Verizon Workers Rally in New York

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)With contract expiration just over a week away, thousands of Verizon workers rallied in New York City Saturday, including many from the metro Washington area. CWA members in late July overwhelmingly authorized a strike against Verizon, as -- with their contract expiring at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday Aug. 7 -- contract negotiations continued on behalf of about 35,000 CWA-represented workers. Despite being one of the most profitable companies in the U.S. -- Verizon earned $19.5 billion in profits over the last four years and paid its top five executives over $258 million in the same time frame -- Verizon is demanding major concessions across the board in workers’ health care, benefits, pensions and more. “Instead of creating and keeping good jobs in local communities, Verizon has been contracting work out of the region and offshoring jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other countries,” says CWA.”Verizon also got a $1.3 billion federal tax rebate from the government despite its huge profits.” Click here  for a video of Saturday’s rally on CWA 2108’s website.