Verizon CEO Fires Back At ‘Uninformed’ Bernie Sanders
Verizon Communications ( VZ ) Chief Executive Lowell McAdam fired back at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has criticized the phone company in support of two unions that went on strike on Wednesday. Sanders has also been at odds with General Electric ’s ( GE ) CEO Jeff Immelt. “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,” wrote McAdam in a post at LinkedIn. “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.” The two unions represent about 39,000 Verizon landline workers, including FiOS TV and broadband services. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have been negotiating a new contract with Verizon since June. Verizon’s wireless workers are not unionized, except for roughly 100 employees. Verizon has a total workforce of nearly 178,000. Sanders has been campaigning vs. Hillary Clinton in New York, a key battleground, where Verizon is headquartered. Sanders has also accused Verizon of not paying enough taxes and asking workers to take unneeded reductions in benefits. “(Sander’s) accusation — that Verizon doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes — is just plain wrong. As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years — that’s a 35% tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting,” said McAdam. “Sen. Sanders also claims that Verizon doesn’t use its profits to benefit America. Again, a look at the facts says otherwise. In the last two years, Verizon has invested some $35 billion in infrastructure.” Verizon’s wireline workers also walked out in 2000 and 2011. Verizon’s unionized workforce has shrunk from about 85,000 in 2000. “I understand that rhetoric gets heated in a presidential campaign,” McAdam continued. “I also get that big companies are an easy target for candidates looking for convenient villains for the economic distress felt by many of our citizens. But when rhetoric becomes disconnected from reality, we’ve crossed a dangerous line. We deserve better from people aspiring to be president.”