Organizing Neutrality Agreement to Cover 3,000 after Arbitration Win

An arbitrator in Texas refused to buy management's double-talk and ruled that Windstream Communications must abide by the provisions of a neutrality and expedited election agreement CWA had with parent company Valor Communications prior to a corporate spin off last year. 

The ruling applies to all of Windstream's workplaces bringing more than 3,000 of the company's unrepresented workers under the organizing agreement. Windstream, based in 16 states, is the largest provider of wireline voice, Internet, and satellite TV programming in rural America, with some 3.4 million access lines.

Windstream was formed in July 2006 following the merger of Valor, a regional local phone company, with Alltel's local wireline business, which was spun off into a new company called "New Valor," later renamed Windstream. At the time of the merger, CWA represented more than 800 workers at Valor and 1,200 at Alltel.

The issue arose when Windstream informed CWA Local 6171 in Krum, Texas, that the union's organizing agreement with Valor did not also cover those Windstream workers who formerly worked for Alltel. It argued that the post-merger company was totally different in scope and geographic range than Valor and that since "Alltel swallowed Valor" the contract language didn't apply.

The arbitrator rejected the company's arguments. "It is not important. . .to understand who swallowed whom," he said. "What is important is the commitment to" CWA's successorship language in the union's agreement with Valor. He also said the company's argument that the agreement did not apply because "Alltel swallowed Valor" was betrayed by contrary statements and filings the company made in order to "achieve favorable tax treatment from the government."

In order to achieve a tax windfall worth millions of dollars through a tax loophole known as the Reverse Morris Trust, the companies' leaders had repeatedly described the transaction prior to the merger as "Alltel merging with and into Valor." Initially, they also had named the new company "New Valor." "At some level words must square with reality," the arbitrator concluded.

CWA Telecom Vice President Jimmy Gurganus praised the efforts of the local's officers -- President Allen Whitaker, Executive Vice President Milton Grant, and Secretary-Treasurer Linda James -- and CWA Representative Jerrell Miller for the arbitration victory. "They did a tremendous job in preparing evidence in what was a very complex arbitration."