Recent Verizon strike 2016 updates have revealed that rallyists may have been responsible for sabotaging the company's equipment. This resulted to customers being cut off from "critical services."
Fox News reported that thousands of Verizon customers are suffering due to the strike. In a statement, the company has claimed that "criminals have damaged or destroyed critical network facilities."
Apparently, there have been about 24 suspected cases of sabotage over the past week. The incidents happened in five states and resulted to thousands of residential and business customers being affected.
"We will find out who's behind these highly dangerous criminal acts and we will pursue criminal charges," Michael Mason, Verizon's chief security officer, said in a statement on the company's official website. ""These reckless perpetrators are risking the lives of countless Americans by cutting access to key lines of communications, especially to local police, fire and rescue personnel. If someone has an emergency and needs to contact local authorities, these malicious actions could prevent that from happening."
Reported incidents involve a fiber optic cabling at a network facility box in New Jersey that was sliced. In Massachusetts, phone services were cut off for customers for about 16 hours.
Fiber optics and copper cables were also cut in Pennsylvania and New York. This resulted to disabled voice communications as well as problems with Internet connectivity.
"We have dispatched additional Verizon security teams in all states where this illegal activity is taking place," Mason added. "We're also working with law enforcement to ensure our networks and facilities are secure so that our customers can connect where and when they need to."
According to STL Today, the company has presented a revised and final contract proposal to the unions that represent about 40,000 workers who are on strike. Verizon has offered a wage increase of 7.5 percent over the term of a new contract.
"We are putting our last, best final offer on the table," Verizon's Chief Administrative Officer Marc Reed said. "The ball is now in the unions' court to do what's right for our employees."
