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Labor Board Charges Verizon With Unfair Labor Practices
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Two National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional directors this week charged Verizon Business with “interfering with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights” to join a union that are supposedly protected by federal labor law.
Verizon Business workers across the country are trying to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW).
CWA President Larry Cohen says that for the Republican-dominated NLRB, which has a history of ruling against workers and unions, to issue such a complaint makes a strong statement:
“When this labor board, the most anti-union, pro-business board ever, cracks down on a major corporation like Verizon, it’s damning evidence that the pattern of behavior is truly egregious.”
The complaints charge that Verizon Business management at facilities in Pittsburgh and Monsey, N.Y.:
- Threatened employees with layoffs for supporting the union.
- Told employees that Verizon Wireless, a related employer, had laid off employees because of their union activity.
- Engaged in surveillance of employees to discover their union activities.
- Issued disciplinary warnings against union supporters for distributing union materials and authorization cards “while permitting nonunion solicitations and distribution” in the workplace.
Separate NLRB hearings on these cases are set for Oct. 31 in Pittsburgh and Nov. 5 in New York City.
The difficulties faced by the Verizon Business workers in Pittsburgh and Monsey are not isolated incidents. We reported that a majority of Verizon Business technicians in New York and New England signed union authorization cards, but have been denied the freedom to join the union.
Dave Rogol, a senior technician at a Verizon Business facility in Charlton, Mass., says:
Verizon technicians want to have the same job protections and rights that so-called “core” Verizon employees have. Instead, management has subjected us to its propaganda machine and interfering with our rights on the job. Top management should recognize our union and begin bargaining for the good jobs and respect we all deserve.
For more info about the technicians’ organizing campaign, click here.
For years, Verizon Wireless workers also have faced a relentless employer campaign of coercion, surveillance, firings and even closing of entire offices to stamp out their efforts to win collective bargaining rights, according to Clyde Rucker, who was fired from his job as a senior customer representative at a Verizon Wireless facility in Laurel, Md., in 2003. Says Rucker:
The majority of workers where I worked want a union, but because of the intimidation by management, they are afraid. They are even afraid to take a piece of literature from a union worker when they leave the parking lot.
Cohen, who chairs the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s Organizing Committee, wrote to the 2008 presidential candidates to remind them that these new NLRB complaints underscore “all the more boldly why the Employee Free Choice Act is essential to restoring workers’ organizing and bargaining rights.”
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8 Comments
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New words to an old Hank Williams song “Melt your cold, cold heart”
Melt Verizon’s cold, cold Heart
Tear down the wall at Verizon, We make this our solemn vow!
Union members at Verizon Shout, Ivan can you hear us now!
We proved a union majority, now bargaining must start!
Recognize our union now and melt your cold, cold heart!
From Long Beach California and on the East coast too,
We have seen union busting and employee coercion too.
We proved a union majority, now bargaining must start!
Recognize our union now and melt your cold, cold heart!
As Workers and Shareholders, We demand our“Say on Pay”
Not to mention our pension that you would take away!
We proved a union majority, now bargaining must start!
Recognize our union now and melt your cold, cold heart!
We will never give up; we will never ever give in.
Greed must be overcome and bargaining must begin.
We proved a union majority, now bargaining must start!
Recognize our union now and melt your cold, cold heart!
David Hurlburt CWA local 9410
My prayers are with my Sisters and Brothers at Verizon to get Justice on the Job!!
ALL people who are working in the USA LEGALLY should have every right, without any fear of reprisal, to organize and/or join any USA union which represents their particular job IF they so CHOOSE. If, however, the wokers are in the USA ILLEGALY they most certainly SHOULD NOT be afforded the same rights! They are here ILLEGALLY. The very presence of an illegal worker in the USA is AGAINST THE LAW! As far as I’m concerned the only right THEY have is to LEAVE. They don’t have to go home but they ARE NOT WELCOME to stay here.
what a shame!!!. I encourage all union members currently using verizon wireless products to switch to AT&T (formerly cingular) simply b/cos AT&T is the only Union friendly wireless provider in America and they have wonderful discounts for Union Orgarnizations, employees and members. while verizon is preventing their employees to unionize, AT&T is creating jobs for union members: recently a new position was created by AT&T to support Union members ( Union Sales Advisor)
For more info about discounts& benefits union members and employees are entitled to just call Mikaila (Union sales Advisor)& proud member of cwa local13 @302.766.0729 or email: mikaila.akeredolu@att.com.
Perhaps verizon will take unions more seriously if every union member supported AT&T( a union friendly wireless provider) Enuff said!!!
Hey, “No Amnesty,” who are you working for? Verizon? The Chamber of Commerce? Your comments are an obvious attempt to distract us from the real struggle and turn workers against workers. It’s an old tactic. Another way you comment serves the interests of employers is it promotes the creation of a class of workers with no rights. That’s just what the s.o.b.s have wanted since the end of slavery.
It seems like Verizon thinks it’s operating in a country where workers have no rights. Where did it get that idea!?! Well, sorry Verizon, but WORKERS DO HAVE RIGHTS, and much more than you are giving them. Even the Labor Relations Board took notice. Too bad there aren’t some conscientious managers at the top to make sure the CEOs get fired and replaced with more worker-friendly individuals.
The Employee Free Choice Act must become law, and the sooner, the better.
David Hurlburt,
What a fantastic song. We need to record it and get it around.
Will the republicans stop at nothing; I blame them and their anti-unionism……Whats next, Verizon hiring employees under a Bush program to allow illegals to work instead? Geezzzzz….
I blame BUSH……Every aspect of the current economic climate and the conditions that unions now face was affected by the republicans and Bush; They wont be happy till they bring back the depression and soup lines. P.S. Stop blaming Greenspan, Blame the new puppet of George W, Bush. and his friends (OPEC)..