The week that saw 39,000 Verizon wireline workers strike and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders join the picket line, ended with, apparently, no progress on a new contract and harsh words.
The strike, by CWA-IBEW workers on the East Coast, was called April 13 after 10 months of negotiation without a deal.
On Friday, CWA said that union members met with Verizon to, again, discuss the contracts in six states--Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia--but with no progress. "[A]fter 30 minutes and more demands to devastate workers' jobs, company executives left for the weekend," said CWA Friday.
“Workers already have put hundreds of millions of dollars in healthcare cost savings on the table. We simply cannot compromise on contract changes that would ship more work overseas and have our families separated for months at a time, said Ed Mooney, CWA District 2-13 VP, in a statement.
Verizon agreed with the "no progress" part. "This another classic example of the CWA coming to the table and offering nothing," said the company. "If they were serious about resuming negotiations, they should approach both bargaining sites with the real intention negotiating, rather than just saying “Hi” and issuing a news release."
