FairPoint, Unions Head Back to the Bargaining Table

CWA and IBEW, representing 1,800 striking workers, have resumed talks with FairPoint Communications. Negotiators are now huddling with a team of experienced federal mediators in in Washington, D.C. 

Will the company finally bargain in good faith?

Workers throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont were forced to walk out last October after FairPoint unilaterally declared an impasse in negotiations and imposed the terms of its final offer. That included freezing pensions, ending restrictions on subcontracting and outsourcing, slashing retiree health care, increasing health care costs for active workers and adding a two-tier wage plan with big pay cuts for new hires.

Workers have since braved snow and rain on the picket line to raise awareness about the injustice.

Meanwhile, after a series of outages affecting phone and Internet service, Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch sent a letter to FairPoint's CEO saying, "management is more concerned with the interests of corporate owners of FairPoint than negotiating a reasonable agreement that is fair to your workers and customers." Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin also weighed in.

"Enough is enough," Shumlin wrote in a letter to the CEO. "Come back to the table; listen; and compromise. I will urge the unions to do likewise, because I understand that both sides must work to find common ground. Failing to negotiate at all is proving to be a losing strategy for FairPoint, as your customers and your state partners lose faith in the company's ability to serve."

The utility-regulating Vermont Public Service Board is now conducting an investigation of service problems.

Customer complaints have also shelved New Hampshire's proposed $13 million contract with FairPoint to provide its state government with telephone and Internet service.