Verizon employees rally for ‘threatened’ Lynn co-worker

LYNN – About 75 telecom workers and community supporters rallied Thursday in support of a Verizon technician in Lynn who purportedly was threatened by a supervisor while acting as a union steward.According to Rosa Blumenfeld, an organizer for the North Shore Labor Council, the employee was acting as an IBEW Local 2321 steward during a so-called “captive audience” safety meeting.In response to the steward’s statement that management often retaliates against workers who ask questions during meetings, the foreman forcefully pointed his finger in the steward’s face and said, “You’re dead,” Blumenfeld said, adding that the same foreman repeated the threat for emphasis.”It’s an unfair labor practice to threaten stewards for acting on behalf of the membership and it is just plain wrong to use violent threats to threaten anyone in the workplace,” she said. “Verizon management is creating a hostile work environment for its employees in the Lynn garage and elsewhere.”Blumenfeld said IBEW union members will not tolerate violent threats in the workplace and are demanding that Verizon apologize to the steward and take immediate steps to end what she described as a hostile work environment in Lynn.”Workers welcome constructive feedback in the workplace. However, we object to being harassed and intimidated by local managers every day. We know that their senior managers are threatening them from the top down with job loss if they do not suspend people and discipline workers,” said Ed Starr, IBEW Local 2321’s business manager and principal organizer for the rally. “We expect respect, integrity, honesty and trust in the workplace. When senior managers create the opposite type of environment, we will not stand idly by while our workers are being harassed.”Speakers at the rally included IBEW T-6 Chairman and Local 2222 Business Manager Myles Calvey, North Shore Labor Council President Jeffrey Crosby, CWA Local 1400 President Don Trementozzi, Jobs with Justice director Russ Davis, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Tim Sullivan, state Rep. Mark Falzone, state Rep. Steven M. Walsh and Lynn City Councilor Daniel F. Cahill.”Workplace harassment and intimidation have no place in our community. We stand in support of our brothers and sisters at Verizon,” Crosby said.The workers also heard from Michael Upton, a strike captain and member of UFCW Local 791 currently on strike at the Shaw’s supermarket chain warehouse in Methuen.