West Va. Workers Leaflet Frontier Board, Fight for Coworkers Nationwide

Expressing the solidarity of CWA-represented workers at Frontier Communications around the country, Local 2001 members in West Virginia distributed an open letter to Frontier board members as they gathered for their quarterly meeting in Charleston this week.

Contracts at Frontier expired in December in North Carolina and last month in Rochester, N.Y., and workers are concerned about the slow pace of new contract talks. "It all comes down to simply maintaining quality jobs and benefits," said CWA Local 1170 President John Pusloskie, who leads the union’s bargaining team in Rochester.

During the next five months, six more contracts will expire, including two in West Virginia. "We felt it was important to let the board know that workers around the country from both the new and the old Frontier have serious concerns about their jobs," CWA Representative Elaine Harris said.

The open letter to Frontier board members thanked them for meeting in West Virginia, where Frontier bought out Verizon last year.

"We applaud your show of commitment to this state," the letter stated. "However, while you meet, bargaining is taking place in Rochester, N.Y. with CWA representing about 450 'Legacy' Frontier workers. These workers helped build this company and helped bring it to the point in which you could create the new, larger Frontier Communications. They deserve to have a secure future with the new Frontier."