Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential hopeful, was on the picket line to demand a fair contract from Verizon and to pressure them to rehire an employee allegedly fired for starting an organizing campaign. He was part of a 200 strong Verizon workers and union members group at Times Square.

"Let me get to the point. Middle class in this country is disappearing and what Verizon is doing to their workers is exactly what has got to be fought if we are going to rebuild the American middle class," Sanders said, according to the Washington Times.

The picket was organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communication Workers of America. It followed a proposal in June by Verizon, which the CWA has rejected.

"While we're willing to consider all offers, union leaders came back with counterproposals that would offer up to 19 additional days off, including new holidays, employee birthdays, more vacation days and additional sick days. That sort of proposal is unrealistic and out-of-touch in today's marketplace," said a statement by Verizon Chief Administration Officer Marc Reed, reports Tech Times.

"You've got corporate America making huge profits. Their CEOs get huge compensation packages and then with all of their money, what they do is they hire lawyers in order to make it harder for workers to survive in this country. What this campaign is all about is saying to corporate America 'you cannot get it all.' That when worker productivity is skyrocketing, you've got to pay your workers decent wages, you've got to respect and negotiate with workers for decent contracts," Sanders said during the five minutes he spoke, reports MSNBC.

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