The Communications Workers and the Electrical Workers (IBEW) spent late August in continuing contract talks with Verizon – talks, IBEW said, that featured absolutely no change in the firm’s wide-ranging giveback demands. But the unions also took to the streets to show mass solidarity for their bargaining teams, with rallies all over the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. The talks cover more than 40,000 Verizon workers up and down the East Coast. They’re one of two big union negotiating sessions now going on with major well-known employers. The other involves the Steelworkers facing off against U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal. That contract expired at midnight, Sept.1. A recent rally at U.S. Steel facilities in Duluth, Minn., drew more than 2,000 people, as did a rally in Gary, Ind.
- PAI; photo courtesy CWA 2108 Facebook page
- PAI; photo courtesy CWA 2108 Facebook page