CWA Reaches Three-Year Agreement with Avaya

For More Information: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168 or 202-415-6565 (cell), www.cwa-comtech.org

The Communications Workers of America, bargaining with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has reached a tentative three-year agreement with Avaya Inc., (NYSE:AV) that achieves workers’ key bargaining goals of improving job security and maintaining quality health care for both active and retired workers, among other gains.

CWA Vice President Ralph Maly, who heads the union’s Communications and Technologies sector and led the CWA bargaining team, credited the mobilization of union members over the past several weeks "for sending a strong message to management that we were serious about gaining a fair contract."

The tentative agreement maintains employer paid health care premiums for both active and retired workers over the contract term, a critical goal for CWA members and bargainers.

The settlement also provides for a 3 percent wage increase in each contract year, plus a four percent increase in the pension bands effective July 1, 2006. Other pension improvements include a new lump sum distribution option and additional beneficiary options.

Improvements that addressed workers’ job security issues include a one-year no-layoff provision for workers in technical titles, a sales referral program guaranteeing work for union-represented workers and a one-year job "watermark" for workers in care centers.

The agreement covers about 2,900 customer service representatives, technicians, sales and other workers at the company. Bargaining continued past the May 27 contract expiration date, with CWA members nationwide holding actions and mobilizations, especially around job and health care issues. Members of both unions had voted overwhelmingly to approve strike authorization if a fair contract could not be reached.
CWA is scheduling contract explanation meetings to answer questions about the proposed settlement; the membership ratification vote will take place within the next several weeks.

Larger CWA locations include customer service centers in Atlanta, Oklahoma City and the Denver area. Other Avaya workers are in Anaheim, Calif., Dallas and Houston, Tex., Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and the New York City metro area.