Support IBEW and CWA workers in their battle to hold the line against corporate greed
Posted on August 7th, 2011 | by A Worker |Here’s a letter the wife of one of our union members posted on FaceBook.
Dear Friends,
My husband is one of the 45,000 unionized workers now ON STRIKE against VERIZON. VERIZON is trying to dump pensions, gut health care benefits, eliminate job security and basically undo about 30 years of collective bargaining with its workers.
VERIZON is one of the most profitable corporations in the U.S. It earned $19.5 BILLION in profits over the last 4 years and paid its top 5 executives over $258 MILION in that period. Instead of creating and keeping good jobs in local communities, VERIZON has been contracting work out of the region and offshoring jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other countries. Meanwhile, <irony> pillar of the community </irony> VERIZON paid zero U.S. taxes and received a $1.3 BILLION federal tax rebate.
VERIZON has already managed to reduce its unionized workforce by about half over the last 10 years and is now trying to bust the unions while working people generally are knocked down on their knees. The unionized workers of VERIZON are drawing a line in the sand against CORPORATE GREED – not just for themselves, but for all working people.
You might be thinking:
I already lost my pension. The health care benefits at my company are inadequate and expensive. I have no job security – my company is constantly laying off people and now I’m stuck doing the work of several former co-workers whose positions were eliminated. Meanwhile, I’m not getting raises anymore and my pay is so bad I can’t pay my bills. Why should the Verizon workers have pensions, job security, and good health care when I don’t have them?
If you’re thinking this, I do hear you, but frankly this kind of thinking plays right into the hands of the ruthless rich who’ve been seizing the global economic crisis as an opportunity to PLUNDER the middle class. We should all have pensions, job security, good health care and decent pay. The spiel about “shared sacrifice†in these hard times is BOGUS. These have been HIGH TIMES for the millionaires and billionaires behind the curtain of all major corporations. Our loss is their gain.
Instead of allowing super profitable corporations to push all workers down to the lowest and most desperate level, let’s support IBEW and CWA workers in their battle to hold the line against corporate greed, broadening the struggle to pull all of us back up.
The stronger they are, the stronger we all are in the long run.
Thank you for reading this – I appreciate it. I think this is an important strike, regardless of the fact that my husband is one of the strikers. I wanted to share this perspective since I know the coverage in the corporate media will be corporation-friendly.
P.S. – In these days of social media marketing, we have power with our clicks, comments and shares. One easy way you can show support for the cause is to un-Like VERIZON on FB. (Where is the DISLIKE button when you need it?) Like this page instead: http://www.facebook.com/UnityatVerizon2011
