Bernie Sanders returns to the picket line with Verizon strikers

Close to 40,000 Verizon employees — represented by the Communication Workers of America union — have been locked in an aggressive tussle with Verizon for months now, debating the terms of their contract. Throughout their fight, the employees have been joined on the front lines by perhaps a not-so-unlikely ally: Bernie Sanders.

Sanders picketed with the employees for the first time last October and then did so again today, joining the workers as they went on strike this morning:

Sanders praised the courage of the strikers on Wednesday, telling them that, "I know your families are going to pay a price." He added, "We're going to win this thing."

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Hillary Clinton, while not at the picket line, did release a statement stressing her support of the workers and calling for Verizon to go "back to the bargaining table." Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, however, singled out Sanders in his criticism, slamming the Vermont senator for "uninformed views [that are], in a word, contemptible."

The strikers have been without a contract since August.