Verizon Strike: Workers Mobilize, Company Cuts Health Benefits

Editor's Note: This article is part of an ongoing series. Catch up on the latest news about the Verizon strike here.

As the Verizon labor stoppage of 2016 entered Day 23, almost 40,000 striking workers with the communications giant called for a national “Day of Action” on May 5.

Union leaders organized a protest outside a Verizon shareholder meeting in Albuquerque on Thursday morning.

According to a union news release, 250 supporters protested outside the meeting and 15 people were arrested – including union members and community supporters – after the group dropped a 70-foot banner reading “Verizon: Good Jobs, No Greed” across the busy Rio Grande Boulevard and then laid down on the banner to block traffic.

About 400 protests are planned to take place on Thursday nationwide today in support of striking workers, union leaders said.

A list of planned protest sites and times can be seen here.

Union members with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have been on strike since April 13.

Meanwhile, union members marked their 5th day without company medical coverage after Verizon officially cancelled health benefits for striking employees on May 1.

Both the CWA and IBEW informed their members about what to do about benefits while they strike in addition to signing up for COBRA coverage, which can include premiums that reach thousands of dollars per month.

“Members may have the ability to enroll in their spouse’s coverage under a ‘life event,’” IBEW representatives stated. “Loss of coverage under an employer is considered a qualifying event.”

In addition, the Affordable Care Act allows members to sign up for insurance through a special enrollment, which includes loss of coverage under an employer, IBEW representatives wrote.

CWA leaders took their pledge to help members with healthcare coverage a step further.

According to a union statement:

“CWA has pledged that no striking member or family member will go without medically necessary health care during the strike. CWA will pay for all necessary medical/hospital expenses incurred on May 1, 2016, or later… In limited cases the CWA Fund Director for District 1 will authorize payment of COBRA premiums on behalf of strikers and their families.”

“Strikers who can obtain healthcare coverage through a spouse or parent during the strike should do so,” CWA leaders added.

Dennis G. Trainor, Vice President, CWA District One and Ed Mooney, Vice President, CWA District 2-13 issued the following scathing statement in response to Verizon’s decision to pull health coverage:

“It is unconscionable for a company that made more than $4 billion dollars in profits in the first quarter of 2016 alone to cut off health care benefits for the workers who created those profits. This heartless move by Verizon shows why the strike is so important.”

Photo: Stand Up To Verizon, Facebook