Pennsylvania Working Families Launches Campaign To Bring Verizon FiOS to Underserved Areas

Pennsylvania Working Families began a campaign to bring Verizon FiOS to underserved areas, a news release from the organization said. The campaign's main target area is the Lehigh Valley, where the organization, along with the Communications Workers of America, held a town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon. The groups also released a radio ad and launched a website on Monday urging Verizon to bring FiOS to those underserved areas in and around the Lehigh Valley, the group said. Pennsylvania Working Families, CWA, local elected officials and citizens from the Lehigh Valley are calling on the Public Utility Commission to investigate the safety, adequacy and reliability of Verizon service in the state, the release said. The groups also held a door-to-door canvass over the weekend in Bethlehem to talk to citizens about the FiOS campaign, it said. Pennsylvania Working Families is tied closely with the CWA, which, along with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has seen contracts expire in recent weeks (see 1508030061). A Verizon spokesman called the campaign nothing more than an attempt by union leaders to "distract attention from the real issues that need to be resolved at the bargaining table, namely healthcare costs, pensions and workplace flexibility."