From:
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 7:00 AM
To:
Subject: The Verizon Strike
From: Portside Moderator [moderator@PORTSIDE.ORG
http://labornotes.org/2011/08/verizon-pickets-turn-away-customers-and-chase-scabs
Verizon Strike Turns Away Customers and Chases Scabs
By Mischa Gaus
Labor Notes: August 11, 2011
Union picketers are turning away customers at
Verizon's wireless stores in the Northeast,
though injunctions could threaten that tactic.
Photo:
sure to check out Verizon striker Pam Galpern
on "Democracy Now!" http://tinyurl.com/3rtpum5
Verizon's strike in the Northeast is into Day Five, and big picket lines are turning away customers at Verizon's wireless stores.
Injunctions could threaten one of the union's most effective tactics, mass picketing at stores. But another-mobile picketing-is causing havoc for the company. Techs are chasing scab managers through the field, making them cross their very own personal picket line at the bottom of a pole or while they try to work in a manhole.
The strike covers 45,000 members of the Communications Workers and Electrical Workers (IBEW) from
"Everybody's very motivated," said Barbara Smith, a member of CWA Local 1109 in
Operating Engineers, crane operators, and other construction and building-service workers in
Busy UPS drivers are double-parking their trucks next to the vans operated by scabs and managers, boosting efforts by CWA and IBEW members to delay and deny scabs' access to the work.
Bob Master, CWA District 1's legislative and political director, said cars driven by scabs have struck picketers, at least 20 so far, sending at least two to the hospital.
Injunctions
Verizon has secured several injunctions. In
15 feet from scabs. The
In
"We had them pretty much shut down for three days,"
said Justin Harrison, a unit secretary in statewide CWA Local 13000. Mobile picketers are chasing trucks around town now that they're out of the yard.
The company was in court Wednesday in
An injunction delivered to strikers Thursday limited the number of picketers, from six to 50, based on the size of the location. Mobile picketers in
45 feet behind the scab van, Semel said. While courts are no friend of the worker, Semel added, she called these injunctions among the least restrictive she's seen.
Wireless stores are unaffected, although Verizon is returning to court today to secure additional injunctions against those pickets.
CWA is targeting heavily trafficked
Management is desperate to limit disruption at these wireless locations, especially ahead of September's expected rollout of the next iPhone. The hot-selling gadget will be available at (mostly unionized) AT&T retail stores as well-and Verizon picketers would be more than happy to let customers know the closest location to patronize.
In
Moving the Work
Reacting to the Northeast telecom unions' long history of militant strikes and inside campaigns, Verizon has tried to limit their power over the years by aggressively contracting out work and moving it around the country and overseas. Eddie Blackburn, a service rep who handles fiber-optic products in
Most media accounts relegate the unions to history's dustbin, because they have not yet been able to organize most of the burgeoning wireless business. They ignore the merciless campaigns waged by Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and others to keep unions out.
But
When a member discovered a downed line Tuesday, members converged to picket it. They kept residents from being hurt,
(Utility workers also won't cross their lines.) But when a call came of a scab van 15 minutes away, they dispatched another five picketers to surround it immediately.
"They weren't prepared for how flexible and fluid our mobilizing can be," he said. "It gets in their head.
They're not as effective."
Plus, he said, members are flocking to the activity, which he admits is "sort of fun." Videos have surfaced "highlighting the hack, garbage work management is doing,"
But the other side is carrying cameras, too, and giant anti-union megaphones like Fox News are only too happy to paint the strikers as out-of-control vigilantes.
Reports of vandalism and a striker "endangering" his child have been amplified.
"You could be Mother Teresa on the picket line, and they'd still find a way to go after you,"
More importantly, he said, the mobile picketing gives members something effective to do, rather than picketing office locations where managers do inside work and there's little opportunity to take action.
Meanwhile, the union dispatched its negotiators back to the table Wednesday. Verizon removed its proposal that attached wage increases to management-determined productivity measures, but union officials say the company is still dithering in negotiations.
"The only serious thing here is the traffic I'm stuck in," said CWA Local 1400 President Don Trementozzi, on his way back to
The unions are planning a vigil at Verizon chairman Ivan Seidenberg's house in the pricey
| Internships and Jobs Main Office:
Labor Education and Research Project c 2005-2010.
___________________________________________
Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it.
Submit via email: portside@portside.org
Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3
Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq
Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe
Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive
Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate
-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3831 - Release Date: 08/13/11
No comments:
Post a Comment