Local 1101 members turned out in big numbers again to garner Community Board 1’s support in the fight to keep the workers at 140 West St. 250 CWA members packed the auditorium at Murry Bergtraum High School in anticipation of the Board’s vote on a resolution urging Verizon to keep its workforce at 140 West Street.

Julie Menin, former President of Community Board 1 and currently a candidate for Manhattan Borough President spoke in favor of the resolution. She said that when she was on the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Verizon got hundreds of millions of dollars after 9/11, it was specifically to keep jobs downtown. 1101 Vice President Al Russo also spoke in favor of the resolution, emphasizing why the Community Board and elected officials support is so critical.

The Community Board passed the following resolution unanimously.
WHEREAS:
Several hundred members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) attended the Community Board 1 (CB1) monthly meeting on March 27, 2013 to oppose a plan by Verizon to move 1,100 workers and CWA members out of the Verizon building (“The Building”) at 140 West Street and transfer them to a location in Brooklyn; and
WHEREAS:
Several owners of small businesses located in the vicinity of the Building spoke at the CB1 meeting on March 27, 2013 and over two hundred people signed petitions to express concern about the potential net loss of many hundreds of workers on their businesses, many of which are already precarious due to other challenges such as the effect of the recent Superstorm Sandy and the major construction projects underway nearby; now
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
CB1 urges Verizon and all local businesses to not significantly reduce the number of workers in their Lower Manhattan buildings at a time when the local economy remains fragile due to the post-9/11 recovery still underway and the effect of the recent storm; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
While CB1 takes no position on labor management issues between CWA and Verizon, CB1 urges local elected officials to work with Verizon and the CWA towards a solution that would not involve a significant reduction of the number of workers at 140 West Street and to do the same with any other business contemplating a comparable reduction in the number of employees at a building in Lower Manhattan.

Source: Local1101.org