ULP Charges against Frontier Management

The Truth behind the "West Virginia Appreciation Awards"

CWA recently filed an “Unfair Labor Practice” charge against Frontier over their “West Virginia Appreciation Award” bonuses with legacy employees. We would never begrudge our members a wage increase and have no intention of requesting the bonuses be withdrawn; however, we want our members to understand why this was filed and why that bonus was unfair to workers in the long run.

When negotiating with Frontier before the sale with Verizon was finalized CWA fought hard to get Frontier employees pay equal to their Verizon/ Spinco counterparts, or even just an increase in base salary. Frontier rejected both unequivocally. Shortly afterwards the “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) was signed with Frontier refusing to address the pay equity issue between legacy and Verizon/Spinco employees.

After the deal closed, without any notice to CWA bargaining representatives, and handed out “West Virginia Appreciation Award” bonuses to legacy employees. CWA believes if they really appreciated their West Virginia legacy employees, they would have given them pay equity or at least an annual base wage increase. A bonus is nice to receive, but CWA would like to see that applied to annual wages, not as a onetime bandaid to the pay equity issue.

The other major problem with the bonus was it demonstrated Frontier making decisions about your wages and working conditions without negotiating with the union, your legal bargaining agent. Not many will complain when corporate change involves getting more money, but if that change involved decreasing wages or taking away a negotiated health care benefit, you bet workers would be justly indignant and demand remedy. CWA will never stand silent when an employer makes decisions about your wages and conditions without any input on behalf of the workers affected.

We filed the ULP because we felt Frontier’s decision represented a dangerous precedent in making decisions about your livelihood without your consultation. We also felt to deny any and all wage increases during negotiations and then to turn around and grant a onetime bonus gave the appearance of lacking good faith during bargaining.

CWA and Frontier reached a settlement on this issue that included Frontier’s agreement to not make any changes to your wages without negotiating with your legal bargaining representatives, to not rescind the bonuses and not interfere with your rights to union representation. This formal agreement will be posted at all affected locals and emailed to all affected bargaining unit employees.

We strongly believe that this “bonus” cannot be a substitute for negotiating real wage inequities. CWA is fully committed to fight for fair wages all workers deserve and we will continue to make this issue a priority until there is a fair and equitable solution, which begins with Frontier’s agreement to bargain in good faith with CWA.

Source: Frontier Frontline Newsletter, January 2011