Verizon strikers threatened with contempt-of-court order

A Delaware judge issued a warning Thursday to unions representing striking Verizon employees, threatening to hold them in contempt if they don’t accept responsibility for threatening and intimidating replacement workers.

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware Chancery Court stopped short of issuing a contempt order, telling lawyers on both sides he was concerned such a ruling would give Verizon a “major public-relations victory.”

“I will not allow people to be threatened or put in danger of being hurt,” Laster said. “It’s not just a violation of my order, but it really runs contrary to what you are trying to achieve, which is respect for your own positions.”

If the unions — Communications Workers of America Local Nos. 13100 and 13101 — do not disavow such actions, the judge said he would not only hold them in civil contempt but also would consider them criminally contempt and possibly fine them. “You need to take responsibility for the problems you’ve created,” Laster said to the unions’ lawyers.

The vice chancellor also ruled that picketers have to stay 30 yards away when following replacement workers on highways where the speed limit exceeds 55 mph. Protesters also are banned from using racial and sexual slurs to describe the contract workers.

Thursday’s court hearing was the latest in a bitter war between Verizon and the unions that represent nearly 40,000 landline and cable workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The two sides have been battling over wage increases, retaining jobs and benefits.

On April 13, the union workers walked off the job. Since the strike began, several incidents of harassment and intimidation against replacement workers have been reported. Striking workers allegedly told employees at a Newark, Del., hotel that the contractors are “child molesters who had criminal records.”

Some of the incidents have caused contractors to fear for their safety. On May 10, a threevehicle accident occurred when a picketer was following a replacement worker on Interstate 95 here. The contractor’s car was rear-ended.

“It really runs contrary to what you are trying to achieve, which is respect for your own positions.” Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware Chancery Court

SUCHAT PEDERSON, THE (WILMINGTON, DEL.) NEWS JOURNAL Khalil Andrews shows support for his mother, who works for Verizon, as he pickets a Verizon store in Wilmington. Some picketers have been accused of threatening replacement workers.