Picketers outside the West End Verizon Wireless store. Photos by Michael Thompson.
More than a month after going on strike, Verizon workers across the country and around Richmond have yet to resolve a contract dispute with their employer.
The Communication Workers of America Local 2201 has formed picket lines along West Broad Street in Short Pump and the West End, Mechanicsville Turnpike, East Grace Street downtown, and Hull Street on the Southside since April 13, the day when thousands of Verizon workers across the U.S. walked off their jobs over unmet demands regarding job security and outsourcing.
The CWA Local 2201 is a central Virginia labor union that represents roughly 2,300 workers at Verizon, American Red Cross, AT&T Mobility, SuperMedia, AVAYA, Progress-Index, NCPSO and Ben Franklin Printing. It covers areas like Richmond, Amherst, Virginia Beach, Harrisonburg and Manassas.
David Vincent, a CWA Local 2201 vice president representing Verizon call center workers, said the reason to strike boils down to a question of fairness. He said in the past unions have agreed to concessions when their employers hit a rough patch financially. Citing the multibillion-dollar deals Verizon has made with Vodafone Group Plc and AOL and its interest in acquiring Yahoo, Vincent argues that the company should share its wealth with its workers.
The company reported a first quarter profit of $4.43 billion.
“Verizon isn’t hurting,” Vincent said. “They’re making over a billion dollars a month in profit.”
Vincent also cited the elimination of jobs over the years from Verizon’s call center on Hungary Spring Road that has reduced the facility’s workforce from more than 1,000 to 300 as a result of jobs being outsourced to Mexico, India and the Philippines.
Picket lines have formed outside local Verizon Wireless stores since mid-April.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the dispute isn’t about outsourcing, but about trying to do business in a highly competitive industry.
“We’re saddled with labor contracts from 50 years ago that no longer work today,” he said, adding that most of the workers on strike are part of Verizon’s landline and copper services units.
Young said earlier this month Verizon offered a “best and final offer” that included a 7.5 percent wage increase and protection from layoffs.
“These employees need to ask union leaders and CWA president Chris Shelton what they’re doing to get them back on the job,” Young said. “The unions have to come back to us and be prepared to work toward reaching an agreement that works for all sides.”
The last time the CWA went on strike was in 2011 for similar reasons to the current dispute. Workers on strike haven’t had a Verizon paycheck in more than four weeks and had their healthcare and life insurance cut on April 30. Kim Johnson, a CWA Local 2201 vice president, said most strikers live off money saved in anticipation of a strike.
Martin “Skeeter” Grubb, another CWA Local 2201 vice president, said for the strike to stop, Verizon needs to agree to contracts that improve job security, healthcare for active and retired employees, and stop outsourcing jobs.
“We’re going to keep holding the lines,” Grubb said. “Hopefully, we can come to a resolution both sides can live with.”
Picketers outside the West End Verizon Wireless store. Photos by Michael Thompson.
More than a month after going on strike, Verizon workers across the country and around Richmond have yet to resolve a contract dispute with their employer.
The Communication Workers of America Local 2201 has formed picket lines along West Broad Street in Short Pump and the West End, Mechanicsville Turnpike, East Grace Street downtown, and Hull Street on the Southside since April 13, the day when thousands of Verizon workers across the U.S. walked off their jobs over unmet demands regarding job security and outsourcing.
The CWA Local 2201 is a central Virginia labor union that represents roughly 2,300 workers at Verizon, American Red Cross, AT&T Mobility, SuperMedia, AVAYA, Progress-Index, NCPSO and Ben Franklin Printing. It covers areas like Richmond, Amherst, Virginia Beach, Harrisonburg and Manassas.
David Vincent, a CWA Local 2201 vice president representing Verizon call center workers, said the reason to strike boils down to a question of fairness. He said in the past unions have agreed to concessions when their employers hit a rough patch financially. Citing the multibillion-dollar deals Verizon has made with Vodafone Group Plc and AOL and its interest in acquiring Yahoo, Vincent argues that the company should share its wealth with its workers.
The company reported a first quarter profit of $4.43 billion.
“Verizon isn’t hurting,” Vincent said. “They’re making over a billion dollars a month in profit.”
Vincent also cited the elimination of jobs over the years from Verizon’s call center on Hungary Spring Road that has reduced the facility’s workforce from more than 1,000 to 300 as a result of jobs being outsourced to Mexico, India and the Philippines.
Picket lines have formed outside local Verizon Wireless stores since mid-April.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the dispute isn’t about outsourcing, but about trying to do business in a highly competitive industry.
“We’re saddled with labor contracts from 50 years ago that no longer work today,” he said, adding that most of the workers on strike are part of Verizon’s landline and copper services units.
Young said earlier this month Verizon offered a “best and final offer” that included a 7.5 percent wage increase and protection from layoffs.
“These employees need to ask union leaders and CWA president Chris Shelton what they’re doing to get them back on the job,” Young said. “The unions have to come back to us and be prepared to work toward reaching an agreement that works for all sides.”
The last time the CWA went on strike was in 2011 for similar reasons to the current dispute. Workers on strike haven’t had a Verizon paycheck in more than four weeks and had their healthcare and life insurance cut on April 30. Kim Johnson, a CWA Local 2201 vice president, said most strikers live off money saved in anticipation of a strike.
Martin “Skeeter” Grubb, another CWA Local 2201 vice president, said for the strike to stop, Verizon needs to agree to contracts that improve job security, healthcare for active and retired employees, and stop outsourcing jobs.
“We’re going to keep holding the lines,” Grubb said. “Hopefully, we can come to a resolution both sides can live with.”
Happy to see your impressive numbers out there on the line! Let’s keep up the pressure and surprise them with our resolve.
No one cares. These protests are doing nothing except make people less sympathetic to their cause. If you don’t like your job then go get another one. Seeing people whining about their job as the rest of us drive to our jobs is comical. You aren’t entitled to something because a union fat cat tells you that you are. Get back to work.
Whining? Really. So we should not complain as our jobs are sent to a foreign country or just the elimination of our jobs. Just because you do not have a union to fight for your job don’t try to put us down. We fought hard for what we have and are fighting harder to keep it. Get educated about the facts before you spew ignorant rhetoric.