In an utterly amazing and totally unexpected coincidence, Verizon is reporting that there has been a spike in vandalism and sabotage against its facilities since workers went on strike on April 13. (That's sarcasm, folks.) Paul J. Gough at the Pittsburgh Business Times has reported the company's claim that "there have been more than two dozen cases of what it called sabotage to cables and its facilities in the week since tens of thousands of its employees went on strike."
Some other local TV stations and outlets have also covered the matter, but it's not national news at the Associated Press or other national outlets, even though the wire service has done several stories on the strike, and even though its scope — 39,000 union members in nine states and DC — is hardly inconsequential.
Here's the transcript of the report carried by local TV station KDKA in Pittsburgh (HT The Blaze):
KDKA ANCHOR: A strike by Verizon workers is taking an ugly turn. The company reports there have been dozens of cases of sabotage since employees walked off the job, with damage that cuts phone service. Paul Martino has more.
PAUL MARTINO: With the strike in its ninth day, Verizon's making some serious allegations that point to the 40,000 workers who are walking picket lines in five state, including Pennsylvania. Without directly accusing the union, Verizon says they are experiencing an unusually high number of vandal attacks.
RAYMOND MCCONVILLE, VERIZON SPOKESPERSON: You can typically count on one hand the amount of times you see things like this vandalized. So it is very odd that all of a sudden once this begins, we start to see these things happening several times a day.
MARTINO: Verizon sent us these pictures of what they say are fiber cables that have been cut, something Verizon claims rarely happens. Some of this vandalsim took place in the Uniontown area.
But a spokesman for the Communcations Workers of America claims this is nothing more than a smear campaign by Verizon.
ED MOONEY, DISTRICT VP, CWA: We would never condone our members to do anything in destroying the network. And we know our members don't do that. In our opinion, this is another ploy by the company to put information out there to discredit the union.
MARTINO: The same accusations arose in 2011, when Verizon workers walked off the job back then. Meantime, this strike continuesover a variety of issues. There's no end in sight. No negotiating sessions are planned. Paul Martino, KDKA News.
As seen above, though it has noted the "odd" spike in vandalism, the company has not specifically charged union thugs — oops, I meant "members" — or people acting on their behalf with the crimes, while the union is describing the company's claim as a bargaining stunt.
The situation qualifies as news, and both sides' takes should be presented. The national press, much of which is unionized, knows that presenting the story and playing it straight is a bad idea, simply because their audiences weren't born yesterday, and they completely understand the overwhelmingly likely reality of what's going on here.
Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.
