Sen. Bernie Sanders stands with Verizon workers for a fair contract

Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stood with Communications Workers of America (CWA) members in New York City, called on Verizon to build-out its FiOS services, and slammed Verizon for its corporate greed.

Speaking to CWA members at a rally in Times Square, Sanders committed to changing “rotten” labor laws and called on Verizon to expand its FiOS services and treat its workers fairly. "I think Verizon needs to hear from the American people. We want them to create more broadband. We want them to pay their workers a decent wage. We want them to sit down and negotiate a decent contract," he said.

Sanders is the most recent voice to criticize Verizon’s failure to deliver broadband services. New York City issued a damning audit that found Verizon has failed to meet the terms of its 2008 franchise agreement. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called Verizon out by name after asking the New York Public Service Commission for formal proceedings to investigate “the impact of deregulation on consumers and businesses.”

Verizon’s poor corporate behavior, Sanders added, is a metaphor for American corporate culture more broadly: “You've got corporate America making huge profits, their CEOs getting huge compensation packages. And then with all of their money, what they do is hire lawyers in order to make it harder for workers to survive in this country.”

“The middle class in this country is disappearing,” Sanders concluded, “and what Verizon is doing to their workers is exactly what has got to be fought if we're going to rebuild the American middle class.”

Bernie Sanders slammed Verizon during a surprise appearance at a rally in New York (Business Insider, Oct. 26, 2015)

Verizon breaks promise to deliver FiOS to NYC (Speed Matters, June 19, 2015)