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CWA Inks Pact with GTE; Talks Continue at Alltel
CWA has reached agreement with GTE of the Northwest on a new three-year contract covering about 400 members in Washington and Oregon and is bargaining hard with the Alltel Corp. on contracts covering another 1,200 members, according to CWA Telecommunications Vice President T.O. Moses.
The GTE pact, according to CWA Representative Reed Roberts and Local 7670 President Dave Moore, is retroactive to Sept. 27 and features compounded base wage improvements of more than 11 percent, plus team awards.
Roberts says the contract creates a new title for structural cable technicians, with a per diem set at $95 a day, and provides benefits to seasonal and part-time workers. Roberts said that because of harsh wintry weather conditions in the area, seasonal employees are often off the job three months each year.
Other improvements came in sickness benefits and funeral pay, personal leave times and training provisions. Members overwhelmingly ratified the contract in mail balloting completed on Oct. 26.
Moses says that Alltel bargaining on behalf of CWA members in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky and two CWA units in Ohio are back on track after company-rigged delays.
Moses said that CWA recently beat back a decertification attempt at the unit in Kentucky, which the union organized two years ago and where it is still trying to achieve a first contract.
Another problem - in Georgia - was resolved when the company agreed to institute a preferred provider organization because of a lack of health maintenance organizations.
"Now we're at a stage where bargaining is back on track everywhere although we're facing an uphill struggle in Kentucky," Moses said.
The GTE pact, according to CWA Representative Reed Roberts and Local 7670 President Dave Moore, is retroactive to Sept. 27 and features compounded base wage improvements of more than 11 percent, plus team awards.
Roberts says the contract creates a new title for structural cable technicians, with a per diem set at $95 a day, and provides benefits to seasonal and part-time workers. Roberts said that because of harsh wintry weather conditions in the area, seasonal employees are often off the job three months each year.
Other improvements came in sickness benefits and funeral pay, personal leave times and training provisions. Members overwhelmingly ratified the contract in mail balloting completed on Oct. 26.
Moses says that Alltel bargaining on behalf of CWA members in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky and two CWA units in Ohio are back on track after company-rigged delays.
Moses said that CWA recently beat back a decertification attempt at the unit in Kentucky, which the union organized two years ago and where it is still trying to achieve a first contract.
Another problem - in Georgia - was resolved when the company agreed to institute a preferred provider organization because of a lack of health maintenance organizations.
"Now we're at a stage where bargaining is back on track everywhere although we're facing an uphill struggle in Kentucky," Moses said.