Striking Verizon Workers Demonstrate in Braintree

As water began pouring out of the sky and falling onto striking Verizon workers on Washington Street in Braintree on Monday afternoon, they pitched their concerns to passing motorists and pedestrians about what they said is Verizon's attempt to diminish employee rights.

"We're not trying to get anything new, we're trying to keep what we have," said one Verizon worker. "We're picketing here because this is a visible place."

The worker, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak with the media by his union, I.B.E.W. Local 2222, said that Verizon has refused to back down from a proposal that would increase the cost of health benefits, freeze pensions, eliminate some holidays and get rid of important pay-boosters like Sunday overtime and nighttime differential.

"They are trying to take this from being a good job to being a subpar job," he said.

Some 45,000 Verizon workers nationwide and 6,000 in Massachusetts went on strike at midnight on Saturday after failing to reach an agreement, according to the Boston Globe. They are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America.

The strike should not affect customers, according to the Globe, because the company prepared by training other employees to conduct customer service, repairs, installation, and other jobs done by unionized employees.

In Braintree, the workers said they had fanned out with thousands of other employees from a centralized protest in Boston on Sunday to strategic points around the area on Monday. They stood with white and black signs in front of a Verizon building just north of .

"We don't want to go on strike," the Verizon worker said, "who wants to go on strike in this economy? ... [But] they haven't moved at all."

The president of Local 369 of the Utility Workers Union of America, which includes employees of NStar and National Grid and is based in Braintree, told the Globe that if equipment shared by Verizon and NStar or National Grid needs repair during the strike, Local 369 would not help.

"The number-one reason is that the company cannot, in our view, guarantee the safety of workers when they are crossing picket lines,’’ David Leonardi told the Globe. “Those folks are out there for a reason and sometimes get a little testy.’’

A spokesman for the striking Verizon workers told the Globe that proposals such as limiting sick days, eliminating holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veteran’s Day and freezing pensions goes too far, especially considering the $27.5 billion in revenue Verizon earned in the second quarter of 2011.

Verizon countered that today's economic climate is different than when the contracts were negotiated.