On April 13, 36,000 Verizon workers walked off the job in the nation’s biggest strike since 2011, reports CNN Money.
The strike is intended to get Verizon to come back to the bargaining table since the striking workers haven’t had a contract since August.
In a statement, Hillary Clinton declared her support for the striking workers. Shortly after, her rival Bernie Sanders showed up to the picket line, where he got what NBC News called “a rock star reception.”
“Brothers and sisters, thank you for your courage in standing up for justice against corporate greed,” Sanders told the striking workers.
The union's list of complaints is a long one: Verizon has outsourced 5,000 jobs to workers in Mexico, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. Verizon is hiring more low-wage, non-union contractors, the union says.
"The main thing is that's it's taking good-paying jobs and taking them away from the American public," said Ken Beckett, a technical telecommunications associate for Verizon and union board member with 1101 CWA, as he picketed with colleagues outside a Verizon office in Manhattan.
The union also claims Verizon won't negotiate with people who work in Verizon stores and is closing call centers. And Verizon is asking workers to work out of state, away from their homes, for months at a time.
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