Bargaining re-starts
7LUHG
RI
%HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWLF
:RUNLQJ
LQ
3$,1"
0RVW,QVXUDQFH
3ODQV$FFHSWHG
3 528'/< 6 (59,1*
3 257/$1' : 25.(56
) 25 2 9(5 < ($56
PAGE 22
KHOSVEULQJWKH
UHOLHI\RXQHHG
7UHDWPHQWIRUSDLQGXHWR
RYHUXVHDQGUHSHWLWLYHPRWLRQ
&KLURSUDFWLFDGMXVWPHQWV
7UHDWPHQWIRUDFFLGHQWDQG
VSRUWVUHODWHGLQMXULHV
5HKDELOLWDWLRQH[HUFLVHV
7KHUDSHXWLFPDVVDJH
,QWHUQDOGLDJQRVLVDQGWUHDWPHQW
/DEWHVWVDQG[UD\V
'U'DQ%HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWRU
6(7KLUWHHQWK$YHLQ6HOOZRRG
&$//
Unions return to work at Verizon
NEW YORK (PAI) — Some
45,000 unionized Verizon workers,
members of the Communications
Workers (CWA) and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW) returned to work at a minute
past midnight Aug. 23, ending their
two-week strike. The old contract was
reinstated, pending the outcome of re-
started bargaining between the tele-
com firm and the two unions.
“We have reached agreement with
Verizon on how bargaining will pro-
ceed and how it will be restructured.
The major issues remain to be dis-
cussed, but overall, issues now are fo-
cused and narrowed,” the two unions
said in a statement three days before.
“We appreciate the unity of our
members and the support of so many
in the greater community. Now we
will focus on bargaining fairly and
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
moving forward,” they added.
The unions did not say what big is-
sues are still on the table, but Verizon
demanded huge changes in health
care coverage and pensions, among
others. It also did not want to retrain
landline workers in newer technolo-
gies.
But in an indication that not all was
hunky-dory, CWA, just two days be-
fore the return to work — and after
the two sides agreed to do so — de-
manded Verizon renounce a statement
by Company Vice President for Hu-
man Resources Marc Reed that con-
tained crowing.
Reed claimed the unions “agreed
to bargain in good faith” when, as
records previously provided by CWA
and IBEW show, the situation before
talks broke off was exactly the other
way around.
The unions were willing to bar-
gain, but Verizon had not budged from
demands that would have cost each
worker $20,000 a year — or $1 billion
in givebacks overall.
The two-week strike was marked
by mass outpouring of union and
community support for the workers
nationwide. Though Verizon’s main
coverage area runs from Maine
through Virginia, informational picket
lines sprang up at more than 400 Veri-
zon facilities nationwide, including
Portland, Seattle, and Honolulu,
Hawaii.
Community groups, realizing the
Verizon workers are fighting for mid-
dle-class jobs, joined the protests.
Some politicians, including Sen. Ben
Cardin, D-Md., joined the picket
lines.
Details of the return-to-work
agreement include “indefinite exten-
sion” of the current contracts between
Verizon and the two unions. But either
side, on seven days notice, may end
the old contracts, starting a month af-
ter the return to work.
The two sides also set up a process
to resolve company claims of pick-
eters’ alleged law-breaking — and
CWA had previously issued a strong
statement to its own members criticiz-
ing those scattered incidents.
Both sides agreed to dump Na-
tional Labor Relations Board com-
plaints, court suits, and other legal ac-
tions against each other, except that
the unions can still file unfair labor
practices charges with the NLRB
against Verizon for incidents of com-
pany “retaliation for protected activ-
ity” that occurred before unions and
Verizon signed the back-to-work pact.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
