Historic GTE Pact Renegotiated with Verizon

CWA has renegotiated the historic national agreement reached with GTE in 1998, winning major retirement security gains and other improvements in a tentative pact covering 24,000 employees at the former GTE units of Verizon.

The 1998 settlement was hailed as a major step toward achieving CWA’s long-standing goal of national bargaining at GTE. CWA is still continuing the process of dealing nationally with management for those units on many issues, union leaders noted in presenting the new settlement for ratification.

The new agreement substantially improves the hourly savings plan by raising the company’s matching contribution to 75 percent from 66 percent next July and to 82 percent in July 2003.

It also extends recognition of service credit throughout all Verizon companies for pension eligibility and vesting (but not for calculation of benefits), eligibility for health and welfare and for retiree medical care, as well as for seniority purposes. The broadened service recognition carries back to the date of the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon — June 30, 2000.

In addition, effective Jan. 1, 2002, any former GTE employee who previously worked for a Bell Atlantic company will receive credit for that service.

In another breakthrough, the company agreed to recognize prior service credit for employees who were on the payroll of any pre-divestiture AT&T Bell System company as of the divestiture date, Dec. 31, 1983. This extends to Verizon/GTE workers the benefits of the service portability agreement that CWA fought hard to win for all Bell System workers at that time.

The new tentative agreement also calls for improvement or renewals of provisions covering tuition reimbursement, holidays, vacation banking, domestic partner benefits, union leave of absence, and organizing neutrality and consent elections.

The package has been submitted to Verizon/GTE members nationwide in a mail ballot referendum, to be reported Nov. 15.

The settlement was reached through a coordinated negotiation involving CWA President Morton Bahr and Vice Presidents T.O. Moses, Telecommunications; Pete Catucci, District 2; Jim Smith, District 3; Jeff Rechenbach, District 4; Andy Milburn, District 6; John Thompson, District 7; Tony Bixler, District 9, and Vince Maisano, District 13.