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August 14, 2008
Verizon Settlement Provides New Union Jobs, Preserves Health Security
The new tentative three-year settlement with Verizon reached on Aug. 10 achieves CWA's goals of creating union jobs, securing fully paid health benefits for both active and retired workers and boosting wages and pensions for 65,000 workers in the northeast and mid-Atlantic. The settlement creates at least 2,500 new jobs by eliminating subcontracting in a number of job areas, converting 1,200 temporary and part-time jobs to permanent, and bringing additional FiOS jobs into the bargaining units. FiOS head end technicians for TV services are now represented and Verizon agreed that union techs will perform all installation. In a breakthrough agreement, Verizon agreed to extend recognition to 600 former MCI techs at Verizon Business who have been seeking union representation for nearly two years, with strong support from CWA and IBEW members who have campaigned to "tear down the wall" between union and non-union parts of the company. The settlement also guarantees that medium and small business commercial work will be done exclusively by union members, and the company agreed to bring new Verizon Business work equivalent to 200 new jobs to union-represented locations. Verizon agreed to meet with CWA and IBEW leaders at least three times a year to discuss jobs issues. "This is an important step," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "We're not going to wait around and just talk about all the changes and new technologies and job issues every three years. We're going to make this a meaningful ongoing process." The settlement preserves fully-paid health care premiums for all active and retired workers over the course of the contract. For new hires, retiree health benefits will be covered by a new defined contribution plan with the amount of contributions to be negotiated in each future contract. In addition, Verizon agreed to work with the unions in a joint effort to achieve national health care reform with universal coverage, and to provide $2 million a year to fund the project. Wages and pension bands will increase by 3.25 percent immediately, 3.5 percent the second year and 3.75 percent the third, delivering a compounded total of 10.87 percent. The pact includes a COLA effective Aug. 1, 2010, that would apply to wages if the CPI exceeds 3.75 percent between May 2009 and May 2010. The pension lump sum cashout remains in the contract with no change in the formula for calculating the amount. "This is a breakthrough agreement in many ways," said Cohen. "It creates new union jobs including major growth areas like FiOS, it takes a big step forward on health care and brings hundreds of Verizon Business employees the union rights they deserve." He said the settlement "provides a framework for growth at Verizon and a good standard of living with careers for our members." Members of the combined CWA-IBEW bargaining committee, speaking for regional bargaining teams in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, stated: "The involvement and mobilization of tens of thousands of our members made a huge difference in these negotiations. All of us together showed our strength, our commitment, our determination to get the best possible agreement." Locals Link Health Care, Election to Million Member Mobilization
The number of CWAers signing on to the Million Member Mobilization for the Employee Free Choice Act is increasing steadily – reaching 26,802 as of Aug. 11 – as local unions have linked the importance of the legislation to the election of pro-worker candidates and critical issues like health care. Last week, over 600 CWA members, retirees and family members
attended an afternoon-long picnic hosted by Local 7200,
Minneapolis, Minn., to draw support for the mobilization.
