As Contract Talks Continue, Verizon Workers Give Thumbs-Up to Strike

A final decision on a strike would come from the the boards of the CWA and the worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Nyc Verizon Communication Inc’s (VZ.N) wireline device workers toward the You can include.S. East Coast have selected to move on strike, if it is required, amid contract negotiations, the trade unions that represent these guys said on Saturday.

Verizon workers in nine states have voted to go on strike if necessary over a dispute about a new contract, a union official said at a rally Saturday. They rejected the harsh and concessionary demands of the management.

The contract is also going to be affecting wireline workers from Washington, DC, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut.

According to the trade union, 86 percent of Verizon workers authorized a strike.

The contract covers employees the nine states from Massachusetts to Virginia who work for Verizon’s wireline business, which provides fixed-line phone services and FiOS Internet service. The unions said that the telecom giant is demanding that workers sharply increase their healthcare contributions and make concessions on pensions, a demand which it believes is against the welfare of its members and would not be accepted at any cost.

Rich Young, spokesman of Verizon, said the company has offered the union “a solid proposal that recognizes the changing communications landscape and offers a path toward success”.

Numerous contract aspects there were set many years ago are not relevant any longer in an industry facing increased structural change and pressure, said Young. He also added that the company was training non-union employees who would be able to take up the additional jobs so that customers weren’t disrupted at all even if these employees did go on strike.