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Verizon Negotiations Continue
As negotiations with Verizon recessed for the Labor Day weekend, CWA activists were busy planning rallies, informational picketing and participation in various Labor Day events in conjunction with the AFL-CIO and allied groups.
The fight for seniority rights for the New York Wireless unit hit the spotlight this week as CWA ran newspaper ads pointing out that these are the only workers in the telecom industry who don't have seniority protection governing layoffs and recalls.
Verizon Wireless tried to get an arbitrator to block CWA's ads, citing the neutrality agreement, but Arbitrator Edwin Benn denied the request for a restraining order on August 27. Benn ruled that the neutrality pact at Wireless applied only to organizing situations, not collective bargaining struggles.
Many issues also remain unresolved in the talks for 78,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and negotiations also are still underway for workers at Verizon Information Systems and Verizon Connected Solutions as well as Wireless.
On August 29, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka invited CWA President Morton Bahr to address state fed and central labor council leaders on a conference call where Trumka urged affiliates to spotlight the Verizon struggle in Labor Day activities.
"This fight is about jobs, organizing rights and the most basic of all union rights - seniority," Bahr told the federation leaders.
The AFL-CIO will help promote the carrier switch campaign at Labor Day events and also will urge elected leaders to sign on to a newspaper ad calling on Verizon to reach a fair settlement.
Thousands of CWA members stood up for the "New York 50" in more than 100 demonstrations at Verizon Wireless stores on August 28, including one demonstration in Burlington, Vt., where former Gov. Howard Dean joined the picketing wearing a red CWA t-shirt. More demonstrations are planned in the days ahead throughout the country.
The fight for seniority rights for the New York Wireless unit hit the spotlight this week as CWA ran newspaper ads pointing out that these are the only workers in the telecom industry who don't have seniority protection governing layoffs and recalls.
Verizon Wireless tried to get an arbitrator to block CWA's ads, citing the neutrality agreement, but Arbitrator Edwin Benn denied the request for a restraining order on August 27. Benn ruled that the neutrality pact at Wireless applied only to organizing situations, not collective bargaining struggles.
Many issues also remain unresolved in the talks for 78,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and negotiations also are still underway for workers at Verizon Information Systems and Verizon Connected Solutions as well as Wireless.
On August 29, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka invited CWA President Morton Bahr to address state fed and central labor council leaders on a conference call where Trumka urged affiliates to spotlight the Verizon struggle in Labor Day activities.
"This fight is about jobs, organizing rights and the most basic of all union rights - seniority," Bahr told the federation leaders.
The AFL-CIO will help promote the carrier switch campaign at Labor Day events and also will urge elected leaders to sign on to a newspaper ad calling on Verizon to reach a fair settlement.
Thousands of CWA members stood up for the "New York 50" in more than 100 demonstrations at Verizon Wireless stores on August 28, including one demonstration in Burlington, Vt., where former Gov. Howard Dean joined the picketing wearing a red CWA t-shirt. More demonstrations are planned in the days ahead throughout the country.