NYSUT leaders, members and staff across New York are showing their support for the 45,000 Verizon workers — members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — who are on strike to protest the company's attempt to gain $1 billion in concessions.
Despite record profits, Verizon refuses to bargain with its union employees as it pushes proposals that would allow it to outsource more jobs, slash sick days, eliminate benefits for workers who get hurt on the job, and cut the health care benefits they promised retirees.
According to Bloomberg news, the company's profits more than tripled in April after the company began offering services on the Apple iPhone. In the last four years alone, Verizon has made more than $19.5 billion in profits and has compensated its top five executives more than a quarter of a billion dollars. (The company's chairman, Ivan Seidenberg, earns $55,000 per day.) The average Verizon worker's salary is $60,000.
NYSUT officers — Executive Vice President Andy Pallotta, Secretary Treasurer Lee Cutler and Vice President Katheen Donahue — joined union staffers and NYSUT members at recent rallies supporting striking workers. More are planned.
Show your solidarity
• Find a local picket line to support. Stop by and bring some coffee: www.cwa-union.org/picketmap
• Download leaflets: www.cwa-union.org/vzleaflets
• Sign the petition: http://www.stopverizongreed.org/
• Sign up for email and text updates: www.cwa-union.org/pages/unityverizon_email_signup
• "Like" Unity at Verizon 2011 on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
• Change your Facebook and/ or Twitter profile picture in solidarity: http://www.cwa-union.org/pages/verizon_facebook_and_twitter
• Send a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and tell him to stop Verizon's attack on the middle class. Mail it to Verizon headquarters, 140 West St., New York, NY 10007.