Bernie Sanders has made headlines in recent days for engaging in a high-profile battle against General Electric (GE) - Get Report and CEO Jeff Immelt, accusing the all-American industrial giant of corporate greed. Now, the Democratic presidential candidate has a new corporate enemy in Verizon (VZ) - Get Report and its CEO. This latest clash is coming to a head in New York.

Sanders has thrown his support behind thousands of Verizon workers who walked off their jobs in response to an ongoing contract fight with the telecom company. The Vermont senator popped up at a picket line in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, telling the crowd, "Brothers and sisters, thank you for your courage in standing up for justice against corporate greed."

Nearly 40,000 workers representing the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) went on strike, with protests like that joined by Sanders taking place in cities across the East Coast. The CWA

has endorsed

Sanders in the presidential race; the New York chapter of the IBEW

is backing

Hillary Clinton (

some other chapters have backed Sanders

).

"We just want a fair contract," said one man protesting outside of a Verizon store here on Wall Street who has worked at the company for over 20 years. He said he is supporting Bernie Sanders in the presidential race.

Another man who said he has been at Verizon for at least 15 years said he hopes the protests would "call attention" to the cause. He does not yet know which presidential candidate he is backing.

Sanders' hop onto the anti-Verizon bandwagon has not gone unnoticed by the company, and on Wednesday, CEO Lowell McAdam shot back at the senator. Taking a page out of Immelt's playbook, he responded to Sanders in a letter posted on LinkedIn titled "Feeling The Bern of Reality -- The Facts About Verizon and The 'Moral Economy.'"

"I read with interest Jeff Immelt's spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are 'destroying the moral fabric' of America," he wrote. "In fact, I share his frustration. Verizon is in Sanders's bull's-eye, as well. The senator's uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible."

He went on to list his reasons for pushing back against Sanders, calling the senator's accusation that Verizon doesn't pay its fair share of taxes "just plain wrong." He pointed out that the company has paid over $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years. "That's a 35% tax rate, for anyone who's counting," he quipped. McAdam also took issue with Sanders' claim that the company doesn't use its profits to benefit America, highlighting investments it has made in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the senator's home state of Vermont. "I challenge Sen. Sanders to show me a company that's done more to invest in America than Verizon," he wrote.

McAdam honed in on Sanders' involvement with the striking union workers, citing the candidate's claims at a Philadelphia convention last week, where he accused Verizon of being more "concerned with compensation packages for CEOs than about the needs of hard working people who want nothing more than to be able to live in dignity and security and bring their kids up in a decent way."

"Again, Sen. Sanders is wrong on the facts," wrote McAdam. "More egregiously, he oversimplifies the complex forces operating in today's technologically advanced and hyper-competitive economy."

Sanders responded to McAdam on Twitter. "I don't want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their Friends in the billionaire class. I welcome their contempt," he wrote in one tweet. "What I care about is that they stop destroying the jobs of their employees and start investing in cities like Buffalo and Baltimore," he wrote in another.

Verizon is just the latest in a string of companies on the Vermont senator's growing list of corporate enemies, and McAdams one of several executives who have been compelled to respond.

GE's Immelt addressed Sanders' criticisms of his company in an editorial piece published in the Washington Post last week. "We create wealth and jobs, instead of just calling for them in speeches," he wrote. The senator invoked General Electric as an example of corporate greed that is "destroying the moral fabric" of America in an April 1 interview with the New York Daily News editorial board and doubled down on his comments in an interview with CNN aired April 11.

"GE has emerged smaller, simpler, and less intertwined with the U.S. financial system, removing any conceivable ties or threat to U.S. financial stability," said Jim Cramer, TheStreet's founder and manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, which owns GE. Cramer was referring to the firm's recent asset reductions and its quest to remove itself from a U.S. government list of Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFI). Should GE fall off the list, it will have more flexibility in raising and spending capital.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of one of Sanders' favorite targets, Goldman Sachs, in February warned that the candidate's critiques might be "dangerous."

The current battle between Sanders and Verizon is likely far from over. The senator will host a rally in Washington Square Park in Manhattan Wednesday, and Verizon workers protesting on Wall Street said they have been invited to attend.