A fifth of Verizon's workforce has gone on strike on the East Coast after contract negotiations hit a standstill. On Sunday, 45,000 workers from Verizon's wireline division walked off the job, the Associated Press reports.
Verizon is demanding that workers make more than 100 concessions on health care benefits and pension and work rules, the Communications Workers of America told the AP. The CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the two unions on strike, feel that Verizon is asking for far too many concessions. The workers' contract with Verizon expired Saturday night at midnight.
"Since bargaining began on June 22, Verizon has refused to move from a long list of concession demands," the CWA said in a statement released just after midnight. "Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families."
Verizon also issued a statement early Sunday morning. "In anticipation of this development, Verizon has activated a contingency plan to ensure customers experience limited disruption in service during this time."
Verizon has 196,000 workers, 135,000 of which do not belong to a union. Although the unionized workers say Verizon's demands are unfair, Verizon says they're necessary to recoup profits in its wireline business, which includes landlines. While Verizon says its overall business is thriving, it claims the wireline division has faltered as people give up their landlines. The AP says Verizon had 25 million landlines at the close of the second quarter, down a million from the number it had at the end of 2010.
In the negotiations, which have been going on in Philadelphia and New York City, Verizon asked that unionized workers begin contributing to their health care premiums, in amounts that are comparable to what non-union employees pay. According to the New York Times, Verizon has also been freezing pensions for employees and eschewing "traditional pensions" for future staff. It also is trying to put a five-day cap on sick days, which are currently unlimited.
Officials from the unions say these demands are some of the harshest Verizon has ever proposed.