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Lucent Talks Extended One Week
On Friday as the Oct. 31 bargaining deadline loomed, CWA and Lucent Technologies agreed to extend talks one more week to "provide additional time to more fully explore alternatives to the difficult and complex issues at the bargaining table," the parties said in a joint statement. The new deadline is midnight on Sunday Nov. 7.
The parties were still far apart on health care for both active and retired workers, as well as outsourcing of jobs and other issues, said Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly.
Since bargaining opened on Oct. 7, Communications and Technologies locals, members, and the CWA Retired Members' Councils have held numerous rallies around the country at the facilities of Lucent customers, sending a clear message that Lucent has taken good care of its executives while abandoning the people who built the company.
For example, on Oct. 21, CWA Locals 4310, 4320, 4340, 4390, IBEW Local 2020 and Lucent retirees staged their own rally in Columbus, Ohio, and passed out fliers at a nearby rally where Senator John Kerry was speaking. Retired Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) visited with them in a display of solidarity.
Locals 1365 and 1366, whose members work side by side at Lucent's North Andover, Mass., facility held at least three rallies, most recently one on Oct. 28 attended by Representatives John Tierney and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.).
On October 26, 2004 bargaining was briefly interrupted when local officers from across the country arrived outside the room where negotiations were taking place in Washington, D.C., chanting, "We Want A Contract. We Want It Now."
On Thursday, Oct. 21, and again on Oct. 28, CWA ran ads in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and Wall Street Journal.
"Want proof that outsourcing jobs overseas and laying off skilled American workers isn't necessarily good for business?" said one. "Lucent has eliminated 97,000 U.S. employees in the past five years. Skilled American high-tech workers are losing their jobs to India, China and other foreign countries. Families and communities are suffering."
Meanwhile, it points out, "Last year, Lucent's CEO got a salary and bonus package of $4.4 million, plus stock options worth another $2.1 million - all from a company that's become a poster child for bad management and poor performance."
"How does Lucent show gratitude to retirees?" asks the other. "It doesn't."
The ad points out that "72,000 retired Lucent workers face massive increases in health care costs. Families living on fixed pensions that average $950 a month could be hit with monthly health care premiums as high as $700. That's 74 percent of a family's income - gone. And a broken promise."
The parties were still far apart on health care for both active and retired workers, as well as outsourcing of jobs and other issues, said Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly.
Since bargaining opened on Oct. 7, Communications and Technologies locals, members, and the CWA Retired Members' Councils have held numerous rallies around the country at the facilities of Lucent customers, sending a clear message that Lucent has taken good care of its executives while abandoning the people who built the company.
For example, on Oct. 21, CWA Locals 4310, 4320, 4340, 4390, IBEW Local 2020 and Lucent retirees staged their own rally in Columbus, Ohio, and passed out fliers at a nearby rally where Senator John Kerry was speaking. Retired Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) visited with them in a display of solidarity.
Locals 1365 and 1366, whose members work side by side at Lucent's North Andover, Mass., facility held at least three rallies, most recently one on Oct. 28 attended by Representatives John Tierney and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.).
On October 26, 2004 bargaining was briefly interrupted when local officers from across the country arrived outside the room where negotiations were taking place in Washington, D.C., chanting, "We Want A Contract. We Want It Now."
On Thursday, Oct. 21, and again on Oct. 28, CWA ran ads in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and Wall Street Journal.
"Want proof that outsourcing jobs overseas and laying off skilled American workers isn't necessarily good for business?" said one. "Lucent has eliminated 97,000 U.S. employees in the past five years. Skilled American high-tech workers are losing their jobs to India, China and other foreign countries. Families and communities are suffering."
Meanwhile, it points out, "Last year, Lucent's CEO got a salary and bonus package of $4.4 million, plus stock options worth another $2.1 million - all from a company that's become a poster child for bad management and poor performance."
"How does Lucent show gratitude to retirees?" asks the other. "It doesn't."
The ad points out that "72,000 retired Lucent workers face massive increases in health care costs. Families living on fixed pensions that average $950 a month could be hit with monthly health care premiums as high as $700. That's 74 percent of a family's income - gone. And a broken promise."