Striking Verizon Workers to Hold Candlelight Vigil Tonight at Verizon CEO's House in Mendham, NJ

NEW JERSEY (08/18/2011)(readMedia)-- Hundreds of striking Verizon workers, joined by supporters from the labor community, clergy and elected officials, will hold a candlelight procession and vigil tonight in front of one of the homes of Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam, at 15 Balbrook Drive in Mendham, New Jersey. The vigil will take place from 7:00 p.m. -- 8:30 p.m.

CWA and IBEW's contract with Verizon-covering 7,000 workers in New Jersey (and a total of 45,000 CWA and IBEW members from Massachusetts to Virginia)-expired at midnight on Saturday, August 6th. The 70 unionized CWA Verizon Wireless technicians who maintain the New York City metro area cellular network are also on strike.

McAdam, who took over as Verizon's CEO on August 1st, was paid $7.2 million in total compensation in 2010, and a total of $42,994,555 over the last four years. His Mendham mansion is one of at least two residences. He also owns a vacation home on a secluded, 30 acre estate on Smith Mountain Lake, near Roanoke, VA.

Despite $22.5 billion in profits over the past four and a half years, Verizon seems intent on destroying middle-class jobs for its unionized workforce. For example, the company is reneging on promises to retired workers by seeking to force them to pay thousands of dollars for health care, and has proposed to freeze pensions for current workers and eliminate them for new hires.

Verizon's unprecedented demands at the bargaining table include:

• Continued contracting out of work to low-wage contractors, which means more outsourcing of good jobs overseas.

• Eliminating disability benefits for workers injured while on the job.

• Elimination of all job security provisions.

• Eliminating paid sick days for new hires and limiting them to no more than five for any workers.

• Freezing pensions for current workers and eliminating them for future employees.

• Replacing the current high-quality health care plan with a high-deductible plan requiring up to $6,800 in additional costs.

Verizon is calling for these drastic cuts for its middle-class workforce despite both increasing profits and a workforce that has shrunk by 50% over a decade in its wireline division.

"Verizon executives are trying to take money from working people while paying themselves more than ever," said Chris Shelton, Vice President for CWA District 1, which covers New York, New Jersey and New England. "Lowell McAdam was paid $43 million over the last four years, hundreds of times what an average employee makes, but they are still trying to destroy the American dream for middle class workers. We won't stand for it."

There will be buses leaving from:

• Newark: 30 Clinton St, 5:30 p.m.

• Livingston: 280 W Mt. Pleasant Ave, 6:00 p.m.

• Hamilton: Hamilton Marketplace in front of BJ's, 900 Marketplace Blvd, 5:00 p.m.

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