- FYI: US Uncut-WI will meet again to plan more solidarity actions at 6pm on Friday, Aug. 19 at MATC Downtown.
- When workers rights were under attack in Wisconsin, members of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) sprang into action. On Saturday, Wisconsin returned the favor.
In a show of solidarity with the 45,000 members of CWA and IBEW striking against Verizon, workers, students and activists demonstrated in front of a Verizon Wireless store in Madison. Technicians and customer support employees in Verizon’s wire line division walked off the job on August 7th and launched a strike that’s been called “the Wisconsin of the private sector” after the telecommunications company demanded concessions on health care benefits, pensions and job security provisions.
US Uncut-Wisconsin took the lead and worked with local anti-concessions group Wisconsin Resists and the Madison branch of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) to organize the event. Organizers attempted to enter the store and speak with non-union Verizon Wireless workers to explain the purpose of the picket, but were turned away by management, who had already called the police. Two officers responded and told demonstrators to avoid obstructing the sidewalk and store entrance, and the protest proceeded without incident.
Addressing the crowd, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field of the Teaching Assistants Association (TAA) explained how Verizon’s proposed contract jeopardizes the retirement of long-time workers and forces them to pay more for their health insurance. Verizon won’t budge from a long list of demands that includes cutting paid holidays, reducing sick days, and in the case of workers with fewer than two years on the job, eliminating sick days altogether.
At the peak of the demonstration, roughly 40 people marched and chanted “Chop chop from the top, make the bosses take the losses” and “When union busters come to town, Verizon workers shut it down.” They also composed their own original slogan: “From Madison to Burlington, we will fight, we will win!” Motorists passing by on University Avenue honked to show their support.
The winter protests in Madison and three week Capitol occupation were still fresh in the minds of demonstrators. “We’re all union brothers and sisters,” said Todd Andres of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 236, a union which represents Madison city employees. “It just shows you the solidarity we feel since what happened here in February.” Wrigley-Field told a cheering crowd that the Madison ISO had already gathered four hundred dollars to buy pizza for Verizon workers on picket lines up and down the East Coast, a popular gesture of solidarity during the Wisconsin Capitol occupation.
Activist Teddy Shibabaw said that the strikers need “as much solidarity as we can give them” and praised the bold actions of CWA and IBEW workers. “They have a history of winning…and if they win it can set off movements all across the country.” Wrigley-Field also spoke to the solidarity on display for the strikers, as well as the increasing militancy of the labor movement. “The level of solidarity and support is absolutely unprecedented. There’s a sea change in workers’ attitudes toward strikes taking place.”
Andrew Cole is a writer and a member of UAW 1981, the National Writers Union. He lives in the Dudgeon-Monroe neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin.
Thanks for the anonymous sniping. I’m sure you say all of this in good faith and in an attempt to make us all better activists….
Unhelpful attitude aside, your point is duly noted and I’ll pass it along to those who coordinated the picket. Even if the workers in that store aren’t Verizon employees, we still wanted to speak with them as a gesture of goodwill and let them know we aren’t trying to hurt our fellow workers, we’re picketing Verizon in solidarity with the strikers.
Perhaps if the store management bothered to speak with the demonstrators before calling the police, this could have been cleared up before your feelings got hurt.
It also didn’t help that both the store and Verizon corporate totally stonewalled me. I can’t tell their side of the story if they don’t talk to me.
Here’s what Anna of US Uncut-WI had to say: “We did know that that was an independent retailer, and considered much
of what the anonymous person said. We decided that as it was a short
demonstration to raise awareness and show solidarity and less for the
benefit of the workers in the store or trying to stop them from doing
business we figured it was worth doing it at a central, visible
location rather than try to do it out at the actual Verizon stores,
which are rather remote.”
Good article, and thanks for clearing up the corporate/retail question in the comments. I agree that Verizon’s retail franchisers are MUCH more visible to the average consumer… who is the person you’re trying to reach with your message, after all.
THANK YOU for standing up for workers’ rights. If the Corporates get their way, we’ll all be working in leg irons shortly….