Verizon Employees in Cranford Protest Changes In Benefits, Pensions

Verizon Communications and FiOS employees say they don't want anything new, they only want to retain the salary levels, benefits and vacation days they already have. That was the message they were trying to send Monday as they carried signs in front of the Verizon building on Orange Avenue.

"We're fighting for job security, health benefits and our pensions," said Tim Ridel, of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 827, who was striking with fellow union members early this week. "It really is about corporate greed."

Verizon says it is seeking health care givebacks to account for the changing face of the telecommunications industry as more consumers go wireless. But union officials say Verizon has plenty of money and are only attacking middle class jobs.

"Our CEOs are making millions. I don't see [the company] taking anything back from them," Ridel said. "We're not asking to get more stuff, we just want to keep what we have."

Verizon employees who work on the wire lines, represented by the Communications Workers of America and the IBEW,  to allow union leaders to authorize the strike to begin as soon as the current contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. The strike could impact 45,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia. This is the first strike to impact the company in more than a decade. The last strike was in 2000 and lasted 15 days. Both laborers and Verizon management have blamed each other for the current strike.

Verizon is claiming that the union is not agreeing to a $100 per month employee contribution to health care. Wire employees were not required to pay health care contributions before. The union is saying, however, that Verizon wants to cut employee pensions and health care benefits, along with capping sick time at five days per person and instituting merit pay.

"We have to try to save the benefits that we have. We need our benefits," said Robyn Dixon, a 33-year employee of the company. "If it wasn't for the employees, the managers wouldn't be here."

Verizon spokesman John Bonamo said last week that Verizon pays each of the workers on average $75,000 with a $50,000 benefits package. He did not offer verification for these figures. He said the company is centered on having the $100 a month health care payment put into place. He said that the company has been spending $4 billion a year – or $400,000 an hour – on health care costs in recent years. He also said the company’s other 135,000 employees contribute to their health care costs. He would not disclose how much Verizon Wireless and other Verizon employees not covered in a union pay for health care.

Bonamo declined to discuss the other claims the union has been making with regards to the company's negotiatiing position. He said Verizon does not discuss the specifics of on-going labor negotiations.

“I realize that is what they are saying and some may be true, but we are not going to get into the details of the proposals,” Bonamo said last week. “We have a contract proposal that we believe is fair and reasonable. It is comparable to the companies we compete with. That’s the best measure.”

Union members have also also blamed Verizon for outsourcing wire line jobs to Mexico and India and laying off U.S. workers and say they're seeking concessions from management to limit outsourcing, along with keeping pensions and benefits intact. Union spokespeople have said that they are also seeking to bring back outsourced jobs.