Livingston Protesters Rally: Massive Verizon Strike Underway

Livingston, NJ – The Verizon worker strike of 2016 – one of the largest in recent national history – has come to Livingston.

On Wednesday, April 13, workers and union supporters rallied at three locations in New Jersey – Livingston, Newark and Robbinsville - to bring attention to a 40,000 employee walkout due to stalled contract negotiations between communications giant Verizon, the Communications Workers of America and the Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers.

• See related article: Massive Verizon Strike Begins, Impacting N.J.

In Livingston, protesters gathered at 6 a.m. at 290 West Mt. Pleasant Avenue near the Eisenhower Corporate Campus.

Union rallies were also scheduled for:

• Noon at the New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building, 540 Broad Street in Newark
• 6 a.m. at 600 Horizon Drive in Robbinsville

Union leaders 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.”

Verizon representatives have stated that the company trained thousands of non-union Verizon employees to carry out “virtually every job function handled by our represented workforce,” from making repairs on utility poles to responding to inquiries in its call centers.

According to a company statement, Verizon approached contract negotiations with “a goal of preserving good jobs while also making critical changes needed to legacy contracts.”

• See related article: N.J. Verizon Workers Prep For Massive East Coast Strike

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File photo: Union supporters rally on April 13