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CWA Makes the Difference In Troubled Telecom Sector
In the face of the current economic slump, CWA has been working in a variety of ways to ease the effects and uncertainty for members in the telecommunications sector.
Analysts note that the high-tech crash has hurt equipment makers like Lucent as well as the long distance carriers, while local carriers have suffered especially from decreased capital investment by business customers.
And now another huge blow came with the recent bankruptcy filing by scandal-ridden WorldCom which has left the local phone companies and equipment makers like Lucent holding the bag for hundreds of millions of dollars owed them by WorldCom.
Verizon and SBC each reported that WorldCom owed them $200 million in access fees at the time of the bankruptcy filing. These companies together with BellSouth collect nearly $500 million a month to connect WorldCom customers to their networks.
WorldCom’s problems stemmed from its fraudulent booking of nearly $4 billion in local access fees as capital expenditures rather than expenses. The accounting fraud masked the failure of the WorldCom-MCI merger to produce the “synergy” benefits the companies had promised regulators and investors — a failure that CWA predicted in a filing with the FCC opposing the merger as “a house of cards.”
In light of the debacle, the benefits of union membership have never been clearer, CWA President Morton Bahr noted.
WorldCom employees were unable to bargain for pensions and retirement security, an extensive severance package (up to 104 weeks of salary), training and education opportunities, paid relocation opportunities and the other benefits that are a part of CWA representation, he said.
WorldCom, after announcing a severance package for 17,000 laid off workers, declared that payments would be made on a biweekly schedule. That means that when the company filed for bankruptcy protection, the severance owed to workers came to an end. Workers will become creditors, behind a long line of others. “This couldn’t happen with a collective bargaining agreement in place,” Bahr said.
Meanwhile, as the major telecom companies announce job surpluses, CWA has been working with employers in a number of ways to prevent involuntary layoffs and in some cases gain new jobs.
Cingular Wireless is shifting operator services work that had been contracted to non-union operations to SNET, a part of SBC. There, it will be performed by CWA Local 1298 members, said Paul Hongo, the local’s president. “Cingular’s agreement to shift this traffic to Connecticut means about 200 new jobs this year for our members, and as many as 700 overall,” he said.
At Verizon Communications in District 1, CWA has taken to arbitration its disagreement with Verizon over the company’s definition of “external events,” part of the contract language that prohibits layoffs, Vice President Larry Mancino said.
At the same time, CWA has been working to gain incentives for workers ready to retire in order to reduce the company’s announced surplus of 2,300 positions. “We’re firing on all cylinders, using workplace, legislative and political means to keep quality jobs and keep providing quality service,” Mancino said.
Some 7,000 Verizon members filled blocks of Sixth Avenue in New York City at a June rally to protest the possible job cuts. “Indications are now that the surplus will not result in August layoffs,” Mancino said.
In Districts 2 and 13, CWA members at Verizon have benefitted from political and legislative work that supports expanding the company’s long distance operations and other measures that will mean more jobs for CWA members.
In addition, “we are recapturing work that had been done by outside contractors, especially in network operations, and have regained jobs in cable locating and other areas,” District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci said, adding that new jobs have come on line at Verizon Avenue and Verizon Global Network.
Vince Maisano, vice president for District 13, noted that the enhanced retirement package and buyouts — a $66,000 payment, plus pension — offered earlier in the year more than addressed the company’s announced surplus. “Our budget-to-force numbers are in good shape through the end of the year,” he said.
Surpluses at the former GTE operations, now part of Verizon, have been handled to date through voluntary means and “loaning” surpluses to departments that have work.
Outside the core company, workers have faced involuntary layoff. At Verizon Connected Solutions Inc., about 120 workers in District 2 have been furloughed, although CWA won agreement from the core company that in the event of new hiring, these workers will have preference.
BellSouth has been consolidating its consumer call centers, with plans to shut down 40 centers but expand some jobs at the remaining operations. CWA negotiated an enhanced termination package for workers who can’t relocate, and at the same time is working with state legislatures to try and keep centers open, District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith said.
Retirement incentives and a supplemental income program for workers leaving the company voluntarily had some success in reducing the effects of an announced surplus of about 1,400 in network operations, Smith said, although some workers are facing involuntary layoff.
At SBC Communications, surpluses have been addressed through early retirement packages and enhancements and strong contract language that gives workers continued job rights, though a downgrade or relocation might be necessary.
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn outlined the contract’s job offer guarantee provisions, which assure workers who “test qualify” that they will remain on the payroll until a job becomes available. This language and a combination of severance payments for workers who voluntarily choose to leave have addressed the surplus so far, he said.
In District 4, Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said that surplus notices for several hundred positions had been issued since the beginning of the year. An enhanced pension benefit was offered to workers in targeted departments addressed more than half the surplus.
