Carols—and Coals—for Verizon
 |
This is a cross-post from the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Central Labor Council Council.
Holiday carolers serenaded Verizon board member Rodney Slater yesterday with new words to an old favorite:
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Verizon gave to me: Profits over people, less respect for workers, more corporate greed, less health insurance, dividends for stockholders, cutting our pensions, billions in profits, OUT-SOURCING JOBS, unfairly fired workers, dishonest bargaining, a cut in starting pay and a few million for the CEO!
Activists from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), other unions, Jobs with Justice and the Occupy movement sang carols about corporate greed outside Slater’s downtown Washington, D.C., office. Slater, the U.S. secretary of transportation under President Bill Clinton, made $219,000 last year as a Verizon board director and helped stuff the stockings of the company’s top five executives with a cool $258 million over the past four years, earning Slater and his Verizon board colleagues a lump of coal from the protesters.
In August, Verizon workers went on strike, as bargaining broke down over give-backs in health care and pensions demanded by the company. Two weeks later, employees were back at work on the promise of good-faith bargaining—yet they still have no contract. Since then, a new report found Verizon has paid no federal taxes since 2007 and in fact, paid a -2.9 percent tax rate from 2008-2010.
Unions Fight Verizon’s Firings of Striking Workers
Verizon this week fired 40 workers who took part in the strike this summer by 45,000 Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) members. The corporation is alleging workers engaged in misconduct during the strike.
IBEW Local 2222 Legislative Director Paul Feeney told the Boston Globe:
We think this is a heavy-handed technique that Verizon is using to pressure us at the negotiating table. The union is going to fight this through the court. The company couldn’t prove to us that they did anything wrong.
CWA spokesperson Candace Johnson told the paper that other striking workers who were fired have returned to work after their records have been cleared.
We are continuing to pursue a fair determination for all Verizon workers who were fired.
The workers returned to work under the old contract, and negotiations for a new pact are continuing.
Verizon Paid a -2.9% Tax Rate from 2008-2010
This is a cross-post by Kenneth Quinnell from Crooks & Liars.
Citizens for Tax Justice released a report Tuesday that shows anti-union telecom company Verizon not only paid no taxes in the past three years, the company received nearly $1 billion in rebates from the government.
Verizon enjoyed some $14 billion in federal and state corporate income tax subsidies in the 2008-2010 period even though it earned $33.4 billion in pre-tax U.S. income during that time.
At the federal level, Verizon should have paid about $11.4 billion at the statutory rate of 35 percent during the three-year period. Instead, it got $951 million in rebates, putting its federal tax subsidies at $12.3 billion. Its effective federal tax rate was -2.9 percent.
Verizon also has managed to avoid most state-level taxes as well, while pursuing a strong anti-worker set of policies that we have reported on previously. The company has demanded $1 billion in benefit concessions from workers despite paying no taxes and raking in profits. Follow the Unity@Verizon campaign by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) here.
Verizon and 29 Other Big Corps Paid No Taxes Since 2007
While Verizon workers toil without a contract, a report issued jointly today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that it’s not just its workers the company is short-changing; it’s all of the American people. For the last three years, Verizon has paid less than zero taxes. That’s right—through the use of corporate loopholes, Verizon has actually “made” money through its tax filings, according to the report, “Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers.”
One area where Verizon didn’t mind paying out? CEO compensation—to the tune of $18.1 million last year.
And Verizon is hardly alone: 29 other corporations listed on the Fortune 500, according to the report, paid either no taxes, or, like Verizon, enjoy a negative tax balance on their filings for 2008, 2009 and 2010. Other household names on that ignominious list include Honeywell International, DuPont, Boeing, Mattel, Duke Energy and Wells Fargo (which also benefited from the bank bailout). Read the rest of this entry »
CWA, Occupy D.C. Join for March for Jobs and Justice at Verizon
Occupy D.C. activists and union members are joining together on Wednesday in a march for jobs and a fair contract for workers at Verizon. The march and rally is a joint effort of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Occupy D.C. movement.
