IBEW New England and CWA District 1/IBEW Local 2213 Regional Committees met with the Company today to continue discussions regarding the Company’s counter proposal. After reviewing the company proposal, it became clear to your bargaining committee that the company’s commitment to the Union to end the strike and to start bargaining was not the truth. The commitment to work from our health plans and not theirs and to actually start bargaining our issues as well as their issues was never going to happen.

 

What Verizon is doing is destroying the Middle Class by moving good paying jobs with good benefits to low paying jobs with no benefits. For years, Verizon has been declaring surplus after surplus and then moving more of our work to contractors. Your Bargaining Committee proposed to put those jobs back into the bargaining unit and the Company responded by telling us that we are adding cost to this Contract. They compare our jobs to a contractor. The company stated at the table today that it is cheaper to use contractors instead of employees. We are insulted when they want to add over 100 million dollars to the backs of our retired members by adding premiums to their health plans. We are insulted when they want to strip away every benefit we have today. This Greedy Corporation wants to destroy us and we will never allow that to happen. They want to destroy the lives of our retired members and we will never allow them to do that either.

 

The Company walked out of bargaining today when committee members began telling them exactly what we thought of their last proposal. Everyone on your Committee spoke for every member today and told them exactly what we think of their proposal.

 

We also told the Company, before they left today, that the bargaining committee would be returning to our locals for a few days to talk to our members about this proposal. We need to begin again to mobilize our members. We will do whatever we need to do to get a fair contract.

 

The Occupy Wall Street group is putting the Spotlight on Corporate Greed. Americans are outraged at what Corporations are doing. The “99% group” is ready to take back our country from these Greedy Corporations. IBEW and CWA as well as all of organized labor will not allow Corporations to destroy the Middle Class. Verizon is an extremely profitable Corporation and should not be allowed to lower the standard for the Middle Class. It is time to put Verizon as the face of Corporate Greed by making them the “Poster Child for Corporate Greed”.

We will “Occupy Wall Street” or “Occupy Any Street” to stop the Greed at Verizon.

 

We must begin again to put pressure on Verizon. This battle must be won on the streets. Verizon only responds when the bottom line is at risk. Mobilization must increase. Reaction and passion from the membership must take place. Informational picketing, “RED” Thursdays and Verizon Wireless attacks are keys to our offense. These activities are going to have to increase in order to get this Corporation to move.  

 

On Friday, IBEW/CWA and the Occupy Wall Street protestors will join forces and go on a field trip.

We will be returning to the bargaining table knowing that our membership is 100% in support of this committee and we will continue to fight for a fair contract.