In District 9, Vice President Tony Bixler cited employment security provisions in the contract that provide workers with the opportunity for retraining and reassignment, even if their jobs are eliminated. SBC has been offering early retirement benefits plus targeted incentives in the district as well.
Also in California, CWA has been working in the state legislature to help open long distance markets to Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell, a move that will help all of SBC.
At Qwest, CWA members are facing surplus announcements as well as the uncertainty of the ongoing criminal and financial investigation of the company’s former top executives.
Calling Qwest’s new CEO Richard Notebaert a man of integrity and experience, Bahr urged Wall Street to give the new leadership team the opportunity to turn the company around.
District 7 Vice President John Thompson said workers were bracing for more surplus announcements; the most recent one covers about 600 technicians, effective in October. Earlier surpluses were offset for the most part by pension incentives and voluntary termination pay, but there have been some involuntary layoffs at the company.
Lucent Technologies has been the biggest victim of the economic slump, because telecom companies have completely cut capital spending for the products and services Lucent supplies. CWA has been negotiating special pension buyouts and termination allowances to help ease the circumstances for workers facing layoff. An ongoing surplus in the installation unit will probably result in just about 4,700 installers left at the company, down from 11,000 just 18 months ago, said Vice President Ralph Maly, communications and technologies.
The story is a bit different at AT&T, where the failed strategies of top executives have resulted in shutdowns and surpluses, Maly said. Workers have been hit hard as the company seeks to use the voluntary termination pay program to permanently downsize and, at the same time, is subcontracting as much work as possible to non-union operations, he said.
“AT&T shut down a San Antonio call center, it shut down a Dallas facility, then contracted with a non-union operation headquartered in Mexico,” he said. The company is contracting out local service in California, while continuing to announce surpluses, he said.
CWA also is working to keep jobs at the independent telecom companies, reported Jimmy Gurganus, vice president for telecommunications. Citizens Communications has no layoffs planned at this time and Alltel plans to add some jobs in Kentucky stemming from its purchase of the operation from Verizon.
Negotiations are continuing with Sprint for new contracts covering more than 4,000 CWA-represented workers, and CWA also is seeking ways to minimize the job displacements announced in North Carolina, he noted.
In the cable industry, CWA is supporting employees at Adelphia Communications and has intervened in the company’s bankruptcy filing. CWA represents about 500 workers in nine CWA locals at Adelphia.
Analysts note that the high-tech crash has hurt equipment makers like Lucent as well as the long distance carriers, while local carriers have suffered especially from decreased capital investment by business customers.
And now another huge blow came with the recent bankruptcy filing by scandal-ridden WorldCom which has left the local phone companies and equipment makers like Lucent holding the bag for hundreds of millions of dollars owed them by WorldCom.
Verizon and SBC each reported that WorldCom owed them $200 million in access fees at the time of the bankruptcy filing. These companies together with BellSouth collect nearly $500 million a month to connect WorldCom customers to their networks.
WorldCom’s problems stemmed from its fraudulent booking of nearly $4 billion in local access fees as capital expenditures rather than expenses. The accounting fraud masked the failure of the WorldCom-MCI merger to produce the “synergy” benefits the companies had promised regulators and investors — a failure that CWA predicted in a filing with the FCC opposing the merger as “a house of cards.”
In light of the debacle, the benefits of union membership have never been clearer, CWA President Morton Bahr noted.
WorldCom employees were unable to bargain for pensions and retirement security, an extensive severance package (up to 104 weeks of salary), training and education opportunities, paid relocation opportunities and the other benefits that are a part of CWA representation, he said.
WorldCom, after announcing a severance package for 17,000 laid off workers, declared that payments would be made on a biweekly schedule. That means that when the company filed for bankruptcy protection, the severance owed to workers came to an end. Workers will become creditors, behind a long line of others. “This couldn’t happen with a collective bargaining agreement in place,” Bahr said.
Meanwhile, as the major telecom companies announce job surpluses, CWA has been working with employers in a number of ways to prevent involuntary layoffs and in some cases gain new jobs.
Cingular Wireless is shifting operator services work that had been contracted to non-union operations to SNET, a part of SBC. There, it will be performed by CWA Local 1298 members, said Paul Hongo, the local’s president. “Cingular’s agreement to shift this traffic to Connecticut means about 200 new jobs this year for our members, and as many as 700 overall,” he said.
At Verizon Communications in District 1, CWA has taken to arbitration its disagreement with Verizon over the company’s definition of “external events,” part of the contract language that prohibits layoffs, Vice President Larry Mancino said.
