Verizon Fires 40 CWA, IBEW Members For Misconduct During Strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2011/12/07/verizon-fires-40-cwa-ibew-members/

Video: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/29940594/detail.html

The fallout from the Verizon strike and ongoing contract dispute took the form of job loss yesterday when 40 employees were fired for misconduct during the 13-day strike earlier this Fall:

The employees, including 10 in Massachusetts, received letters over the weekend saying they were terminated for violating the company’s code of conduct while picketing against cuts in their contract…

“We respect the rights of our employees to peacefully picket and protest during a strike. However, the actions of many individuals in the August 2011 strike violated our code of conduct and in some cases, violated the law,” Verizon said in a statement to the Globe. “This has nothing to do with their rights to peacefully picket. It has everything to do with making threats of violence, engaging in physical violence, running people off the road, making outrageous profane or racist comments and more. Many of these activities were egregious and unacceptable and as a result, we’ve taken appropriate action.”

Union representatives contend that the firings are unfounded, though:

“We think this is a heavy-handed technique that Verizon is using to pressure us at the negotiating table,” said Paul Feeney, legislative director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

FULL story at link.

[Ian David]

1. So, out of thousands of workers, only 40 bad apples. That's a pretty good record. n/t

[rfranklin]

2. Considering how rancid the corporate board rooms are...

that is a very small percentage.

[Botany]

3. These firings will be tossed out in any fair court

Because people on strike are not governed by a companies' "code of conduct rules" so not unless they were breaking the
law the company can tell them what to do because they were not on the company's pay roll.

[LiberalFighter]

5. I wonder what attorney approved the companies' decision?

They apparently don't know anything about past decisions.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. Key word being "fair"...n/t

[monmouth]

4. From my son in Jersey...He works for Verizon

Yes we had six fired from here (not sure if it was all Jersey or just this area) and the Union got 3 of them back. I'll bet all of them will be re-hired eventually. Its just Verizon bully tactics as usual. We have people getting ten day suspensions for stupid stuff like "idling" too long and stuff like that. They have GPS tracking devices in all the vans that know where you are....if the motor is on or off....idling or driving.