Verizon’s workers picket for job security
Fearing loss of employment to contractors, close to 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast were picketing Wednesday during a labor dispute strike.
Verizon’s spokesman, Ray McConville, said that the current contract does not offer Verizon enough flexibility to move workers around.
‘”Let’s say there is a big job happening in Philadelphia, and we need to bring in some extra people to help out and I have a surplus of technicians in South Jersey,… The current contract prohibits us from doing that,”’ he said.
However, Verizon plans to continue to offer phone, Internet, and cable service to customers even though they are walking the picketing line in eight states that include New Jersey, Pennyslvania and Delaware.
Tom Romantini of Communications Workers of Americas said amidst the fear of being outsourced and replaced by contract workers, Verizon workers are just looking for good paying jobs in this country.
‘“All these corporations, they continually send jobs out of this country. And they deprive this country of its tax base and of good-paying jobs,”’ he said.