New York — Verizon Communications is dealing with an outbreak of strike action after not being able to negotiate 45,000 worker’s contracts.
The strike, which started on Sunday, could potentially affect landline services to 12 different states, including the District of Columbia, as well as installation of services like its fiber-optic television, FiOS and Internet lines.
Both the company and its workers were unable to come to a consensus before the contracts expired Saturday at midnight. Verizon is requesting to change certain clauses, such as health care costs and pension, to fit its wireless revenue decline over the past decade from customers switching to cellphones from landlines. It had 25 million landlines at the end of the second quarter, down from 26 million at the end of 2010, the Washington Post reported.
“It’s not reflective of today’s marketplace,” Verizon spokesman Rich Young said of the contract. “Our union employees pay nothing toward their health care premiums. That’s virtually unheard of.”
In the meantime, workers of all ages wearing red shirts and carrying Verizon-like signs continue to fight against the company’s stalled request.
“We’re just making a regular living, middle class — we’re not making a fortune. We just want to keep what we have,” Helga Weber, a 13-year employer, told the Washington Post.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3ud7opf (Washington Post)
Photo by flickr user Muffet, used under Creative Commons license.
