Despite being on strike since the thirteenth of this month, Verizon's 40,000 union workers indicate that negotiations with the telecom giant are not progressing in any meaningful fashion. Despite meeting with Verizon management for much of the week, Communications Workers of America leaders say the company just isn't budging on contentious issues, including reduced wages, tighter pensions, and an overall ramp up in overseas offshore support.
The unions have been quick to complain that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam earns 200 times more than the average Verizon employee, while the company’s top five executives made $233 million over the last five years.
The union also pointed at Verizon's earnings today as another indication that the company can afford to meet the unions demands and offer better pay and benefits to its regular workers -- it just doesn't want to. The CWA is also criticizing Verizon's pursuit of struggled Yahoo instead of spending money on its employees.
Despite making $39 billion profits over the last three years and $4.43 billion in the first quarter of 2016 alone, the company is refusing to settle a fair contract and continues its efforts to offshore jobs to the Philippines, Mexico and other locations," the CWA said in a statement e-mailed to the media.
"Rather than investing in good jobs here at home, Verizon refuses to make FiOS available to thousands of people in towns and cities throughout the East Coast and is embarking on a questionable path to acquire troubled Yahoo and other companies," the union added. "The value of the Yahoo deal alone would cover the cost to fulfill Verizon’s commitment to New York and complete the Boston buildout with billions left over."
With Verizon pulling in
desk jockeys, coders, attorneys and others to do installation and repair, consumers will likely continue to face installation delays as the strike continues.