William McGowan says it’s about keeping jobs in this country and this state.

Philip Santoro has heard that argument and says it is specious.

The two are on different sides of a strike that had 45,000 people on picket lines from Virginia to Massachusetts with about 850 of that number in Rhode Island for the last two weeks. Strikers agreed to return to their jobs this week as talks continue. Rhode Island Verizon workers are slated to be on the job today.

Yesterday, McGowan called the strike a “positive” for the labor movement, especially in these times.

“In a way, this is a very positive event for the labor movement in Rhode Island. We brought a lot of people together; built up level of outrage as to what’s going on.”

McGowan said there is a future for the union movement and that the strike brought “attention to the erosion of the middle class and the unwillingness of large corporations to invest in American jobs and health care.” McGowan, of Warwick, is business agent for Local 2323 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which, along with the Communications Workers of America, went on strike Aug. 6, when the unions walked away from the bargaining table.

McGowan said the action was taken because the company refused to extend benefits of the former agreement after it expired on July 26. Under the agreement upon which they are returning to work, the terms of that agreement remain in place until a new pact is reached, he said.

McGowan said workers would have been forced to accept diminishment benefits had they not struck. “We absolutely had no choice but to go on strike.” McGowan said it sent a strong message for American workers that enough is enough. “They [Verizon] were proud of the fact that they were going to set back collective bargaining 50 years.”

McGowan, who participated in talks Friday, is optimistic about an agreement, although he offered no estimate of when the sides might settle. He said no sessions have been planned since workers agreed to return to their jobs.

“We’re making measured progress,” McGowan said Friday evening outside Verizon offices in Providence, where a union solidarity rally was held.

Verizon spokesman Santoro said yesterday that he expects talks will resume in another couple of days. He said the end of the strike is “good news” for Verizon customers. He said the goal of the company is “get a handle on this guarantee for lifetime jobs,” and the “runaway absenteeism” associated with sick time and get more flexibility for management to assign work. “We want to serve customers quicker and more efficiently,” he said. The strike was cause for some tense moments when a crew from an out-of-state contractor hired by Verizon faced picketers on Corona Street in Warwick last Wednesday afternoon. An executive of the company called the Beacon to report that a Warwick police detail hired for the scene refused to leave his car and that picketers where blocking contractor vehicles and making it impossible for the crew to do its job.

The situation was resolved when police dispatched five cruisers to the scene and Verizon subsequently hired outside security for work sites and to also guard equipment over night, the contractor reported. According to police records, staff at Sunny View Nursing Home also complained of protesters revving their motorcycle engines and disturbing patients.

Santoro said it was company policy not to discuss security measures. And McGowan said the union has the right to picket sites where outside workers are hired to do Verizon work.

“We’re doing this professionally,” he said, “we’re getting our message out. Verizon may have hired people to do work our people would do. That’s our right to picket them. That’s what we’re doing.” Job security has been identified as a key issue in negotiations.

Santoro said that, up until 2003 Verizon had “lifetime job contracts,” but since then the market has become highly competitive and that the company no longer has the virtual monopoly it once did.

“You’re going to hear it is about sending jobs overseas,” said Santoro. “There are no plans to send jobs overseas.” He questioned yesterday how jobs requiring workers to climb poles and work on equipment here could be outsourced to workers outside the country.

That’s not the way McGowan sees it.

He said that Verizon has downsized and that jobs have gone to the Philippines, India and Mexico. In Rhode Island he said Verizon laid off 70 technicians. And in response to Verizon claims that its landline business is shrinking, declining from 55 million customers in 2003 to 25 million now, McGowan said their profitable fiber optic system offering television and Internet access is growing.

“It’s smoke and mirrors with them, many are dropping the phone and going to the package,” McGowan said. Santoro admitted Verizon has centers in Mexico, the Philippines and India, but said domestic operations receive little support from overseas operations.

McGowan countered with a flyer claiming that Verizon reported $24.2 billion in pre-tax income for 2009 and 2010 yet paid no federal income taxes and actually applied for a $1.3 billon refund.

“Despite huge profits and a free ride on taxes, Verizon has slashed good jobs our communities need more than ever,” reads the flyer.

Santoro said the company is also looking for employees to co-pay for health care insurance. The amount he mentioned is $100 per month for a single plan and $400 for a family plan. He said the company is also looking for a cap on sick days and to freeze pension benefits for its defined pension plan. In addition to a defined plan, Santoro said, employees also get a 401-k plan.

McGowan said the union is aware that pension costs is a problem and said, “we want to work with them” on health care costs.

“The secret to keeping down health care costs is to keep people healthy,” he said.

McGowan said the unions favor programs designed on keeping people on the job and healthy.