“If Verizon gets its way, we’re allowing corporate CEOs to rewrite the rules in their favor yet again,” writes Jobs With Justice organizer

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-11-2016

“Verizon wants to force through changes that would make it easier to uproot workers and hurt our communities,” said Betsy Derr, a customer service representative and CWA member in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, who’s worked at Verizon for over 16 years. (Photo: Matthew Bednarik/flickr/cc)

In what has the potential to be the largest work stoppage in the country in recent years, up to 40,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia will go on strike at 6 am on Wednesday, unless the company “reconsiders its shameful, and I do mean shameful, demands,” Communications Workers of America (CWA) president Chris Shelton has warned.

In a call with reporters on Monday, Shelton said, “nobody wants to go on strike.”

But after trying for ten months to reach a fair contract, “we have to take a stand now for our families and every American worker,” explained Myles Calvey, IBEW Local 2222 business manager and chairman of T-6 Verizon New England. Continue reading →