Verizon Communications Reports a Dozen Cases of Sabotage as Workers Continue Strike

[dgstorm]

A couple of days ago we shared a story along with OneTenderRebel, about a group of 45,000 Verizon Communications Union workers going on strike. Unfortunately news came out today that the strike may have escalated to criminal proportions. Apparently, there have been 12 acts of sabotage to Verizon Communications during the time that the workers are on strike. Some of the sabotage were cases of cut cable, telephone and internet lines, impacting service in Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Additionally, fiber-optic lines were intentionally cut in Tewksbury and several other municipalities on the East Coast. Furthermore, there was a case of Stolen equipment in Cedar Grove, N.J. which affected service to a police department, and a heat system was tampered with at a central office in Manhattan.

Here is Verizon's response on the subject,

Verizon is offering a $50,000 reward “for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals that intentionally damage Verizon cables or facilities or cause or attempt to cause physical injury to any Verizon employee or contractor.’’

So far, there has been no evidence to support the idea that the sabotage was caused by striking employees, but the timing is obviously very suspicious. A representative of the striking New England workers in the negotiations, Myles Calvey, indicated that union has no knowledge of its members committing any acts of sabotage.“We don’t do that, and nobody in the union leadership supports any of that,’’ he said.

Verizon Communications was able to handle 75% of their customer repair orders on Sunday, despite the strike. The striking workers are members of the IBEW and the Communications Workers of America. Negotiations between the strikers and Verizon Communications continued yesterday.

This seems awfully "coincidental", and I don't really believe in coincidences. Either some of the striking workers thought they would be "crafty" and make life really tough for Verizon while they were short-staffed, or... Verizon themselves concocted this plan to make the Unions look bad. The second option seems a bit too "conspiratorial" and unlikely. I am leaning toward the former being more plausible. You know what they say about walking ducks, right? What do you guys think?

Thanks to our Tipster for this one!

Source: Boston.com
Photo Source: WickedLocal.com

 

[thistle]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

 

[NeoPhoenixTE]

Could be a third party simply trying to stir the pot as well, just for the lulz.

 

[dgstorm]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

You are quite right. I hadn't really considered that one. That is fairly plausible...

 

[cobjones]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

That is just stupid.

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[RonsHome]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

That is just stupid.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

How is what he is saying stupid?
Do you have first hand knowledge of what goes on during a strike like this?
CWA and Verizon have had bargaining disputes before and both sides are very well versed for the battle.
Some things are not new and Verizon does do these things.

Remember these people build and support the network you love.

 

[nikecar]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

And it could also be wonderful drunk guido union workers upset that Beatrice, their underaged mistress, dumped them for their baby's daddy.

 

[SquireSCA]

I was once a member of IBEW and I can absolutely see some of the members doing this. It is a typical union mentality IMHO. They wil do whatever they can to get what they want, even if in the end their demands kill the company, as is what happened with Delphi a few years ago...

They got the higher wages and benefits that they wanted, and when the profit margins shrunk to the point that it cost them 40% more to make a care than it cost Toyota, Delphi went belly up and more than 50,000 workers lost their jobs...

Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for, and that kind of stubborn "ME! ME! ME!" mentality that unions thrive on can shoot themselves in the foot...

 

[aimzblingz]

I was a CWA member and steward/officer for over 17 years. The publication of vandalism at the beginning of strike is used by most of the former baby bell companies in an attempt to gain public support by making striking employees look bad. It is completely expected.

 

[jayman350]

I saw this on the news last night. I would not be surprised to find out that the tampering was done by either side of this situation.

I'm just glad (for once) that I have Comcast and don't need to worry about cut lines affecting my service.

 

[cobjones]

Typical corporate tactic of trying to undermine the strike with circumstantial acts. Like a good corporate bullhorn, you simply put into words what Verizon left between the lines. A third option is that this type of vandalism occurs rather regularly and Verizon simply chose to highlight these incidents to insinuate guilt by (temporal) association

That is just stupid.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

How is what he is saying stupid?
Do you have first hand knowledge of what goes on during a strike like this?
CWA and Verizon have had bargaining disputes before and both sides are very well versed for the battle.
Some things are not new and Verizon does do these things.

Remember these people build and support the network you love.

#1 no
#2 no, no company would do this (destroy own network), because leaks get out, and if you head over to gizmodo you can read comments of a guy that had his fiber taken out.

