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Verizon Directory Workers Win Tentative First Pact
Following an epic organizing struggle and a 10-month bargaining mobilization effort, 1,700 Verizon Information Services directory workers in the former Bell Atlantic/Nynex region shortly will be voting on a tentative first contract.
At press time, arrangements were being prepared for a video conference on March 8 followed by face-to-face meetings with negotiators starting on March 17 to explain terms of the agreement, which covers 21 VIS offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
The sales representatives, graphic artists and support personnel won union recognition a year ago after a prolonged legal battle with the company over terms of the CWA-Verizon card check organizing agreement negotiated in 2000.
The first settlement provides across-the-board base wage increases of 4 percent immediately and 3.5 percent each subsequent year, together with a substantially improved commission plan for sales reps.
For artists and clerical staff, the pact sets up a 5-year wage progression schedule. For some employees with salaries higher than the top progression rates, a "market range" salary category is created, with the top of the market range increasing by 1.5 percent a year. Market range employees will receive the annual percentage increase in their base pay, however those with salaries higher than the market range will be paid the annual increase as a lump sum.
The agreement calls for a new performance review program with major improvements over a plan that management had unilaterally imposed last year, which employees viewed as abusive and unfair.
The agreement provides that management can't shift benefit costs for the medical and dental plan - as it has done in the past - and guarantees no decreases in contributions to the cash balance pension and 401(k) savings match. It also locks in such benefits as the severance program, adoption assistance, tuition assistance, short-term disability, leaves of absence, basic life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.
Other highlights include a grievance and arbitration procedure and creation of a Common Interest Forum to foster a dialogue over workplace disputes and concerns such as safety and health, work and family needs, and training and education opportunities.
Throughout their organizing and bargaining struggle - talks began last May - the VIS workers conducted widespread worksite activities including marching in to work together, informational picketing, organized phone calling to top VIS and Verizon officials, and wearing stickers and red shirts.
Frustrated by slow bargaining progress in the 20 separate sets of talks, the workers voted strike authorization and received the Executive Board's approval last October. The pace picked up shortly afterward when VIS agreed to bargain at the senior management level with leaders from CWA Districts 1, 2 and 13 to establish a model agreement.
Once ratified, the model agreement will apply to all 21 units (workers in Charleston, W.Va. recently became the 21st office to organize). Duration of the local agreements will vary from 32 to 44 months.
At press time, arrangements were being prepared for a video conference on March 8 followed by face-to-face meetings with negotiators starting on March 17 to explain terms of the agreement, which covers 21 VIS offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
The sales representatives, graphic artists and support personnel won union recognition a year ago after a prolonged legal battle with the company over terms of the CWA-Verizon card check organizing agreement negotiated in 2000.
The first settlement provides across-the-board base wage increases of 4 percent immediately and 3.5 percent each subsequent year, together with a substantially improved commission plan for sales reps.
For artists and clerical staff, the pact sets up a 5-year wage progression schedule. For some employees with salaries higher than the top progression rates, a "market range" salary category is created, with the top of the market range increasing by 1.5 percent a year. Market range employees will receive the annual percentage increase in their base pay, however those with salaries higher than the market range will be paid the annual increase as a lump sum.
The agreement calls for a new performance review program with major improvements over a plan that management had unilaterally imposed last year, which employees viewed as abusive and unfair.
The agreement provides that management can't shift benefit costs for the medical and dental plan - as it has done in the past - and guarantees no decreases in contributions to the cash balance pension and 401(k) savings match. It also locks in such benefits as the severance program, adoption assistance, tuition assistance, short-term disability, leaves of absence, basic life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.
Other highlights include a grievance and arbitration procedure and creation of a Common Interest Forum to foster a dialogue over workplace disputes and concerns such as safety and health, work and family needs, and training and education opportunities.
Throughout their organizing and bargaining struggle - talks began last May - the VIS workers conducted widespread worksite activities including marching in to work together, informational picketing, organized phone calling to top VIS and Verizon officials, and wearing stickers and red shirts.
Frustrated by slow bargaining progress in the 20 separate sets of talks, the workers voted strike authorization and received the Executive Board's approval last October. The pace picked up shortly afterward when VIS agreed to bargain at the senior management level with leaders from CWA Districts 1, 2 and 13 to establish a model agreement.
Once ratified, the model agreement will apply to all 21 units (workers in Charleston, W.Va. recently became the 21st office to organize). Duration of the local agreements will vary from 32 to 44 months.