Presidential politics hit the picket line Wednesday as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supported striking Verizon workers on day one of their walkout.
The White House hopefuls greeted strikers outside Verizon offices in Brooklyn and Manhattan after some 39,000 employees in nine states and Washington, D.C., walked off the job.
“This is just another major corporation trying to destroy the lives of working Americans,” said Sanders, standing on a chair before 200 strikers in his native Brooklyn. “And today you’re standing up not just for justice for Verizon workers.
“You’re standing up for millions of Americans who don’t have a union. You’re telling corporate America ... that workers in this country are not going to be pushed down and down and down.”
The job action by members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers began eight months after their old contract expired.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are among the regions affected by the unions’ second strike in five years against the communications giant.
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rallies during the Verizon workers' protest on DeKalb Avenue in front of the Verizon Building in downtown Brooklyn Wednesday morning.
Clinton, appearing Wednesday afternoon on 42nd St., shook hands with scores of cheering strikers before encouraging Verizon to resume the now-suspended talks.
“I believe in collective bargaining in good faith,” said Clinton. “I believe in unions being the voice for working people.”