Melissa Bailey Photo
Activists from Occupy Wall Street paid a call to Verizon Tuesday to make a connection with organized labor, as a movement against “corporate greed” gathered volume in its third week and New Haven sympathizers began plotting their own moves.
Bongo-drummers and left-leaning activists who’ve been occupying Zuccotti Park(renamed “Liberty Park”) in New York’s financial district since Sept. 17 in a broadly defined protest against corporate influence left their encampment Tuesday at noon to take their message to Verizon Communications, Inc.‘s headquarters at 140 West St.
Occupy Wall Street has inspired others to follow suit around the nation and world. Local activists Tuesday activists set up a local “Occupy New Haven” facebook page and began planning events here in the Elm City (in addition to working to replicate the New Haven Free Store at Liberty Park).
Meanwhile, observers have been watching to see if the movement that has grabbed the nation’s attention will translate into action.
Activists in New York gave a partial answer to that question in their march to Verizon Tuesday, as they turned to organized labor for a way to channel anger at Wall Street and the role of the financial industry in the nation’s current unemployment, foreclosure, and other financial woes.
The march began with about 50 people Tuesday at Zuccotti Park, a stone’s throw away from the New York Stock Exchange.
Occupy Wall Street-er Ari Cowan jumped on a stone wall to announce the rules of the road.
“Mic check,” he called out to assorted activists who’d been eating free peanut butter sandwiches, drumming and talking politics around the park.
“Mic check,” they responded.
He laid out a few simple rules: Stick together, close gaps in the line, and “don’t instigate physical violence.”
A Verizon union organizer led the way, holding a sign that read, “Verigreedywireless — Destroying Middle-Class Jobs!”
They walked a peaceful eight blocks to Verizon’s headquarters, where two dozen Verizon workers were walking a picket line.
Workers there have been holding biweekly marches for the last month, following one of the largest labor strikes in the past 10 years in August. The Communication Workers of America is currently negotiating two contracts with 45,000 Verizon wireless and landline workers throughout the Northeast, said Erin Mahoney, a CWA organizer.
Mahoney said she hopes the infusion of support from Occupy Wall Street serves to lift the spirits of Verizon workers — just as the Verizon strike aimed to inspire the labor movement around the country.
“What’s disgusting? Union busting!” chanted the group as they marched, escorted by a line of police officers.
At Verizon, they joined the line with workers like Edward Mitchell (pictured), who fixes ATMs for Verizon as a $72,000-a-year technician.
Mitchell said he’s concerned about proposed cuts to wages and benefits in the latest round of labor talks.
At stake in the negotiations, he said, is “how money gets divided” between rich and the working class, and whether the U.S. is a society that values middle-class workers. “We have to decide what kind of society we want,” he said.
Mitchell said he has endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement, and even took part in a weekend march over the Brooklyn Bridge, where 700 people got arrested.
“This is democracy!” called out the marchers.
“That is hypocrisy,” they yelled up to the executives in the windows above.
“American Autumn”
“American Autumn has come,” read one sign painted onto a cardboard box — a reference to the Arab Spring that inspired the movement in New York.
A Verizon central office technician, who gave his name only as Scott, watched from the sideline. He wore a sign around his neck that read, “Every Verizon Job A Union Job,” a call to add non-unionized Verizon jobs to the union. He said he’s “not crazy about” some of the people involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement — for example those who identify themselves as anarchists. But “we’re inspired” by the support from some of the other people involved, he said
Al Russo, chief steward of CWA Local 1101, announced the union would be sending members to a union rally Occupy Wall Street is planning in New York Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. He encouraged everyone there to bring five members with them.
“Your fight is our fight,” Russo bellowed. Then he shook the hands of his new friends.
“They’re basically battling corporate America just like us,” Russo said as his allies retreated to their encampment. He welcomed the support.
“Solidarity is what’s going to win our fight.” He said the Occupiers want to end corporate greed — “and I’m standing with them.”
He said he hopes the new influx of support helps “our voice get heard,” and will build a “stronger movement for every worker in America.”
“When you have one pencil, it’s easy to break,” agreed Russo. “When you have a whole bunch of pencils,” he said, that’s a tougher package to crack.
“We’re all fighting the same system,” march organizer Ari Cowan said after the group returned to its tarp-covered headquarters. For the longest time, he said, “the left has been really factioned.”
He said he hopes Occupy Wall Street creates a hub that connects leftist groups with labor “not in unity, but in solidarity” and “power-building.”
Verizon Responds
Marchers Tuesday criticized Verizon for failing to share its record $2.5 billion annual profit with workers in the current dispute.
Verizon spokesman John J. Bonomo later responded that Verizon executive salaries are in line with industry standards and that the company is trying to adapt to an evolving tech landscape.
“The world is changing and Verizon and its union-represented employees need to adapt,” Bonomo wrote in an email. “Verizon currently spends about $4 billion annually on healthcare for its active employees, retirees and their families – that’s more than $400,000 every hour. As the company’s costs continue to rise, the company is proposing its unionized workforce share in those rising expenses. Currently more than 135,000 Verizon employees make healthcare contributions. The company is proposing its represented workforce do the same. In both the private and public sector almost all employees contribute to the cost of their healthcare coverage.”