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Arbitration Win Means Jobs, Backpay for 3,400 at Verizon
More than 3,000 Verizon workers laid off last December won their jobs back last month as a result of CWA's arbitration victory upholding contractual job security safeguards. The ruling cost Verizon tens of millions of dollars that it never needed to risk. CWA last year had urged management to let an arbitrator rule on the issue before laying workers off, but the company chose to go ahead with the Christmas job massacre.
The decision by Arbitrator Shyam Das upheld CWA's position that the economic reasons cited by Verizon for the layoffs did not meet the definition of an "external event" as negotiated by the parties in 1994. The ruling in this case directly affected 2,300 in New York who wrongfully lost their jobs, as well as hundreds of others who were involuntarily transferred. After the decision, Verizon announced it would apply the ruling to pending cases in other states involving another 1,100 who were laid off.
Coming on the eve of CWA's contract expiration at Verizon, the ruling further bolstered union negotiators' determination to fight Verizon's assault on job security.
The decision was very welcome news for workers and their families, said CWA President Morton Bahr, who heard from many laid off members who were thrilled to return to their jobs.
A member of CWA Local 1105, whose husband was one of the laid-off Verizon techs in Staten Island, N.Y., wrote to Bahr to express her thanks for the union's fight to restore workers' jobs. "I know you understand how hard it was for us, financially and mentally, especially since it was done the week before Christmas," she wrote. "That day was one of the worst I've had to go through," she said, adding that her sister-in-law, also a Verizon technician, was laid off as well. "Thanks to you, we will be able to get financially back on track and get our lives back to the way they were before all of this occurred," she wrote.
Contract language negotiated between CWA and Verizon (then NYNEX) in 1994 stipulates that the company can't lay off workers for reasons of "process change" having to do with technology or various business changes, and that layoffs can only take place as a result of special conditions caused by an "external event."
The decision by Arbitrator Shyam Das upheld CWA's position that the economic reasons cited by Verizon for the layoffs did not meet the definition of an "external event" as negotiated by the parties in 1994. The ruling in this case directly affected 2,300 in New York who wrongfully lost their jobs, as well as hundreds of others who were involuntarily transferred. After the decision, Verizon announced it would apply the ruling to pending cases in other states involving another 1,100 who were laid off.
Coming on the eve of CWA's contract expiration at Verizon, the ruling further bolstered union negotiators' determination to fight Verizon's assault on job security.
The decision was very welcome news for workers and their families, said CWA President Morton Bahr, who heard from many laid off members who were thrilled to return to their jobs.
A member of CWA Local 1105, whose husband was one of the laid-off Verizon techs in Staten Island, N.Y., wrote to Bahr to express her thanks for the union's fight to restore workers' jobs. "I know you understand how hard it was for us, financially and mentally, especially since it was done the week before Christmas," she wrote. "That day was one of the worst I've had to go through," she said, adding that her sister-in-law, also a Verizon technician, was laid off as well. "Thanks to you, we will be able to get financially back on track and get our lives back to the way they were before all of this occurred," she wrote.
Contract language negotiated between CWA and Verizon (then NYNEX) in 1994 stipulates that the company can't lay off workers for reasons of "process change" having to do with technology or various business changes, and that layoffs can only take place as a result of special conditions caused by an "external event."