Haverstraw Board, Phillips Express Solidarity with CWA 1107 to “Make America Great Again”

BY DYLAN SKRILOFF

For the first time in recent memory, a Republican presidential nominee’s campaign slogan is being used to rally the forces of American labor.

The political sea change was on full display at Monday night’s Haverstraw Town Board meeting as the board passed a resolution citing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again,” in support of striking CWA 1107 workers.

In paragraph nine of 10 in the 400-word resolution in support of the strikers, the board stated, “Whereas, to make America great again we need corporations whose foundation has been the American worker and Management cemented together in an unbreakable bond and forged in the fire of competition over the centuries to come to protect the security of all its employees from the Chief Executive Officer to entry level positions.”

The town is one of the first to sign on to the union’s request that various levels of government boycott Verizon products until the telecommunications giant settle the work stoppage, which has been going on for six weeks, the longest Verizon stoppage since 1989.

According to strikers, they are fighting to keep more customer service jobs in the United States, to stop Verizon from relying on part-time subcontractors in the United States that “break up communities” and most of all, to stop the company from implementing a plan that would allow them to ship any worker away for two months at a time with only a few days notice.

According to union representative Daniel Caprara, Verizon refuses to hire more union workers and instead making unreasonable demands of its workforce. He said the union men and women are hurting, but support from the public have buoyed their spirits.

John Buchan, president of the CWA Local 1107, Rockland and Orange Counties, said he appreciated that the public was behind them in this particularly grueling strike and if the Trump effect is part of that, “We’ll take the help wherever we can find it.”