Support for Striking Telephone Workers

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CWA members greet President Samuelsen
CWA members greet President Samuelsen


Forces from Local 100 today joined Verizon workers on their picket lines in the largest private sector strike seen in several years.

The workers, represented by the CWA and IBEW, took to the picket lines when the company folded its arms and refused to budge from a lengthy list of giveback demands.

The issues at play in this strike are not particular to Verizon. They are basic issues of the survival of the middle class. Local 100 President John Samuelsen told strikers: “You are not just fighting for yourselves.”

Verizon management wants a billion dollars in concessions, including:

  • freezing the pension plan for covered workers and eliminating it entirely for all others;
  • dramatically hiking health care costs for active workers and retirees;
  • and basing wage increases on subjective evaluations by supervisors.

How strapped is Verizon? Not at all. It has $100 billion in revenue and record net profits of $6 billion. Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg – who stepped down as CEO – last week, was getting paid 300 times what an average worker earns. The top five company executives received more than a quarter of a billion dollars over the past four years.

TWU Local 100 will continue to stand with our brothers and sisters in the CWA and IBEW. Watch for announcements of futher solidarity actions.