As Verizon Declares Truce with Unions, Labor and Allies Need to Keep Up the Pressure in Contract Fight
Late on August 6th, as their contract expired, over 45,000 unionized Verizon workers went out on strike after management refused to budge on its demands for dozens of concessions from the leadership of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Much grassroots excitement ensued, despite the (unfortunately typical) poor coverage of the labor fight in much of the mainstream news media. Then on Saturday, word went out from the union leaders that the strike was ending after just two weeks because Verizon management pledged to start bargaining on the next contract in a more reasonable fashion. Verizon agreed to extend the previous union contract while negotiations resumed. In exchange, CWA and IBEW negotiators agreed to suspend the strike for 30 days, and lift the cap on overtime limits on the job.
There is general agreement among commentators of most stripes that the aggressive picketing at over 1,000 Verizon Wireless stores by union members and allies had a lot to do with Verizon coming back to the table. But there has been some debate brewing in labor circles over whether union leaders should have initially said that all actions against Verizon’s almost entirely ununionized wireless division should cease given the agreement - since it only applies to members of the unions in question. Many of the pickets were led by activists from other unions and social justice groups - who are not bound by the agreement.
As all that shakes out, I’d just like to say that Open Media Boston supports the goals of the unions in this fight - negotiate a contract that eliminates as many of the 100 plus concessions being demanded by Verizon (an immensely profitable corporation) from the final contract as possible, tear down the “wall” that management has erected between its unionized landline and ununionized wireless divisions, stop Verizon’s drive to wipe out its unions (the company’s union membership has been driven down from 75,000 during the last strike in 2000 to 45,000 today), and open the door to unionize Verizon Wireless’ over 80,000 workers.
However, I also want to say that this publication strongly encourages the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to continue to let their allies conduct public actions against Verizon Wireless stores. These actions have dealt a significant blow to the company, and have resulted in thousands of Verizon Wireless workers having conversations with picketers - which in turn has led over 1,000 Verizon Wireless workers to contact the unions to find out more about how they can unionize. A longstanding goal of the Verizon unions has been to organize those very workers - in fact, the main goal of the last strike against Verizon in 2000 was just that. And it would be a pity to drop what’s looking like a successful tactic that will go a long way towards that reaching that goal just as Verizon management is starting to feel some pain.
For more information on the strike, the current situation, and its historical context, I recommend that readers check out two important articles that were posted on the Labor Notes website over the weekend.
The first piece by Steve Early - the former CWA Region 1 leader and labor strategist - who has written for Open Media Boston in the past, gives a broad picture of the history leading up to this strike and argues for continued union militancy on organizing Verizon Wireless.
http://labornotes.org/2011/08/big-organizing-challenge-remains-after-tem...
The second piece by Labor Notes staffer, and former editor of our sibling publication Gainesville Iguana in Gainesville, FL, Jenny Brown, talks in more detail about the latest developments in the contract fight.
http://labornotes.org/2011/08/verizon-strike-ends-now
I can also recommend that our viewers keep an eye on the following sites for more information on the situation as it develops
Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston.
