CWA Members Ratify Verizon Contract

Contact: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168

Washington, D.C. -- Members of the Communications Workers of America at Verizon Communications overwhelmingly ratified a three-year agreement, approving the contract with a greater than 90 percent "yes" vote.

The agreement achieves workers' key goals, including the creation of more than 2,500 new union jobs through the elimination of subcontracting in many job areas, the conversion of temporary jobs to permanent ones and new work on Verizon's cutting edge FiOS technology, for example.  It provides for a compounded wage increase of 10.87 percent over the contract term, maintains quality health care for active and retired workers and increases pension bands.

The contract extends union recognition to several hundred former MCI technicians at Verizon Business who have been seeking union representation for nearly two years, and includes new opportunities for union workers to provide customer support and service at Verizon Business.

CWA President Larry Cohen called the agreement "a breakthrough in many ways" and commended Verizon management for its commitment to work with CWA and others for real health care reform.

The agreement covers more than 50,000 CWA-represented workers at Verizon; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents another 15,000 in the Northeast.