Speech by VZB employee Roger Reece at the 70th CWA convention, June 23 - 25, 2008
 
Good morning honored attendees, brothers and sisters!  My name is Roger Reece and I am a Verizon Business employee. I work as a tester in Monsey, NY. I have been a Verizon Business employee since way back when we were MCI, and now Verizon Business. That’s fourteen years of transition and evolution without representation. I believe the official term for what we are called is "At Will" employees. Well I think they should change the term to "At Mercy" employees.
 
For the 14 years that I have been an employee, we have been at the mercy of management. They gave us raises whenever they felt like it. Gave us whatever they wanted.  They took away President's day and Martin Luther King Day, we were at their mercy.   They make us pay over $5000 per year for health benefits, we are at their mercy. Stripped away our benefits. We were at their mercy when they took away our differential, when they reduced our sick days and changed their rules on the fly.
 
But in 2006 we saw a glimmer of hope because Verizon had purchased MCI. Quietly, we rejoiced because we knew the union was coming to unite us.  During his entrance speech to employees early in 2006, after being asked by one bold, anonymous MCI employee, Verizon Business President John Killian, the newly appointed president of Verizon Business, while on the spot promised to allow us to vote freely for the union.  And we "At Mercy" employees, believed him. But it wasn't but five minutes after that meeting that I realized that the path to collective bargaining would not be an easy one.
 
When I asked my manager when he thought we would be allowed to vote for a union, he hauled me into his office, and gave me a verbal warning that if I even mentioned the word "union" on the floor, I would be subject to "strong disciplinary action," which included possible "dismissal." I was stunned because it was a subject that was brought up in the company wide meeting, aired nationally just a few minutes earlier. Stunned.
 
In the fall of 2006, we reached out to the CWA and IBEW. Together we organized committees comprised of pro-union Verizon Business employees such as myself to educate our fellow employees about the benefits of having representation and to gauge the amount of pro-union support within our respective organizations. We found that an overwhelming majority of employees were in fact pro-union.
 
As awareness of our movement to organize began to spread, Verizon management began to try and intimidate us. I don't know if you have ever had the distinct displeasure of sitting through a six hour long captive audience forced meeting where they management brings in some thug looking HR representative to advise you of the evils of the union, how the union is all about money, how they don't really care about our interests. Those who were undecided before or felt afraid of management's wrath prayed for the whole ugly situation to be over with.
 
Next they instituted a company wide market adjustment raise after finally and mysteriously realizing that they'd been underpaying their "AT MERCY" employees for all these years. Yet after all the number crunching and market research and the proverbial smoke cleared, we were still left grossly underpaid.
 
In  2007, the Labor Board came back with a decision on charges we filed against Verizon Business for unfair labor practices and I must say, it was disappointing to say the least. Despite the fact that we won the case, according to federal guidelines, Verizon Business did not have to admit any wrong doing. They had to write a letter informing us of the Labor Board’s decision, and post it on the work floor.  That's it.
 
Verizon management knows that our Labor Laws are broken. They game the system, knowing they can stall all they want, while using terror tactics against their employees. Despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of my fellow techs signed cards stating they want a union, we are still at mercy employees. But the winds of change are in the air. I had the pleasure of meeting Barack Obama last year, and he told me in front of a few hundred others that he supports fixing our broken labor laws.
 
We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that workers like me can join a union without running through a meat grinder of employer threats. I know that soon I will be holding a CWA card in my wallet. Soon my fellow Verizon Business techs will no longer have to beg for mercy from our boss. Soon we will join with our 80,000 Verizon brothers and sisters in one big union at Verizon.
 
I thank CWA for sticking with us as we struggle to join your ranks. And if you strike on August 2nd, Verizon Business techs will be supporting you all the way.  United We Bargain,  Divided We Beg!
Thank you.