Thirty-nine thousand IBEW and CWA Verizon workers could be on strike as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday if a labor contract agreement isn’t reached by then.
Verizon is playing hardball, refusing to budge on concessionary demands after ten months of talks.
The unions plan informational pickets Wednesday.
The New Jersey AFL-CIO says Verizon’s behavior is a prime example of widespread corporate greed, because rather than treating workers as equal partners in the business Verizon is trying to profit on the backs of workers by shipping jobs overseas and demanding concessions. Verizon makes billions in profits and its CEO made $18 million last year.
Teamsters Meet with French Unions
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The Teamsters have met with two major unions representing Air Liquide workers in France to talk about a strategy for better labor relations at the American company being purchased by Air Liquide.
Airgas is being bought by Air Liquide for $13.4 billion. The unions are concerned about how the company is treating American workers.
The Teamsters say Airgas started taking an aggressive and confrontational approach to its workforce in January of 2015—including tactics like locking out workers during labor negotiations, trying to get workers to quit the union and violating U.S. labor law. The Teamsters says Air Liquide’s CEO is refusing to meet with Teamsters President James Hoffa to get the labor relationship back on track.
Imminent Domain and Worker Co-ops, An Answer To U.S. Plant Closings?
Economist Richard Wolff says politicians and unions should think outside the box when it comes to responding to corporations moving jobs to low wage nations.
Rather than just trying to soften the blow or delaying the plant closings, Wolff says Imminent Domain laws and worker co-ops could be used to save the jobs.
“Let the unions together with the politicians says there’s an alternative way. We can take over these factories using imminent domain—the law’s already there. And we can make them into worker co-ops, helping through the government and through the union to make sustainable alternatives to the companies that are leaving. Going to their customers and to say hey, you can buy from the company that abandoned us you can buy from the worker’s co-op that’s still there. That preserves the jobs, that preserves the community, that preserves the tax revenues flowing to the city and the state.”