Verizon Strikers Rally in Cadman Plaza Park, Brooklyn

You could hear them from a mile away: Striking Verizon workers flooded into Cadman Plaza Park in Downtown Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon to rally before marching over the Brooklyn Bridge to a mass protest in Manhattan.

The union members wanted the Mayor's Panel for Educational Policy to freeze a $120 million telephone and Internet contract it was about to sign with Verizon, but  the Panel ignored their urging and signed it anyway. The Panel also ignored a variety of officials including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Comptroller John Liu -- who pointed out that Verizon was complicit in helping a contractor steal roughly $3.6 million dollars from the city.

La la, what's $3.6 million between friends?

More 45,000 Verizon land line (and Fios) workers across the country have been on strike for a week and a half. The company has asked for worker concessions including wage cuts and increased employee contributions to health care plans and pensions. The company has also proposed to freeze pensions for current employees and eliminate it for new hires.

- Striking Verizon Workers Protest On Montague Street

Photo by MK Metz

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