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Bell Atlantic Strike Pushes Settlements for GTE/Verizon Workers
Strike threats by units of former GTE workers have prompted settlements at GTE/Verizon in Kentucky, Indiana and North Carolina.
A tentative agreement was reached in Kentucky on Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. — exactly the hour 1,200 workers had scheduled a walkout, reported CWA Telecommunications Vice President T.O. Moses, and progress was made on behalf of 750 workers at another GTE/Verizon company in western North Carolina.
A unit of 600 workers in Fort Wayne, Ind., had settled two days earlier after giving notice of intent to strike. The North Carolina unit, which had different notice requirements, settled Aug. 10 before a scheduled walkout.
The fear that the strike by 87,000 Bell Atlantic/Verizon workers would spill over into the former GTE units was a strong factor in spurring management negotiators to finally get serious about reaching settlements, Moses said.
All three contracts yield a total wage increase of 10.8 percent over three years. Semiannual increases are 2 percent, 1.8 percent, 2 percent, 1.5 percent, 2 percent and 1.5 percent. Team incentive awards increase to 4 percent for the standard payout. Pension minimums and other items generally follow the pattern of GTE contracts negotiated within the last 18 months.
“I am extremely proud that our local committees in Indiana, North Carolina and Kentucky all stood up to management demands to reduce benefits,” Moses said. “Management was unable to negotiate down to the so-called ‘standardization goals’ they said they ‘had to meet.’”
In Indiana, CWA won a breakthrough reduction for fully paid retiree health coverage, lowering the eligibility to age 59 from age 60.
In North Carolina, after filing an unfair labor practice charge, the union succeeded in getting management to take back its proposal to withdraw a memorandum of agreement to reduce subcontracting, meaning that GTE/Verizon will hire technicians into the bargaining unit.
In Kentucky, CWA won a new memorandum of agreement limiting the use of contractors for performing work related to single line residence and business accounts and maintenance of central office equipment.
A tentative agreement was reached in Kentucky on Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. — exactly the hour 1,200 workers had scheduled a walkout, reported CWA Telecommunications Vice President T.O. Moses, and progress was made on behalf of 750 workers at another GTE/Verizon company in western North Carolina.
A unit of 600 workers in Fort Wayne, Ind., had settled two days earlier after giving notice of intent to strike. The North Carolina unit, which had different notice requirements, settled Aug. 10 before a scheduled walkout.
The fear that the strike by 87,000 Bell Atlantic/Verizon workers would spill over into the former GTE units was a strong factor in spurring management negotiators to finally get serious about reaching settlements, Moses said.
All three contracts yield a total wage increase of 10.8 percent over three years. Semiannual increases are 2 percent, 1.8 percent, 2 percent, 1.5 percent, 2 percent and 1.5 percent. Team incentive awards increase to 4 percent for the standard payout. Pension minimums and other items generally follow the pattern of GTE contracts negotiated within the last 18 months.
“I am extremely proud that our local committees in Indiana, North Carolina and Kentucky all stood up to management demands to reduce benefits,” Moses said. “Management was unable to negotiate down to the so-called ‘standardization goals’ they said they ‘had to meet.’”
In Indiana, CWA won a breakthrough reduction for fully paid retiree health coverage, lowering the eligibility to age 59 from age 60.
In North Carolina, after filing an unfair labor practice charge, the union succeeded in getting management to take back its proposal to withdraw a memorandum of agreement to reduce subcontracting, meaning that GTE/Verizon will hire technicians into the bargaining unit.
In Kentucky, CWA won a new memorandum of agreement limiting the use of contractors for performing work related to single line residence and business accounts and maintenance of central office equipment.