UPDATED: Verizon Employees Protest on N. Ocean Ave

The parking lot of on North Ocean Ave. was packed Friday afternoon as hundreds of workers and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) protested outside the company’s building next door.  

With support from community members, local teachers, and CWA Local 1108 — the union office representing Suffolk County — Verizon workers voiced their opposition to the company's proposed cutbacks regarding health care benefits, overtime, a paid day off for Veterans Day.

Field Technician Maintenance Splicer Eric Hutchins, a Verizon employee for 23 years, said the company made more than $200 million profit in the past few years and CEO Lowell McAdams saw a $1.5 million raise on August 7, the day the strike began.

“This is about corporate greed, and it’s not about anything else,” Hutchins said. “We appreciate our jobs, we just want to be able to support our families as middle class workers. We’re not saying we won’t take concessions, it’s just that they want everything.”

John Bonomo, Verizon's media relations director, told Patch in response to Hutchins that Verizon has however made a $23 billion investment in technologies such as a 4G cell phone signal and FIOS.

"In NY State we’ve invested over $1 billion in the landline network, when some complain and counter that we are a profitable company, I’m not going to apologize but you need to look at all we do to improve our employees lives," Bonomo said.

Bonomo added that the average Verizon technician earns $91,000 a year in salary, including a benefits package where the technician does not have to contribute to healthcare costs.

"Some say we are trying to kill off the middle class and we are not trying to do that," Bonomo said.

According to Hutchins, the protests are taking place at the Verizon locations around Long Island, including BJ’s Wholesale Club kiosks.

Suffolk County Legis. Bill Lindsay, D-Holbrook, rallied protestors as he announced his support and declared himself a loyal union member.

“The fight that you’re fighting is everybody’s fight,” said Lindsay, the legislature's presiding officer. “This is going on all over the country, and we’ve had enough of corporate greed. Stick together, believe in each other. The power of unionism is us banding together.”

Bonomo said that one of Verizon's challenges is that while Verizon has union rules for employees, they have to compete against companies that do not.

"Our business has changed dramatically, people are dropping landlines, using online services," Bonomo said. "We need to compete and to do that we need to change our business, and things like rolling out FIOS service and other investments has resulted in jobs."

Bonomo also  Patch that despite the sudden loss of its existing unionized workforce the company doesn't expect any disruption in its field and telephone-based customer service departments.

He said the company began hiring retirees and training managers to fill those roles when the unions first announced their strike plans a few weeks ago.

"We implemented that plan on Sunday after the two unions called a strike and inconvenienced our customers," Bonomo said.

Out of state employees have been brought in to fill the positions of striking Verizon workers. Chief Steward for Local 1108 Dennis Dunn, an employee for about 11 years, said there are more than 45,000 CWA and International Brothers of Electrical Workers (IBAW) members on the picket lines across the Northeast.

“They never came to negotiating it all, so basically Verizon forced us to go on the street,” Dunn said. “We want to let the public know we’re here, and we want to get back to work. As soon as Verizon is ready to bargain, we’ll go back to doing what we do best.” 

Bonomo said that additional statistics regarding the strike from Verizon are available at www.verizonbargainingfacts.com.

Michael Sorrentino and Henry Powderly contributed to this story.