Avaya Certification

To:  All Avaya Local Presidents and Members

Recently CWA, IBEW, and Avaya Oversight Committee members met to discuss several serious issues around the upcoming certification payout.  The most important issue we discussed was the cancellation of all classes for the last two weeks of February leading up to the early conversion to Daylight Savings Time.  The panic exhibited by the Company appeared to be close to what was witnessed with the approach of Y2K.  Needless to say, the same outcome occurred.  There was little to no disruption caused by this change.

The Union Oversight Committee members lobbied hard to have the time extended to allow our members to meet certification criteria.  Avaya emphatically said no.  We are trying to schedule another Oversight Committee meeting prior to the payout deadline so that perhaps we can change the Company's mind and have the deadline extended, thereby qualifying additional techs for the payout.

We will keep you posted as we make progress. 

In Unity,

Lois J. Grimes-Patow
CWA Representative

LJGP:drk
opeiu-2, afl-cio