65,000 Workers at Verizon Get Tentative Pact Hours Before Strike

by Mike Hall, Aug 11, 2008

Some 65,000 East Coast workers at Verizon won what union leaders called a “breakthrough agreement,” when negotiators for the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) reached a tentative three-year deal with Verizon yesterday.

The announcement came as the clock was ticking to a midnight deadline and followed a weekend’s worth of worker rallies demanding a fair contract. The new pact promotes union jobs, expands bargaining rights, provides good health care for both active and retired workers and increases wages and pensions. Says CWA President Larry Cohen:

This is a breakthrough agreement in many ways. It creates new union jobs, including major growth areas like FiOS (new fast broadband Internet, television and phone service) it takes a big step forward on health care and it brings hundreds of Verizon Business employees the union rights they deserve.

During the past several weeks, CWA, IBEW and other union members and community supporters held dozens of rallies and demonstrations—including a New York City event that drew more than 6,000—demanding a fair contract. Says IBEW President Edwin Hill:

This agreement is a tribute to the solidarity and activism of IBEW and CWA members working at Verizon. Our members mobilized strong and negotiated hard for a good contract that will benefit workers and their families now and in the future.

Verizon agreed to extend union recognition to 600 former MCI technicians at Verizon Business who have been seeking a voice at work for nearly two years. In addition, it includes new opportunities for union workers to provide customer support and service at Verizon Business.

The tentative deal also could create as many as 2,500 new union jobs by eliminating subcontracting jobs in a number of areas, converting many temporary jobs to permanent and bringing additional jobs associated with Verizon’s cutting edge FiOS technology into the union’s bargaining units.

In the area of health care—a major issue in nearly all contract negotiations as employers seek to cut benefits—the tentative pact preserves fully paid health care premiums for all active and retired employees. Verizon agreed to work with the unions in a joint effort to achieve meaningful health care reform. The company will provide funding of $2 million per year to the project.

The settlement calls for wage and pension increases and maintains the cost of living adjustment from the previous contract.

CWA represents 50,000 workers at Verizon, and IBEW represents another 15,000 in the Northeast.

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