October 14, 2011
Joint Statement by NYS AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes and NYC CLC President Vincent Alvarez on Occupy Wall Street
"The New York
State AFL-CIO and
New York City
Central Labor Council unequivocally support the rights of the
participants of Occupy Wall Street to express their point of
view. As such, the labor movement strongly opposes any attempt
to silence their voice, and by extension, the voice of 99% of
working Americans dissatisfied with our current economic system
and the unlevel playing field everyday working Americans are
confronted with .
Occupy Wall Street participants should be allowed to continue to
peacefully protest the issues, in particular, speaking out
against an inequitable economic system tilted in favor of this
country's top 1 % of wage earners. The labor movement in this
city and state will continue to support their cause until the
long term economic needs and concerns of working people are
addressed."
October, 7, 2011
CWA District 1/IBEW
Local 2213 and IBEW New England Regional Bargaining Committee
and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Committee met separately yesterday
with the Company at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, NY to hear the
Company's initial response to our counterproposal from Monday.
Although, the Company
expressed some interest in our proposals which were
counterproposals to their original demands, they seemed to have
no interest in returning jobs to the bargaining unit which was
the foundation to our proposals.
Yesterday, the
Company did say that they will continue to evaluate our
proposals and have a counter proposal to the Union next week.
Today, Verizon decided
to put out a Company update which states they completed their
initial review of our proposal and they state
“In costing
out the various elements of the unions' proposals, the company
determined that they significantly exacerbate the problem of
Wireline's high cost structure by adding more than $1 billion in
annual operating costs.”
That is a fact. CWA made a counterproposal to that proposal. We are fighting for jobs and our middle class standard of living. The Company has been stripping away our work and giving more and more work to contractors. We are fighting for those jobs and the return of good jobs to our communities. We are fighting for the Middle Class. Our Fight is America's fight.
What the company did
not tell you in their update is that the Company’s proposal
would save the company $1.3
billion by stripping away and diminishing every
benefit we have negotiated over the last 50 years.
Verizon wants to lower
the bar for the American Worker. If Corporations like Verizon
who are extremely profitable continue to lower the standard of
living by cutting wages and benefits they will destroy the
middle class. Corporate Greed must be stopped. Our members are
joining the millions of Americans across this country in this
fight to stop Corporate Greed. The 99% of us in this country are
fighting back. CWA will do its part at the bargaining table and
in the cities across this country as the “Occupy Wall Street”
Movement gains strength in NY City and moves to cities across
this country to fight Corporate Greed
Vice President Chris
Shelton defined what we needed in bargaining in his opening
statement, he said:
“Good jobs at Verizon are union jobs. We are here to negotiate a fair agreement that protects the union jobs we do now and increases the number those good union jobs so that our members will have the opportunity to grow with the company as it continues to grow.
Our unions have negotiated contracts with Verizon,
Bell Atlantic and their predecessors since before any of us
started working here. During the last 50 years, we worked
together to solve problems, to address one another’s needs at
the bargaining table, to deliver quality service to customers
and build a strong company.
And we have changed
together as well. Our members have never stood in the way of
technological change. Our union has always advocated efforts to
insure that our members worked to stay abreast of the ever
changing telecommunications industry.
But in recent years,
this company has turned its back on its employees. This company
that we built together has taken its profits and headed off in
new directions, to new products and technologies, and left
behind the very workers that are responsible for its success.
Since 2005 Verizon has cut 80,000 wireline jobs from its rolls
through access line sales, segment spin-offs, layoffs, attrition
and retirements. In the same time period, Verizon Wireless has
added 23,000 jobs.
The Union gave
the Company a proposal on October 3rd which gave the
Company a pathway to a contract. The Company needs to return to
the bargaining table and begin bargaining by concentrating on
the issues that will get a contract. The company needs to take
the path the union has outlined which will bring a fair contract
to our members and their employees. The company needs to
re-invest their profits back into the Company and their
employees. This will be good for Verizon, good for the economy
and good for America.
A reminder our
mobilization at Verizon Wireless and Apple stores is in full
swing as the IPhone 4S is being introduced. We need to keep the
pressure on Verizon and to continue to get our message out. If
you have not already volunteered to handbill at a store location
please contact your steward and sign up. By everyone working
together from the bargaining table to handbilling the store
locations, we will stand strong against Verizon’s attempt to
strip our contracts of provisions gained over 50 years of
collective bargaining.
Get ready to
join the “Occupy Wall Street” movement as we make Verizon the
“Poster Child” for Corporate Greed.
Stay Strong –
Stay United
Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!