At the same time, CWA has been working to gain incentives for workers ready to retire in order to reduce the company’s announced surplus of 2,300 positions. “We’re firing on all cylinders, using workplace, legislative and political means to keep quality jobs and keep providing quality service,” Mancino said.
Some 7,000 Verizon members filled blocks of Sixth Avenue in New York City at a June rally to protest the possible job cuts. “Indications are now that the surplus will not result in August layoffs,” Mancino said.
In Districts 2 and 13, CWA members at Verizon have benefitted from political and legislative work that supports expanding the company’s long distance operations and other measures that will mean more jobs for CWA members.
In addition, “we are recapturing work that had been done by outside contractors, especially in network operations, and have regained jobs in cable locating and other areas,” District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci said, adding that new jobs have come on line at Verizon Avenue and Verizon Global Network.
Vince Maisano, vice president for District 13, noted that the enhanced retirement package and buyouts — a $66,000 payment, plus pension — offered earlier in the year more than addressed the company’s announced surplus. “Our budget-to-force numbers are in good shape through the end of the year,” he said.
Surpluses at the former GTE operations, now part of Verizon, have been handled to date through voluntary means and “loaning” surpluses to departments that have work.
Outside the core company, workers have faced involuntary layoff. At Verizon Connected Solutions Inc., about 120 workers in District 2 have been furloughed, although CWA won agreement from the core company that in the event of new hiring, these workers will have preference.
BellSouth has been consolidating its consumer call centers, with plans to shut down 40 centers but expand some jobs at the remaining operations. CWA negotiated an enhanced termination package for workers who can’t relocate, and at the same time is working with state legislatures to try and keep centers open, District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith said.
Retirement incentives and a supplemental income program for workers leaving the company voluntarily had some success in reducing the effects of an announced surplus of about 1,400 in network operations, Smith said, although some workers are facing involuntary layoff.
At SBC Communications, surpluses have been addressed through early retirement packages and enhancements and strong contract language that gives workers continued job rights, though a downgrade or relocation might be necessary.
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn outlined the contract’s job offer guarantee provisions, which assure workers who “test qualify” that they will remain on the payroll until a job becomes available. This language and a combination of severance payments for workers who voluntarily choose to leave have addressed the surplus so far, he said.
In District 4, Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said that surplus notices for several hundred positions had been issued since the beginning of the year. An enhanced pension benefit was offered to workers in targeted departments addressed more than half the surplus.
In District 9, Vice President Tony Bixler cited employment security provisions in the contract that provide workers with the opportunity for retraining and reassignment, even if their jobs are eliminated. SBC has been offering early retirement benefits plus targeted incentives in the district as well.
Also in California, CWA has been working in the state legislature to help open long distance markets to Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell, a move that will help all of SBC.
At Qwest, CWA members are facing surplus announcements as well as the uncertainty of the ongoing criminal and financial investigation of the company’s former top executives.
Calling Qwest’s new CEO Richard Notebaert a man of integrity and experience, Bahr urged Wall Street to give the new leadership team the opportunity to turn the company around.
District 7 Vice President John Thompson said workers were bracing for more surplus announcements; the most recent one covers about 600 technicians, effective in October. Earlier surpluses were offset for the most part by pension incentives and voluntary termination pay, but there have been some involuntary layoffs at the company.
Lucent Technologies has been the biggest victim of the economic slump, because telecom companies have completely cut capital spending for the products and services Lucent supplies. CWA has been negotiating special pension buyouts and termination allowances to help ease the circumstances for workers facing layoff. An ongoing surplus in the installation unit will probably result in just about 4,700 installers left at the company, down from 11,000 just 18 months ago, said Vice President Ralph Maly, communications and technologies.
The story is a bit different at AT&T, where the failed strategies of top executives have resulted in shutdowns and surpluses, Maly said. Workers have been hit hard as the company seeks to use the voluntary termination pay program to permanently downsize and, at the same time, is subcontracting as much work as possible to non-union operations, he said.
“AT&T shut down a San Antonio call center, it shut down a Dallas facility, then contracted with a non-union operation headquartered in Mexico,” he said. The company is contracting out local service in California, while continuing to announce surpluses, he said.
CWA also is working to keep jobs at the independent telecom companies, reported Jimmy Gurganus, vice president for telecommunications. Citizens Communications has no layoffs planned at this time and Alltel plans to add some jobs in Kentucky stemming from its purchase of the operation from Verizon.
Negotiations are continuing with Sprint for new contracts covering more than 4,000 CWA-represented workers, and CWA also is seeking ways to minimize the job displacements announced in North Carolina, he noted.
In the cable industry, CWA is supporting employees at Adelphia Communications and has intervened in the company’s bankruptcy filing. CWA represents about 500 workers in nine CWA locals at Adelphia.