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CWA Settlement at Bell Atlantic Extends Union Representation Over Jobs on Information Superhighway
The Communications Workers of America announced a tentative settlement with Bell Atlantic that includes substantial wage and benefit increases and insures that union workers will perform the work in the new growth areas such as Internet services, data networking, and digital multi-media communications.
CWA announced that the strike by 73,000 Bell Atlantic workers has ended and workers have been instructed to return to their jobs and their next scheduled shift.
The settlement includes a renegotiation of the labor agreements in the former NYNEX region covering New England and New York (Bell Atlantic "North") and the southern region comprising the pre-merger Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic "South"). Wage and pension hikes and issues such as extension of the union contract over new job areas applies to both.
In what he termed "an historic breakthrough," CWA President Morton Bahr said: "This settlement insures that jobs of the future will be high skill, good-paying jobs, and that Bell Atlantic will have the competitive advantage of a top quality workforce as it moves into the whole range of new Information Age services."
The two-year settlement provides that CWA members will perform work related data network integration, digital subscriber lines, the Internet, video services, alarm monitoring, service and sale of bundled services, and long distance.
Gaining access by union members to these future growth areas was a key issue in the strike that began at 12:01 a.m. last Sunday.
Customer account work that had been done at a non-union "Bell Atlantic Plus" center in Hampton, Va. will be transferred back to CWA-represented offices.
The company agreed to recognize CWA at any present or future non-union work units, with the exception of Bell Atlantic Mobile, when a majority of workers sign cards asking for union representation.
The settlement also extends previous agreements guaranteeing no layoffs, downgrades or involuntary transfers over the contract term.
The settlement calls for base wage increases of 3.8 percent effective August 9, 1998 and 4 percent a year later, plus bonus payments in each contract. In addition, the company match to the 401(k) plans increases to 80 percent from 66 2/3 percent.
Pension benefit increases range from 11 to 20 percent. At Bell Atlantic "North," the "six and six" early retirement incentive is extended from August 8, 1998 through December 31, 1999; eligible members who postpone retirement until after January 1, 2001 can choose whichever pension amount is greater -- the enhanced pension they would have received had they accepted the early retirement offer, or whatever the negotiated pension is at that time.
Other highlights of the agreements include:
At Bell Atlantic "South"
-- New policies to ease levels of mandatory overtime, including: overtime to be voluntary where there people willing to work the extra hours; caps of 10 and 15 hours per week depending on time of year; limits on consecutive 6-day weeks; 300 technical jobs to be added; management to accept reasonable excuses for declining overtime.
-- Improvements in procedures for the medical disability plan including third-party mediation of disputes over medical opinions.
-- Establishment of a new legal assistance plan.
At Bell Atlantic "North"
-- Creation of between 720 and 960 positions for field technicians, central office technicians and customer service administrators.
-- Agreement to offer 3,000 temporary employees permanent jobs.
-- Increase in maximum reimbursement for child adoption from $3,000 to $5,000.
CWA announced that the strike by 73,000 Bell Atlantic workers has ended and workers have been instructed to return to their jobs and their next scheduled shift.
The settlement includes a renegotiation of the labor agreements in the former NYNEX region covering New England and New York (Bell Atlantic "North") and the southern region comprising the pre-merger Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic "South"). Wage and pension hikes and issues such as extension of the union contract over new job areas applies to both.
In what he termed "an historic breakthrough," CWA President Morton Bahr said: "This settlement insures that jobs of the future will be high skill, good-paying jobs, and that Bell Atlantic will have the competitive advantage of a top quality workforce as it moves into the whole range of new Information Age services."
The two-year settlement provides that CWA members will perform work related data network integration, digital subscriber lines, the Internet, video services, alarm monitoring, service and sale of bundled services, and long distance.
Gaining access by union members to these future growth areas was a key issue in the strike that began at 12:01 a.m. last Sunday.
Customer account work that had been done at a non-union "Bell Atlantic Plus" center in Hampton, Va. will be transferred back to CWA-represented offices.
The company agreed to recognize CWA at any present or future non-union work units, with the exception of Bell Atlantic Mobile, when a majority of workers sign cards asking for union representation.
The settlement also extends previous agreements guaranteeing no layoffs, downgrades or involuntary transfers over the contract term.
The settlement calls for base wage increases of 3.8 percent effective August 9, 1998 and 4 percent a year later, plus bonus payments in each contract. In addition, the company match to the 401(k) plans increases to 80 percent from 66 2/3 percent.
Pension benefit increases range from 11 to 20 percent. At Bell Atlantic "North," the "six and six" early retirement incentive is extended from August 8, 1998 through December 31, 1999; eligible members who postpone retirement until after January 1, 2001 can choose whichever pension amount is greater -- the enhanced pension they would have received had they accepted the early retirement offer, or whatever the negotiated pension is at that time.
Other highlights of the agreements include:
At Bell Atlantic "South"
-- New policies to ease levels of mandatory overtime, including: overtime to be voluntary where there people willing to work the extra hours; caps of 10 and 15 hours per week depending on time of year; limits on consecutive 6-day weeks; 300 technical jobs to be added; management to accept reasonable excuses for declining overtime.
-- Improvements in procedures for the medical disability plan including third-party mediation of disputes over medical opinions.
-- Establishment of a new legal assistance plan.
At Bell Atlantic "North"
-- Creation of between 720 and 960 positions for field technicians, central office technicians and customer service administrators.
-- Agreement to offer 3,000 temporary employees permanent jobs.
-- Increase in maximum reimbursement for child adoption from $3,000 to $5,000.