job security.
However, union leaders have made it clear that they are not ruling out the
right to strike again if it becomes necessary to do so.
The union leadership says that the corporation agreed to discuss the givebacks,
which it was trying to ram down workers’ throats. The profit-hungry
conglomerate seeks to wrench $1 billion — or $20,000 per worker per year
— in concessions from its unionized workforce. Though it cries crocodile
tears that it must cut back — or rather, its workers must cut back
— to be “competitive” or because of the economic downturn,
the real story is that its net income was nearly $14 billion last year, says
Morgan Stanley, and it recently gave $10 billion to its shareholders.
The strike showed that the Verizon workers will not submit to the
company’s aggressive assault on their wages, benefits and job security
without a fight. Their very standard of living and that of their families is at
stake. They courageously showed they will not be cowed by a global conglomerate
which unleashed not only an all-out war on their hard-fought gains, but also
aimed to weaken, if not eliminate, their unions’ collective bargaining
rights.
In a boost to the labor movement, and to all workers at a time of corporate and
government attacks on workers’ rights to unionize and bargain
collectively, they stood up, took bold action and fought back. They showed the
strength of the working class, and used its most powerful weapon — the
withholding of their labor power.
Their actions could even be a catalyst for other workers, in the public or
private sector, to do the same.
The end of the strike may be temporary, however. Already, Verizon executives
are publicly criticizing the unions and backtracking on their agreement. Union
leaders are adamant that they will fight hard when necessary if Verizon
distorts the agreement, and tries to smear and bully the unions. They know this
fight is not over.
There are different dynamics now than existed a month ago. The form of the
class struggle has changed since the strike. The workers feel the strength of
the strike and their own collective power, which they are bringing back to the
offices and the plants. They also are bringing solidarity to their
workplaces.
They have a spirit of fightback. By their militant actions and defiance, they
are telling Verizon officials to “back off.”
National strike support
The unions organized a strong strike. CWA reports 350 picket lines outside
Verizon offices and stores, spanning areas from New England to the
mid-Atlantic, along the East Coast to Florida, to the Midwest and even to the
West Coast. CWA members outside the strike region showed solidarity by
picketing Verizon Wireless stores.
Support was demonstrated by public and private sector unions, propelled by
pressure from their memberships, who were in solidarity with the strikers.
United Parcel Workers, as directed by the Teamsters leadership, did not cross
picket lines to deliver to Verizon stores. Letter carriers, sanitation workers
and other union members honored the lines, too.
Many labor federations and unions joined the picketers and called for members
to assist them. The Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO website reports that its
president, Jos Williams, congratulated the strikers, “who bravely held
the line for working people.” He promised that if necessary, “We
stand ready, willing and able to walk the line with them again.”
Community support grew, along with outrage at Verizon’s vicious,
anti-worker demands. More than 150,000 petition signers called on the company
to bargain in good faith.
Union leaders laud the tremendous amount of strike solidarity demonstrated on
picket lines all over the country. The CWA says that tens of thousands from
coast to coast — working families, unions, students, progressive groups,
civil rights and community organizations, religious leaders and even public
officials — joined the union members’ fight in hundreds of
supporting events.
The United Auto Workers urged its members to leaflet and picket Verizon
Wireless stores. “In San Francisco, members of HERE, ILWU, OPEIU,”
says the CWA, joined with Jobs with Justice and the BlueGreen Alliance to rally
for the strikers.
Showing class solidarity, 3,000 delegates to a recent Steelworkers union
convention in Las Vegas cheered CWA District 9 vice president Jim Weigkamp when
he said, “You cannot be spectators,” and called for them to join
the struggle.
The strike affected the corporation. Verizon’s plan to replace
well-trained and experienced workers with management strikebreakers
didn’t work out so well. Customers, especially businesses, were angry
about terrible service, with long waits for repairs or installations. The IBEW
reports the lack of safety equipment or checks, as the corporation used
thousands of untrained “replacement workers and managers.”
Verizon was testing to see if it could break the strike. It couldn’t.
Even right before the agreement, the company notified strikers that their
health insurance would be severed by the end of August.
Because the fight is far from over, the communication workers’ unions are
urgently calling for continuing mass support and strong pressure on the
corporation.
Unionized private and public sector workers know that they face a continuing
corporate onslaught. They see the Verizon workers as standing up for all
workers to stop “the race to the bottom.” Although corporations are
watching to see what Verizon achieves here, the workers are watching, too.
The strike support from union members and other working people, is a big step
in the development of class solidarity and bodes well for future struggles,
which are sure to unfold as workers oppose the corporate/government anti-labor,
anti-union siege.
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