Verizon strike includes 6,000 workers in Massachusetts, one of biggest in years
About 45,000 Verizon employees, including 6,000 in Massachusetts, went on strike today after failing to reach a new union contract in one of the biggest labor actions in the US in recent years.
Those on strike are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America who work along the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia and on the telecommunications company’s landline telephone, Internet, and television services.
Talks stretched until the contract’s deadline on Saturday night, but the parties couldn’t agree on the cost of health care benefits and other issues. The IBEW said talks would resume tomorrow morning; a Verizon spokesman said he was not sure when they would resume.
“It’s probably a little gut wrenching to announce a strike, but enough is enough,’’ said Myles Calvey, a business manager with IBEW who is representing New England in negotiations with Verizon. About 800 workers in Rhode Island are also striking.
Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro said the strike should not have an impact on customers. The company prepared for a strike by training tens of thousands of other employees to conduct customer service, repairs, installation, and other jobs done by unionized employees.
“We are confident that we can continue to run this business,’’ he said.
The strike, says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, is unusual at a time when unemployment is high, the economy is weak, and wages have not increased for the average American worker in over a decade.
“When you think about it, going on a strike at the time when the average worker is gaining nothing is pretty risky business,’’ he said.
The strike could affect utilities all over the region. Local 369 of the Utility Workers Union of America, which includes NStar and National Grid employees, has refused to cross picket lines.
A Verizon-owned telephone pole or manhole, for example, might be also be used by NStar or National Grid and vice versa, according to David Leonardi, president UWUA Local 369. If any of the shared utility equipment needs repairs and is a location of picketers, Local 369 members will not help.
National Grid declined to comment. An NStar official could not be reached for comment.
Today more than 1,500 IBEW union members picketed outside Verizon’s local headquarters in downtown Boston, and more are expected to surround Verizon stores all over the region tomorrow.
Union spokesmen said they went into negotiations a month ago willing to give concessions related to healthcare benefits. They said Verizon’s proposals to also limit sick days, eliminate some holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veteran’s Day, freeze pensions and remove a clause in the contract that limits the company’s ability to lay off workers, took it too far.
Calvey of IBEW said the cuts are unacceptable from a company that had a $27.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter.
Verizon contends that the massive loss of landline customers over the last 10 years coupled with increased competition and the rough economic climate is forcing the company to cut costs “in an area that is no longer growing for us.’’
“These employees are working under contracts that were negotiated and create in a time that is very different from today,’’ said Verizon spokesman Santoro.
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