Verizon Chases Workers with Armed and Masked Gunmen

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez.

Workers Independent News is heard Monday through Friday at 8:45 and 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

Workers Independent News is heard Monday through Friday at 8:45 and 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

Verizon workers, on strike since April 13, will bargain again with the company Tuesday as the Obama administration gets involved in efforts to settle the strike.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez met with Verizon, CWA President Chris Shelton and IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson over the weekend.

CWA members trying to visit a Verizon call center in the Philippines were chased off the property by armed security and then followed by armed and masked Philippines SWAT police, but eventually the union members were allowed to go on their way with no injuries. Outsourcing U.S. jobs to call centers like the one in the Philippines is one of the strike issues.

Roughly 39,000 Verizon workers are on strike.

AFGE Calls for 6,000 More TSA Agents At Airports

The American Federation of Government Employees is calling for 6,000 more full-time security screeners at U.S. airports. The union says Congress must pass emergency funding to address years of budget cuts.

The flying public is experiencing long lines at airport security checkpoints and AFGE says the additional personnel would help shorten the lines and delays passengers are experiencing.

There are about 42,000 TSA security officers working airports now compared to 47,000 in 2013.

Wage Theft: Madison Wisconsin Companies Owe Workers $724,000

An investigation by the U.S. Labor Department found that two dozen businesses in Madison, Wisconsin allegedly owe 275 workers 724,000 dollars in back pay. The targeted investigations looked at randomly selected restaurants and hotels in the Madison area.

“We’re concerned with making sure employees are paid in accordance with federal law,” said David King, district director for the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor for Wisconsin and Minnesota.

AFL-CIO VP in Flint Meeting with Union Plumbers

AFL-CIO Vice-President Tefere Gebre will be in Flint, Michigan, Tuesday meeting with union plumbers who are working to replace water lines to help deal with the city’s water crisis.

Emergency financial managers answering to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder poisoned Flint’s water supply with lead by switching water sources from Lake Huron to the Flint river and then failing to properly treat the water. The corrosive polluted water released lead from plumbing pipes into the water supply.

Gebre is meeting with other groups providing relief services to Flint residents during his Tuesday visit to the city.