By Patrick Wall and Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Staff
LOWER MANHATTAN - Dozens of striking Verizon workers - among 45,000 across the East Coast - took to the streets of Lower Manhattan Sunday after negotiators failed to produce a contract.
The picketers, part of the Communication Workers of America Local 1101, wore signs and donned red shirts as they marched in front of the phone giant's headquarters at 140 West St., near Barclay Street.
As managers walked by, the crowd screamed "rat," "scab" and profanities at them.
"Basically, it’s a stalemate," said Hugh Wescott, 36, a field technician. "Nobody wants to make a deal."
Verizon workers walked off the job at midnight Sunday after labor talks broke down, according to NY1.
The company was asking for concessions on health care, pensions and work rules because of its struggling land line business, but workers were saying that the givebacks were unjustified because of the success of the wireless division, the report said.
“They just want everything back that we fought for for 50 years," Chris Meisner, a 13-year employee, told DNAinfo. "We’re not going to go back with a bad contract.”
Kieran White, 34, a boilermaker union member from New Jersey, came to the Verizon building with his daughter Ashley, 9, to show support.
"Labor's under attack the same way everywhere it seems," he said. "They'll stop at nothing 'til everyone's making $10 an hour with no benefits."
Verizon said that a contingency plan has been put in place so that service disruptions would be limited, according to NY1.
