Verizon Strike 2016 Update: Alleged Industrial Sabotage, Service Issues

Editor's Note: This article is part of a series. Catch up on the latest news update here.

Is an underground campaign of industrial sabotage being waged against Verizon?

Just as a Verizon strike involving almost 40,000 workers reached day nine on Thursday, the communications giant released a statement which alleged that it has been the victim of 24 recent “suspected incidents of sabotage” in five states.

According to Verizon representatives, the alleged acts of industrial sabotage include:

• Sliced fiber optic cabling at a network facility box in New Jersey that cut services to customers and local emergency personnel, including police and fire departments
• Sabotage in Massachusetts in which phone services were cut off for customers for 16 hours
• Cut fiber optic and copper cables in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York that disabled voice communications and internet connectivity

According to a company news release, Verizon is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals who intentionally damage its cables or facilities.

Witnesses to “sabotage of Verizon property” should call 9-1-1 and then contact the Verizon Security Control Center at 1-800-997-3287, company spokespeople stated.

“We have dispatched additional Verizon security teams in all states where this illegal activity is taking place,” asserted Michael Mason, Verizon’s chief security officer. “We will find out who’s behind these highly dangerous criminal acts and we will pursue criminal charges.”

Verizon’s claims of industrial sabotage are not the first the company has reported during periods of labor strife.

During a Verizon worker strike in 2011, the company alleged that 143 acts of sabotage took place to its telephone facilities.

Union officials replied at the time that they opposed all sabotage and repeatedly told their members not to engage in such acts, and alleged that Verizon was exaggerating the number of incidents, The New York Times wrote.

IS VERIZON HAVING MAINTENANCE ISSUES?

Since April 13, Verizon has been experiencing a strike involving about 36,000 employees, primarily in its wireline business, in nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, plus Washington, D.C.

• See related article: Verizon On Strike: Thousands Join Picket Lines And Protests

Despite the acts of alleged sabotage, Verizon is “well-prepared” to maintain service for however long the strike lasts, which is having “a very minimal impact” on operations, according to a company news release.

“Although it’s an added challenge to keep customers in service when criminals are deliberately destroying cables and putting thousands of customers at risk including police and fire departments,” spokesman Raymond McConville told Patch.

But according to union leaders, the company is having more maintenance issues than they’re letting on.

"Regulators in three states are already investigating Verizon for its refusal to keep up with network maintenance and wear and tear… the root of many ongoing service problems,” CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor and CWA District 2-13 Vice President Edward Mooney stated in a joint news release.

“Even with many technicians regularly working overtime hours, the demand is still too high for the current workers to cover. Additional delays that customers are experiencing because of the strike are a result of Verizon executives' insistence on offshoring and outsourcing jobs and their refusal to invest in adequately maintaining lines.”

The union leaders continued:

"Striking Verizon workers want their customers to have the best service, but that's not possible when the company is breaking promises on FiOS and refusing to bargain in good faith with the tens of thousands of workers who make the company more than $1 billion in profits every month. Sadly, Verizon executives want to blame problems on the men and women who are building the company's massive profits, but the fact remains that it is Verizon executives who are shortchanging customers and workers alike."

When asked about the unions’ allegations that Verizon is having serious maintenance problems due to the work stoppage, McConville replied: “What did you expect a union leader to say? That we’re doing an admirable job while they’re on strike?”

WHY ARE WORKERS STRIKING?

Union leaders with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are alleging that even though Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years, the company wants to “gut job security protections, contract out more work and send jobs overseas, and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families.”

The corporate giant is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014, labor leaders allege.

According to labor leaders, contract negotiations began in June 2015; the workers’ contracts expired on August 1 last year.

Union leaders say that Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam earns 200 times more than the average Verizon employee. In addition, the company’s top five executives allegedly made $233 million over the last five years.

Verizon representatives have claimed that more than 99 percent of the striking employees support the company’s wireline business, which in 2015, contributed about 29 percent of Verizon’s revenue but less than seven percent of its operating income.

According to Verizon, offered terms of its wireline contract proposal include:

• A 6.5 percent wage increase over the term of the contract
• “Competitive retirement benefits” including a 401K with a company match

Verizon spokespeople also said that the current proposal includes “structural changes” to its health plan due to rising healthcare costs.

• See related article: Verizon Strike: Bargaining Not Going Well, Union Reps Say

Photo: CWA members march in the Bronx, NY