The action kicks off at 5 p.m. with a march from Freedom Plaza to the headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and then to a nearby Verizon Wireless store.
Earlier this month (see video above) CWA members, other union activists and Occupy Wall Street protesters staged a similar solidarity action in New York. Verizon workers have been on the front lines of the struggle against corporate greed. This summer, they were forced on strike and, while they have returned to work, the battle for a fair contract continues.
Striking Verizon Workers to Return to Work Tuesday
 |
The 45,000 striking Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), will return to work Tuesday under the existing contract as bargaining resumes.
The CWA and IBEW announced:
We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed.
We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward.
Verizon, which amassed more than $20 billion in profits in recent years and paid its top five executives more than $258 million in the past four years, forced workers in Northeast states into a strike by demanding $1 billion in concessions. Seen as an attack on middle-class jobs and workers, the move prompted massive shows of support by working families across the country.
Verizon Workers Take Struggle for Middle-Class Jobs to CEO’s Upscale Neighborhood
 |
Hundreds of Verizon workers who have been striking for middle-class jobs last night took their message to the posh upper-class New Jersey neighborhood where Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam lives, to “mourn the death of good middle-class jobs.”
During the past four years, Verizon paid its top executives more than $258 million—surely enough that they are not worrying about mortgage payments in neighborhoods like McAdam’s. But Verizon, which made more than $20 billion in profits during the past few years, is demanding $1 billion in concessions from its 45,000 union workers, or about $20,000 per worker.
At the candlelight vigil outside McAdam’s home, the members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Electrical Workers (IBEW) and their allies chanted, ‘What’s disgusting? Union busting!”
Still Nickel and Dimed and (Not) Getting by in America
 |
Congratulations to author Barbara Ehrenreich for the 10th anniversary re-issuance of her classic study of the working poor, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America.” Ehrenreich didn’t just write a theoretical study, she based the book on her experiences working as a waitress, a Wal-Mart “associate,” a nursing home aide and a maid employed by a cleaning service. At the time the book came out, Ehrenreich wrote a piece for us based on her experiences. She concluded:
…even in an economy celebrating unequaled prosperity, a person can work hard, full-time or even more, and not make enough to live on.
That was in 2001. The U.S. unemployment rate at mid-year was 4.5 percent. There were 150,400 home foreclosures in the first quarter of that year, as reported in Aug. 17, 2001, by The New York Times, which noted that home sales were on track to make 2001 the second-best year ever.
Today, the 2001 economy seems like a dream. America’s jobless rate has hovered between 9.1 percent and 10.1 percent for more than a year, with foreclosures in July alone totaling 221,763—and that figure is a 44-month low.
Working at low-wage jobs during the dot.com boom when the economy was buzzing, Ehrenreich wrote that while employed as a waitress,
Verizon Joins Extreme Fringe’s Attack on Middle-Class Jobs
 |
More than 45,000 Verizon workers are standing strong on picket lines and at rallies and marches for middle-class jobs, as the strike enters its second week. But while the public has rallied for their fight for middle-class jobs—you can sign a petition here—Verizon has lined up with the extremist Scott Walkers, John Kasichs and other far-right elements in attacking working families.
Striking Verizon families have begun receiving letters from the $20 billion company telling them they will lose their health care coverage if the strike isn’t over by Aug. 31.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) has made a commitment to assist striking workers in paying for their health care needs out of the Robert Lilja Members Relief Fund (RLMRF) during their participation in the strike. Click here for more information.
CWA District 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp told a cheering audience of United Steelworkers (USW) at the union’s convention in Las Vegas yesterday:
More Than 100,000 Sign Petition Urging Verizon to Bargain
 |
Working families, unions, students, progressive groups and civil rights and community organizations have joined the fight against Verizon’s greed.
In just one week, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam to get serious about bargaining and to stop trying to push Verizon workers out of the middle class. You can add your name to the petition here.
The huge response to the petition and other actions at Verizon worksites and Verizon Wireless stores are part of the growing support for the 45,000 Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) members forced on strike by Verizon Aug. 6.
