To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Time Business is reporting: "Thousands of striking workers in Verizon Communication Inc.'s landline division joined picket lines and rallies Monday at company offices from Massachusetts to Virginia, a union official said.
Time Business is reporting: "Thousands of striking workers in Verizon Communication Inc.'s landline division joined picket lines and rallies Monday at company offices from Massachusetts to Virginia, a union official said.
"The contract for 45,000 employees expired at midnight Saturday after the company and the workers were unable to come to terms on issues including health care costs and pensions. Several hundred strikers demonstrated outside the company's headquarters in lower Manhattan, most wearing red shirts and chanting, 'Union busting, it's disgusting!'"
STEVE EARLY, lsupport at aol.com
Steve Early is a former organizer and national union representative for the Communications Workers of America, who was involved in organizing, bargaining, and strikes at Verizon (and its predecessor companies) for 27 years. He is the author of the book "Civil Wars in U.S. Labor." He said today: "This Verizon work stoppage is the sixth strike in the last 28 years by some of the telephone workers involved. They've been in the forefront of resisting healthcare cost shifting and other concession demands since private sector employers first went on the offensive after the air traffic controllers' strike was defeated in 1981. If a company that made nearly $20 billion over the last four years can claim that it needs give-backs, then every other unionized firm in America will be clamoring for them, even more aggressively than they are now. So there's a lot at stake here, and not just for 45,000 members of the CWA and IBEW who walked out on Saturday night."
See also Early's recent article: "Verizon Showdown Calls for New Strike Tactics"
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
Footage taken from a security camera aboard the vessel shows the moment just before the strike occurs with a member of the crew nearly struck as a ball of fire hurls down on the deck:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Following the attack, crew members of the Alma say they found the charred charred remains of an electronic device on the deck of their ship and posted a picture of it online:
In a statement, the international group behind the GSF effort, said in a social media post that while "a full investigation is ongoing, the presence of such a device provides further indication that the boat was deliberately targeted."
Following the attack, members of the GSF steering committee, issued a video explaining the nature of the attack and why it would not deter them from continuing their journey to bring life-saving supplies to Gaza and draw international attention to the carnage happening there on the ground with no end in sight.
"We know it's outrageous," said one member, Thiago Ávila, of the attack, "but it's nothing compared to what they are doing to the Palestinians in Gaza every single day. That's why we need to continue going. That's why we are prepared and we will set sail, because we know its in the hearts and the minds of the majority of the people on this planet. They cannot stand children being starved to death, hospitals being bombed, schools being bombed. And that's why we will continue to sail. We will not stop."
These repeat attacks, the group said in a separate statement, "come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission."
"The Global Sumud Flotilla continues undeterred," the statement continued. "Our peaceful voyage to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza and stand in unwavering solidarity with its people presses forward with determination and resolve."
