Local Verizon election results are due today

Verizon workers plan tailgate party in Everett today at 1 p.m.

The following is from the CWA:

EVERETT, Wash. (April 15, 2022) — Verizon Wireless retail workers from two stores in Everett and Lynnwood will announce the official vote count from their National Labor Relations Board union election at a tailgate in the parking lot of the Verizon Wireless store at 1405 SE Everett Mall Way in Everett today at 1 p.m. Voting began on March 25 via mail-in ballot. If Verizon Wireless workers vote in favor of forming a union, they will join hundreds of thousands of other telecommunications and customer service employees as members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

For years, Verizon Wireless employees have been facing retaliation by senior management and poor working conditions, including understaffing and unlivable wages, and are now going up against labor laws that favor employers and aggressive anti-union tactics by the company. In fact, Verizon flew their in-house union-busting team to Seattle the day after workers publicly announced their organizing efforts in March and asked for voluntary recognition from Verizon.

Verizon Wireless retail workers’ NLRB election comes amid a growing wave of labor momentum, including an incredible win for Seattle Starbucks workers late last month.

NEW: Verizon retail workers in Washington are unionizing and calling on workers across the country to join their movement.

Verizon made over $4.5 billion in profit last quarter, but is cutting pay for retail workers and understaffing its stores.@VzwUnion is fighting back. pic.twitter.com/T1d1ZirVFY

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 12, 2022

Verizon Wireless retail workers have been pushing back against the company’s poor working conditions for years, along with its long history of union-busting. In 2014, corporate executives and upper level management at Verizon Wireless launched an aggressive anti-union campaign amid organizing efforts at its retail stores in Brooklyn, where workers ultimately triumphed and formed the first union for Verizon Wireless workers with CWA.

Verizon workers in Everett and Lynnwood are in a similar fight, going up against the company’s key union-busters, including Verizon’s Labor Relations Manager Shannon Charron, Senior Vice President Consumer Field Sales Kelley Kurtzman and Director of Human Resources Brett Ulrich. While Verizon’s union-busting team continues to push anti-union rhetoric, Verizon workers remain united in their efforts to form a union.

After the tailgate on Friday, Verizon Wireless workers will visit privately with the nearby Starbucks workers who recently formed a union.

The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, and manufacturing.