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For Immediate Release
May, 23 2016, 02:30pm EDT
Contact:
Rob Duffey, 646.463.3267 or Eliza Bates, 646.285.8491 at CWAVerizon@berlinrosen.com
Syracuse Passes Resolution Supporting Verizon Workers
SYRACUSE, NY
Today the city of Syracuse passed a resolution in support of the nearly 40,000 Verizon workers who are currently on strike and fighting for a fair contract that prevents the company from outsourcing and off-shoring thousands of middle-class jobs. The wave of municipal resolutions is a demonstration of the groundswell of support building for workers who have gone over a month without a paycheck and three weeks without employer provided healthcare. In New York, the towns of Babylon and New Paltz passed similar resolutions last week, and seven cities in Massachusetts have also passed resolutions in support of striking workers.
"Syracuse needs good jobs not more outsourcing and offshoring. Our city stands with striking Verizon workers. Syracuse stands against unabashed and runaway corporate greed. Verizon profits more than $1.5 billion per month - they should be investing in the American worker, not moving more work to Mexico and the Philippines," said Chad Ryan, 2nd District Common Councilor for Syracuse. "There is great support for a review of the status of the city's contracts with Verizon wireline and Verizon Wireless to protect taxpayers from low quality service because the trained, experienced workforce is striking."
"Being on strike is a hardship for all of us," said Nikki Tonas a 19-year Verizon employee in Syracuse and mother of five. "I'm trying to stretch every dollar to care for my kids. But my kids understand that this strike is for their future - so that our family can stay here in Syracuse and we can keep good jobs like mine here in America. The overwhelming support we have received from elected leaders in our city has strengthened our fight."
"We deeply appreciate the support of elected leaders and communities willing to stand up to Verizon and stand with the workers who are fighting to keep good, middle-class jobs that pay medical bills and put food on the table," said Robert Master, Assistant to the Vice President of CWA District One.
NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli recently issued a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam expressing concerns about Verizon's "disenfranchised workforce." Many of New York's elected leaders have stood with striking workers on the picket lines, including U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, NY City Council President Melissa Mark Viverito, NY City Comptroller Scott Stringer, NY City Public Advocate Leticia James, NY State Senator Kevin Parker, NY State Assembly Members Brian Kavanagh, Linda Rosenthal, and more.
Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), have been working without a contract since August 1, 2015. Verizon is in week six of the largest strike in recent history, and the company's public opinion has sunk to a three-year low, and top economists, financial analysts, and editorial pages around the country have condemned the company's short-sighted business practices.
Despite more than $1.5 billion in monthly profits, Verizon is trying to force concessions that would devastate families and lead to more offshoring and outsourcing of good middle-class jobs. Verizon has also put profits ahead of promises it has made to New York's communities. The company's failure to keep its commitments to expand the popular FiOS network in underserved communities has resulted in deteriorations in service so significant that New York State's Public Service Commission has convened a formal hearing to investigate problems across the Empire State.
Communication Workers of America (CWA) is America's largest communications & media union. CWA members work in telecommunications and information technology, the airline industry, news media, broadcast and cable television, education, health care, public service and education, law enforcement, manufacturing and other fields.
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'A Brazen, Unprecedented Power Grab': Trump Fires Copyright Office Head
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The Trump administration reportedly fired the country's top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, on Saturday, shortly after her office released the pre-publication version of a report that raised flags about training artificial intelligence models using copyrighted material.
Perlmutter's termination came two days after the White House abruptly fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who appointed Perlmutter to the role of Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office in 2020.
On Saturday, Perlmutter received a communication from the White House that she had been "terminated," according to Politico.
Other outlets have since reported that the Copyright Office confirmed her firing, though the White House appears to have not offered comment on the situation.
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees the management of the Library of Congress, said in a statement on Saturday that Trump's termination of Perlmutter is "a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis."
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While not all observers are convinced of the link drawn by Morelle, in a post on Sunday from the American Federation of Musicians labor union echoed Morelle, writing that Perlmutter "understood what we all know to be true: human creativity and authorship are the foundation of copyright law—and for that, it appears, she lost her job."
Her "unlawful firing will gravely harm the entire copyright community," the union said.
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