Vol. 72/No. 32      August 18, 2008

Verizon is pushing for workers and retirees to pay more for health care. It wants to eliminate retirement health-care coverage for new hires. The unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are calling for a 5 percent yearly wage increase, larger pensions, and expanded medical benefits. The contract will affect workers in 13 states and Washington, D.C., from Maine to Virginia.

Thousands of workers in a sea of red T-shirts rallied at the Verizon headquarters in New York City July 26. Many carried signs saying “Hands Off Our Benefits.” Similar rallies took place around the country.

Outsourcing and subcontracting by Verizon are also at issue. The company has shifted jobs to nonunion contractors and to its business division, which is mostly nonunion. Few workers at Verizon’s wireless division are organized.

Verizon recently obtained a 12-year franchise to make its television service available to New York City’s 3.1 million households by 2014. Over the next seven years Verizon plans to invest $23 billion into expansion of its fiber-optic network.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home