CWA Bargaining Teams Take on Avaya, OFS

CWA members at both Avaya and OFS – Optical Fiber Solutions -- voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization if fair contracts can't be reached in negotiations.

For the 2,000 CWA-represented workers at Avaya, top issues are preserving health care benefits and reducing or stopping the offshoring of jobs to India and Central America, and the transfer of union jobs to Avaya business partners. The contract expired May 23 and the "clock was stopped," but union bargainers have expressed frustration over the wait for critical information and responses from Avaya management.

At worksites every day, workers stand together in unison, and at call centers CWAers have hung unity chains and union slogans throughout their workplaces. On informational picket lines the signs say it all: "Don't Touch Our Health Care," "Avaya Do the Right Thing," and "Treat us Wrong and We Will Be Gone."

Bargaining is continuing for a new contract covering about 250 workers at OFS, where health care for both active and retired workers, jobs and wages are critical issues. The agreement covering CWA-represented workers at Sturbridge, Mass., and Norcross, Georgia, expires May 30.