It’s no secret that Bernie Sanders wants to end the greed of corporations and Wall Street. It’s one of his central messages after all and seemingly the biggest focus of his presidential campaign. It should come as no surprise then that he would come down hard on Verizon, and stand up for workers’ rights with the more than 36,000 workers that went on strike Wednesday.
The workers went on strike citing a long list of complaints. Among them are complaints of outsourcing and hiring low-wage, non-union contractors to do the jobs of union employees.
Sanders got up in front of Verizon on Wednesday and spoke out in favor of the working class, saying:
“Today, you are standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers; you’re standing up for millions of Americans who don’t have a union.
And you’re telling corporate America, you’re telling corporate America, they cannot have it all. You’re telling corporate America that workers in this country are not going to be continued to push down and down and down.
The working class of this country deserves to earn decent wages, decent benefits, and not see their jobs go to low-wage countries.”
Verizon had some words in response. CEO Lowell McAdam lashed out at Sanders and said:
“I read with interest Jeff Immelt’s spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are ‘destroying the moral fabric’ of America..In fact, I share his frustration. Verizon is in Sanders’s bull’s-eye, as well. The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible…”
Well Mr. McAdam, you can call Bernie’s views “contemptible” all you want. He doesn’t seem to want your support. He even claimed that he in fact welcomes their contempt on his campaign Twitter account.
All of this along with an endorsement from Transport Workers Union Local 100, a local transport union in New York, may serve to help him out in the upcoming primary. But will it be enough to overcome Hillary Clinton, the current polling favorite? That remains to be seen. The New York primary will definitely be a defining moment in this race, no matter who wins.
Featured Image via Video.
Watch the workers’ rights speech here:
