Hitch said a Verizon labor relations manager arrived at his store one day after workers went public with their unionization effort, and appeared to be on a fact-finding mission. “There was no reply to our email - except for they immediately flew in union busters, so I know they got the email,” he said. “We are filing an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board but we will withdraw the petition should you agree to voluntarily recognize our union before the close of business on Friday,” they wrote in a letter to Vestberg.Īustin Hitch, a Verizon sales representative who’s helped organize the Lynnwood and Everett Verizon stores, said the company did not respond to the letter but made its position clear. On March 8, workers at Verizon stores in Lynnwood and Everett announced their intent to unionize with Communications Workers of America (CWA). While the company’s legacy wireline operations are unionized, only a handful of the company’s retail locations are unionized - namely, its stores in Brooklyn. Vestberg, Verizon’s CEO, made more than $19 million in 2020, which is 112 times the average Verizon worker. Last year, the company recorded $4.7 billion in profits. Verizon, headquartered in New York, is the world’s second-largest telecom company. Verizon has donated to Norquist’s group in previous years, as well. The company told shareholders in its most recent federal financial filing that “Verizon respects our employees’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in compliance with applicable law, including the right to join or not join labor unions.”Īt the same time, the company recently funneled between $50,000 and $99,000 to Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington group led by conservative activist Grover Norquist that has been pressing lawmakers to block Democratic legislation that would strengthen workers’ right to organize. Verizon did not respond to a request for comment. “We want to protect ourselves and each of you from this scrutiny.” “We know that this company takes union conversations very seriously and monitors various outlets for unrest,” a moderator wrote. The company’s anti-union pressure campaign is being felt far and wide: on Tuesday, a private Reddit group for Verizon employees announced it was banning any discussion of unions in order to protect employees. Instead, said the employees, the company immediately sent senior executives and labor relations managers to their retail stores and other nearby locations to intimidate them, and has also been supplying store managers with anti-union talking points. One employee said he’s making less money than when he joined the company nearly a decade ago.Īccording to several workers, Verizon did not respond to the voluntary recognition request. The workers say their stores have now been seriously short-staffed for two years, and they’re not being compensated to make up for it. Their list of demands included improved pay and staffing levels, as well as a better work-life balance - issues that have gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic as the company has struggled to fill jobs. “Our union will ensure a future where workers and management succeed together in providing the best possible products and services for our customers,” they wrote. Last week, workers at Verizon retail stores in the cities of Everett and Lynnwood in Washington sent a letter to CEO Hans Vestberg requesting that the telecom giant voluntarily recognize their union. Meanwhile, employees were just banned from discussing unions on a private online bulletin board - all as Verizon has been funding a right-wing advocacy group spearheading the campaign to block worker rights’ legislation in Congress. In interviews, they said the company has been flying in executives and consultants as part of an intimidation campaign. Verizon retail workers in the Pacific Northwest say the company is pulling out all the stops to crush their efforts to form a union.
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