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Verizon East Bargaining Gets Underway
As bargaining got underway for 58,000 CWA members at Verizon East, union negotiators confronted a blizzard of concession demands.
Talks at the Northeast regional table, covering New York and New England, opened June 23 in New York City, with the company handing down a set of demands that included medical cost shifting and attacks on job security that "would permit unlimited subcontracting and transfer of work" as well as other givebacks.
Bargaining for the Mid-Atlantic region opened on June 26 in Washington, D.C. Local issue talks for this portion of the company started in mid-June, and bargainers at these tables also were faced with a huge concessionary agenda from the company. Retrogressive demands included attacks on overtime pay and forced overtime caps, arbitration rights, bumping rights, differentials, sickness absence, use of term employees, force adjustment language, work scheduling and much more.
"Many of these demands would undo protections that our workers struck for in 2000," CWA President Morton Bahr told reporters in a conference call to discuss the talks. "If the company wants to get our members riled up and prepared to strike this year, this is exactly the way to do it."
The current contracts expire Aug. 2. CWA is once again coordinating negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 22,000 Verizon East workers.
Meanwhile, Verizon members nationwide mobilized to send a strong message that CWA members are standing together coast-to-coast. From California to Texas to the East Coast, CWA members leafleted Verizon operations to mark the start of regional bargaining. CWA represents 75,000 Verizon members nationwide including members at former GTE units, now owned by Verizon, where talks will get underway in 2004 and 2005.
Bahr, in his pre-bargaining teleconference with reporters, stressed that the preservation of jobs and access to jobs in the new growth areas of Verizon are key bargaining goals for members. CWA's bargaining goals also include improvements in pensions and retirement security and a fair wage increase that reflects CWA members' increased productivity, he noted.
"What happens at Verizon is important to our members," Bahr said. "We don't want to see service quality suffer because of a lack of investment in plant and equipment and skilled workers, and that's exactly what has been happening. Last year, Verizon cut investment by 39 percent. Ignoring and cutting back on needed repairs affects quality service, as we've seen in the New York region and elsewhere."
Local bargaining began the week of June 16 for the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New England. Several hundred IBEW and CWA members rallied outside Verizon's Boston headquarters to mark the start of local bargaining. They got a boost from several elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch and John Tierney.
Just prior to the start of regional bargaining, the New York State Public Service Commission issued a scathing review of Verizon's service quality performance and called for an independent audit of the company's service failures.
The PSC suspended Verizon's right to raise prices until it can demonstrate that it meets all five of the PSC's service measures for three consecutive months. Commissioners criticized Verizon for not providing New York consumers with the superior quality service they deserve and ordered Verizon to development a plan showing how it will meet these measures through the end of this year.
CWA has been pressing the PSC to address the impact of Verizon's layoffs, job cutbacks and declining investment on service quality. CWA also has been working with State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, whose Assembly committee recently released a report, based on data from Verizon and the PSC, that reinforced CWA's charge that massive workforce reductions and cuts in capital investment have caused quality service to badly deteriorate.
Talks at the Northeast regional table, covering New York and New England, opened June 23 in New York City, with the company handing down a set of demands that included medical cost shifting and attacks on job security that "would permit unlimited subcontracting and transfer of work" as well as other givebacks.
Bargaining for the Mid-Atlantic region opened on June 26 in Washington, D.C. Local issue talks for this portion of the company started in mid-June, and bargainers at these tables also were faced with a huge concessionary agenda from the company. Retrogressive demands included attacks on overtime pay and forced overtime caps, arbitration rights, bumping rights, differentials, sickness absence, use of term employees, force adjustment language, work scheduling and much more.
"Many of these demands would undo protections that our workers struck for in 2000," CWA President Morton Bahr told reporters in a conference call to discuss the talks. "If the company wants to get our members riled up and prepared to strike this year, this is exactly the way to do it."
The current contracts expire Aug. 2. CWA is once again coordinating negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 22,000 Verizon East workers.
Meanwhile, Verizon members nationwide mobilized to send a strong message that CWA members are standing together coast-to-coast. From California to Texas to the East Coast, CWA members leafleted Verizon operations to mark the start of regional bargaining. CWA represents 75,000 Verizon members nationwide including members at former GTE units, now owned by Verizon, where talks will get underway in 2004 and 2005.
Bahr, in his pre-bargaining teleconference with reporters, stressed that the preservation of jobs and access to jobs in the new growth areas of Verizon are key bargaining goals for members. CWA's bargaining goals also include improvements in pensions and retirement security and a fair wage increase that reflects CWA members' increased productivity, he noted.
"What happens at Verizon is important to our members," Bahr said. "We don't want to see service quality suffer because of a lack of investment in plant and equipment and skilled workers, and that's exactly what has been happening. Last year, Verizon cut investment by 39 percent. Ignoring and cutting back on needed repairs affects quality service, as we've seen in the New York region and elsewhere."
Local bargaining began the week of June 16 for the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New England. Several hundred IBEW and CWA members rallied outside Verizon's Boston headquarters to mark the start of local bargaining. They got a boost from several elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch and John Tierney.
Just prior to the start of regional bargaining, the New York State Public Service Commission issued a scathing review of Verizon's service quality performance and called for an independent audit of the company's service failures.
The PSC suspended Verizon's right to raise prices until it can demonstrate that it meets all five of the PSC's service measures for three consecutive months. Commissioners criticized Verizon for not providing New York consumers with the superior quality service they deserve and ordered Verizon to development a plan showing how it will meet these measures through the end of this year.
CWA has been pressing the PSC to address the impact of Verizon's layoffs, job cutbacks and declining investment on service quality. CWA also has been working with State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, whose Assembly committee recently released a report, based on data from Verizon and the PSC, that reinforced CWA's charge that massive workforce reductions and cuts in capital investment have caused quality service to badly deteriorate.