#3 they don't build anything I love... Verizon piggies off Century Links fiber at my house.

You union junkies raise the cost of everything we use. There is no reason a kid that goes to a strip mall college for 1 year should make 80 grand a year before benefits.


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[czerdrill]

Man, people here love conspiracy theories....

 

[SquireSCA]

Unions do raise prices of things. People think that if you are anti-union that you must be against the "little guy"...

Not true. Unions are a business. They are not the organizations that they were 100 years ago. Nor does the need that created them 100 years ago even exist any more.

They are a business, many of them corrupt, several of them with ties to organized crime. It's great that in order to increase their union dues that they will get a few things for the employees...

But often that means higher prices for consumers as the company has to raise prices to cover those increases, or layoffs, and sometimes the higher wage and benefits costs can actually lead to the demise of the company. I would rather get the measly 2% raise than get the 5% that the Union wanted, and then be out of a job in 12 months...

And I have personally been in that exact situation before, with a union, one of the ones mentioned in the OP in fact.

 

[Dusty]

I'll say this. Unions need to be reigned in a bit and there needs to be some kind of safety net in place so that when businesses experience down cycles their prior agreements can be dialed back to avoid sinking the ship. BUT to say that Unions need to be eliminated and that there is no need for them anymore is just nieve and foolish. Any given corporation would flush an unprotected, bottom rung, employee down the toilet for their own gain in a heartbeat and not even blink. Some people need to travel around the world a bit and see how corporations treat the vast majority of their non-union employees. For every example of a workplace operating safely and in good order without a Union there are many more who operate elsewhere in absolutely SCARY conditions without Unions and with no recourse.

I admit Unions need to be dialed back as not to choke their employers during lean times. But workers need to be protected from entities that would toss them in the meat grinder at the drop of a hat if it meant protecting the bottom line at ANY given moment.

 

[SquireSCA]

I'll say this. Unions need to be reigned in a bit and there needs to be some kind of safety net in place so that when businesses experience down cycles their prior agreements can be dialed back to avoid sinking the ship. BUT to say that Unions need to be eliminated and that there is no need for them anymore is just nieve and foolish. Any given corporation would flush an unprotected, bottom rung, employee down the toilet for their own gain in a heartbeat and not even blink. Some people need to travel around the world a bit and see how corporations treat the vast majority of their non-union employees. For every example of a workplace operating safely and in good order without a Union there are many more who operate elsewhere in absolutely SCARY conditions without Unions and with no recourse.

I admit Unions need to be dialed back as not to choke their employers during lean times. But workers need to be protected from entities that would toss them in the meat grinder at the drop of a hat if it meant protecting the bottom line at ANY given moment.

Dude, I have seen a lot of stuff. I was cast aside by a corporation because they needed to restructure and so they cut my position after 10 years with them. At the end of the day I was a $175k a year line item on a spreadsheet, not including benefits and someone I never met decided that they were going to eliminate and consolodate some sales positions and my career was ended.

Went to work for another company making 2/3 as much and after 15 months the first company bought out my company and called everyone into the conference room at 4:30 on a Thursday and said, "here is a box, you have 30 minutes, IT is locking you out of the computers as we speak, you will be paid through 4:30pm, no notice, no severance, you will not even be paid for the remainder of the week. Have a great Christmas."

6 months of unemployment cost me my house, my truck, my bike, everything I have ever worked for and acquired, gone. All because the major investor in the second company wanted to show a strong 4th quarter so they sold us out and cast 135 people aside like trash right before Christmas.

So I know a bit about how corporations can treat the employees like crap, trust me on this.

I have also worked for the IBEW making $6.35 an hour with crappy benefits and while they were negotiating a raise for us and preparing to go on strike, at 21 years old I walked out on them and got myself a much better job, almost double the pay, company car, great benefits in a company that has never had a union. In fact, that company had started in 1894 in Gardner, MA and had a large manufacturing plant up there. Unions had been trying to get in there for generations, but the employees themselves kept voting them down. The company took care of their people and the people knew that unions meant unions dues, conflict, red tape and hassles and could hurt the company that they loved and took care of them...

Anyway, went a little far afield there, just wanted to point out that I am not talking out of my a$$. I have dealt with unions over the years, and as a Workforce Management Consultant working to help companies stay compliant with the DOL and Unions, I know a little bit about them. ;-)