Verizon Strikers Picket Two Toms River Locations

As temperatures climbed into the 90s today, about a dozen striking Verizon employees and supporters circled two Verizon locations in Toms River: one on Walnut Street and Hooper Avenue and a second on Fischer Boulevard and Audubon Drive.

About 5,400 Verizon workers in New Jersey are among the 45,000 workers on strike after contract talks broke off after midnight Saturday, when a three-year pact expired for wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, Verizon and a union leader said Sunday morning.

Walking for several hours along the sandy curb of Fischer Boulevard was Larry Smith, Robert Cullen and Michael Martin, who said that the battle of benefits was a big part of the workers’ strike.

Over at Walnut Street and Hooper Avenue, the Dormody family said their son’s autism treatments depended on the benefits package available to workers.

Son Collen joined parents Corey and Michael with a handmade sign that read: “I have autism.”

They walked along the Walnut Street and Hooper Avenue Verizon location together, trying to keep spirits high in front of the table of amenities Michael was manning for the supporters and strikers, preparing a small propane grill for food for dinner during the strike.

Many of the dozen or so picketers, with cardstock signs hung from their necks, were outside for several hours pacing in front of the facilities in pairs or small groups.

Getting their families the healthcare they needed via their employer health benefits wasn’t just an issue for the Dormody family. Also picketing at the Walnut Street location this afternoon was Betsy Jankowski, whose daughter Jennifer has Downs Syndrome. Betsy said benefits help keep her family’s healthcare affordable during this time.

Currently, most union-represented employees pay nothing for health insurance premiums at Verizon, the company said in an online statement of its position on bargaining with the unions.

"The company is proposing that its union-represented employees pay a portion of their health care premiums, much like the majority of other Verizon employees," the site said.

Under a proposed new contract, Marc C. Reed, Verizon’s executive vice-president of human resources, said on Sunday morning, union employees will continue to receive "competitive pay and benefit programs.”

In a statement released Sunday morning, Verizon said, "Verizon’s attempts to reach a constructive new contract with two unions representing the company’s wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states were unsuccessful and union leaders announced a decision to call a strike."

In anticipation of this development, Verizon has activated a contingency force to limit the disruption of service during the union's work stoppage, the statement said.

"We have trained thousands of people nationwide, including a couple of thousand here in New Jersey," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said.