Town Council Votes to Support Verizon Workers on Strike

WEYMOUTH, MA - The Weymouth Town Council is standing with the 36,000 Verizon workers currently on strike.

Monday night, the council voted to approve a resolution of support for the landline and FiOS workers. Councilors Arthur Mathews Thomas Lacey recused themselves from the vote.

Vice-President Michael Smart introduced the resolution to the committee, citing the need to support the workers amid high profits for the telecommunications company.

"Even though they’ve reported record earnings of $40 billion over the last five years and they continue to pay their CEOs in huge bonuses and salaries, they come back to the men and women at the collective bargaining table and say 'we need to lessen your working conditions, lessen your wages, and outsource,'" Smart said. "As a town councilor I don’t think it’s right, we should stand with those folks."

As part of the resolution, the council will ask Mayor Robert Hedlund to not enter any new contracts or obligations to purchase products and services from Verizon while the strike continues. Hedlund will also be asked to review any contracts and obligations with Verizon and end them if possible.

The resolution is similar to one recently passed by the Braintree Town Council.