CWA-backed candidates for Congress – U.S. Senate candidate
Al Franken and U.S. House candidates Ashwin Madia and Elwyn
Tinklenberg, all Democrats – attended the event and spoke
out on the importance that voter turnout in the election has to
the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. An aide to U.S.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and CWA Minnesota State Council President
Tim Lovassen also spoke. Locals that have surpassed their pledge to sign up at 15 percent of their members to the Million Member Mobilization are continuing to sign up supporters, far outpacing their targets. CWA Verizon Local 1108 in Patchogue, N.Y., bested its goal by more than 150 percent by signing up supporters during mobilizations the local carried out to support a fair contract at Verizon. Since last week's Newsletter report, 20 more CWA locals have met or exceeded their goal of signing up 15 percent or more of their members: Dist. 1: 1106, 1108, 51025, Dist. 2: 2007, 2011, 2275, 82173, Dist. 3: 3150, 3176, 3407, 3904, 3907, Dist. 4: 4322, 4378, 4603, Dist. 6: 36047, 86004, Dist. 7: 7603, Dist. 9: 59051, Dist. 13: 13591. Click here, http://www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/localinfo/, for a full listing of locals that have fulfilled their 15 percent pledge. CWA Members Mobilize as Qwest Contract Deadline NearsCWA members at Qwest Communications voted overwhelmingly to give CWA leaders authorization to call a strike if they deem it necessary to reach a fair settlement, with 93 percent of participating members voting for authorization. The vote "demonstrates members' solid support for their bargaining team and their strong determination to achieve a fair settlement with Qwest," said District 7 Vice President Louise Caddell. Meanwhile, negotiations were continuing down to the wire, with the contract covering 20,000 CWA-represented workers set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 17. Members have been mobilizing across the 13 Qwest states. Countdown rallies from Des Moines to Phoenix were planned as the expiration date neared, along with worksite demonstrations of support for the bargaining team. Among critical issues for workers at Qwest are health care and retirement security, quality jobs, and a fair wage increase. CWA represents Qwest workers in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. NABET-CWA Hails New York Ban on 'Non-Compete' Hiring HurdlesAfter years of lobbying New York State lawmakers, NABET-CWA celebrated the passage and signing last week of the Broadcast Employees Freedom to Work Act, lifting restrictions on broadcast workers' flexibility to find new jobs when they leave an employer. The legislation bans "non-compete" restrictions in employment contracts that prohibit TV and radio employees from finding new jobs with a competitor in the same market or within a particular time frame. Such contract hurdles have forced workers to uproot families and relocate to get new employment. NABET-CWA President John S. Clark singled out an officer of Local 25 in Buffalo for special credit in spearheading the lobbying effort. "Broadcast industry workers in New York State should be grateful to Local Vice President Bob Hellwitz for his tireless commitment to passing this law," Clark said. Gov. David Paterson said when he signed the bill on Aug. 6: "The contract provisions we're banning placed an unfair burden on these professionals by limiting their ability to move to other employers. We hope to empower broadcasters with greater independence as they pursue employment options." Training Gets Members Mobilizing for 2009 AT&T BargainingCWA members at AT&T are looking ahead to contract negotiations in early 2009 and training is underway around the country to help put together an action plan for successful negotiations next year. The AT&T training is a project of the Strategic Industries Fund. Local activists and leaders come together to discuss changes at AT&T and in the telecom industry that affect bargaining; how enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act will help members build bargaining power; why national health care reform is the key to maintaining quality benefits and how to build support for mobilization. CWA represents about 170,000 members at AT&T. Districts 6 and 13 already have started rolling out training for AT&T local activists, and District 4 has been combining its health care and AT&T training. The goal is to train at least 10 percent of the membership that works at AT&T, with the majority of training completed by the end of September, said Annie Hill, CWA Executive Vice President. Ed Pinkelman, District 6 area director and coordinator for the AT&T training, said members like the training, "especially younger members who weren't aware of some of the problems we're likely to face in bargaining." The district is moving fast on training and has 12 trainers covering five states, with the goal of training at least 3,400 members, he said. The information in the workbooks is perfect for members because it helps them see what we're up against, especially when it comes to health care and retiree issues, he said. In District 4, Dave Wilson, president of Local 4700, serves as Health Care SIF coordinator and the Indiana representative for the district's AT&T mobilization committee. He said combined AT&T and health care/Employee Free Choice training in Indiana is "getting a very good response. Members are very interested and we've also had a lot of success in signing up new COPE activists at the same time." Participants get documentation, real information on issues that they share in the workplace. "We're giving them a road map to use with coworkers so that our members are prepared for any eventuality." The AT&T training has been coordinated with Jane Philips, Local 4900, and Sharon Smith-Vaughn, Local 4998, who are rolling out the health care/Employee Free Choice training in District 4. IN BRIEF:
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