May 18, 2005

Unions Challenge Verizon Execs
at Annual Meeting

CWA and IBEW members and retirees raised a ruckus at the Verizon shareholders meeting.

When shareholders arrived for Verizon's annual meeting on May 5, they were greeted by CWA and IBEW members and retirees.

Among locals participating in the action were CWA Local 6222 and IBEW Local 66, both in Houston. Local 6222 Organizing Director Deborah Alexander said they were there because, "Verizon and most corporations in America have been trying to stifle all union activity. America needs to know we are not bad people, we're here for them and we want them to know what good we do for all working Americans."

 

Union activists alerted shareholders that Verizon's policy on bundling is a bundle of contradictions.

Bungling on Bundling
Dave Reardon, an IBEW retiree, raised a question from the floor: "Why doesn't the company bundle wireless service with wireline?"

It's a hot issue. Other companies offer bundled service with discounts, but not Verizon. CWA maintains that the real reason for not bundling wireline and wireless services is to maintain the artificial separation the company has created between the union and non-union parts of the company.  

Activists passed out fliers pointing out that "Verizon is bungling on bundling" and warning shareholders that they "should be concerned when management's decisions are motivated by an ideological agenda rather than by the best interests of the company's stakeholders."

Retirees Go Yet Another Year Without an Increase
Inside the meeting, CWA Retired Members Council Chair Ed Creegan challenged Seidenberg on why retirees have received no pension increase since the early 1990s even though inflation has driven up the cost of living over 40 percent. 

Creegan cited one 84-year-old retiree who retired at top pay after 36 years with the company. His monthly check is $824, just as it was in 1991. For this retiree just to have kept even with inflation -- that is, to be able to buy the same groceries he could in 1991 -- his pension should now be about $1,170. Other retirees who didn't have a full 30 years in or who retired from lower-paying jobs receive pensions in the range of $600-$700 a month.

IBEW-Sponsored Resolution Supported by More Than 1/3 of Shareholders IBEW submitted a shareholder to separate the jobs of CEO and chairman of the board. Currently, Seidenberg holds both titles. The resolution drew a significant 36 percent of the shares voted.

Creegan, who, along with six other CWA retiree leaders and three IBEW leaders, traveled more than 12 hours to attend the meeting, called Verizon's treatment of retirees "heartless and disgusting."  He promised he would be back next year, even if Verizon moves the meeting to the Aleutian Islands.

Verizon Before and After the Union
Creegan also spoke about Verizon's decidedly anti-union stance at Wireless, and he questioned the sincerity of Seidenberg's claim that he would be perfectly willing to have secret ballot representation elections. Creegan recalled some of CWA's accomplishments on health care and pensions at Verizon and its predecessor companies. Once the company accepted the union, he said, management and union worked together to build a very profitable, competitive company. "The same thing could happen at Verizon Wireless if the company under Seidenberg would stop their anti-union, anti-employee attitude" and give employees a free choice. 

Wireless CEO in Violation of Verizon's Ethics Policy?

It appears that Wireless CEO Denny Strigl is in violation of Verizon's code of ethics.

According to the Verizon Office of Ethics and Business Conduct, "it is a conflict of interest for a Verizon employee to work for Verizon Wireless. The employee should be informed that he/she can either resign from Verizon or Verizon Wireless but he/she cannot work for both."

Strigl is the CEO of Verizon Wireless, but he is directly employed by Verizon, a change that was made recently in order to give Strigl better benefits than he had been receiving at Wireless.

If you have any questions about issues of ethics or business conduct, you can contact the Verizon Ethics Hotline at 800-856-1885.

Outsourcing Watch
Verizon Reportedly Moving More Work Out of the Country

Verizon contracts out more than 3,000 DSL tech support jobs. Verizon has contracts with at least 4 different vendors to operate call centers to take customers' calls. One vendor, Teletech, already operates one Verizon center in London, Ontario.

There are now reports circulating that Teletech has opened a dedicated Verizon call center in the Philippines.

The Philippines is one of a number of countries with lower wages and a large English-speaking population that are attracting customer service centers.  

Other contractors taking DSL tech support calls for Verizon include Telvista (Grapevine, TX) and Calltech (Columbus, OH, and Fishers, IN).

Verizon Wireless Fires Working Mother for Using Sick Leave While Husband in Iraq

Read what happened to Kara, then send a message to Working Mother magazine that Verizon Wireless doesn't deserve to be on the list of companies that are good for working mothers.

President Bahr welcomes Kara DeWitt to the CWA Customer Service Conference

Initially, Dale DeWitt was to be deployed for only 6 months, but his tour was extended twice, and Kara was on her own for 19 months. During that time, their daughter Daisy, now 2, was born. Kara was taking care of Daisy and her sister Julia, now 4, while working full-time at Verizon Wireless. When the girls were sick, Kara of course had to stay home with them, using some of her sick days.   

Did Your Rep Sign?

Visit us on the web for  the complete list of 113 members of Congress who signed the "Miller letter" we reported on in the last issue.

The letter to Ivan Seidenberg expressed the Congressmembers' concerns about Verizon Wireless's opposition to employee organizing. 

In addition, 10 other members of Congress sent separate letters to the company:

Xavier Becerra (CA)
Grace Napolitano (CA)
Sanford Bishop (GA)
Edward Markey (MA)
Martin Meehan (MA)
Bennie Thompson (MS)
Greg Meeks (NY)
Mike Doyle (TX)
Shelia Jackson Lee (TX)
James Moran (VA)

VZW Refuses to
Suspend Account of Deployed Soldier

A Verizon Wireless customer in Ohio reports that VZW customers serving in Iraq can't get a break, either.  While her husband was deployed, Verizon refused to suspend his cell phone account, and now the company is sending a collection agency after them.

"I contacted Verizon in March, 2003 when my husband, Philip, a U.S. reservist, was deployed overseas. I explained that since he would be away for an extended period of time, we wanted to suspend our contract. I was told by a representative that we were responsible for all charges of this contract.

"My husband's deployment caused our familiy to suffer a financial hardship. With him away, I could not afford to pay the $450 charge. Verizon turned the account over to a collection agency and this shows as a derogatory report on our credit record. My efforts to resolve this matter have proven unsuccessful." 

Shareholder Day Rally in Boston

As the annual meeting was going on in Houston, CWA and IBEW held their own get-together outside Verizon's Boston headquarters. Rally speakers called on Verizon to deploy its new fiber-to-the-home service to everyone. The rally also focused on Verizon Wireless' attacks on employees trying to organize. 

A group of "Billionaires for Bush" came out to support their fellow rich executives and visited a nearby VZW store to present an award for excellence in keeping workers from organizing to VZW management.

("Billionaires for Bush" is the satirical name of an activist group that performs street theater in support of progressive causes.)

Web Links in This Issue:

New Haven Register article about Kara DeWitt (free registration required): http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14448497&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8&xb=cenad

Working Mother magazine's list of the 100 best companies to work for:  http://www.workingmother.com/verizon.html

Complete list of 113 signers of the "Miller letter" to Ivan Seidenberg: http://www.cwa-union.org/Verizon/vzw/index.asp

Mobilization photos and video clips: http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/photos

Flyer about Verizon's bundling strategy:  http://www.cwa-union.org/verizon/

Visit Unity@Verizon on the web for more:

• Mobilization photos
• Bargaining updates
• Contract expiration list
• Past Unity@Verizon e-mail updates

If you'd rather receive only periodic updates when we need you to take action or there's significant news, please reply to this message and tell us "periodic."

(What's happening in your area?
Send information and photos to unityatverizon@cwa-union.org and we'll publish them here.)

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