Nearly 36,000 Verizon union workers walked off their jobs and have decided to form a strike against their employer on Thursday for fear that their positions will go to foreign workers after negotiations over new contracts came to a halt.
The workers on strike mostly work on Verizon’s wireline businesses such as Fios and the landline phones. Verizon has been increasingly granting these jobs to foreign workers who lack the skills to help customers with their technical problems.
This protest comes during a growing trend of employers such as Disney and Toys ‘R’ Us firing American workers and forcing them to train their foreign-worker replacements. During contract negotiations Verizon refused to put layoff protections for newer employees into the contracts.
"The main thing is that's it's taking good-paying jobs and taking them away from the American public," said Ken Beckett, a technical telecommunications associate for Verizon and union board member.
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