Negotiations Open with Union Overview 

Negotiations opened today between CWA and Verizon North Central. CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach was present along with CWA Representative Crystal Roberts who will chair negotiations and the committee made up of: Jeff Fleshner, President of Local 4270; Tami Drollinger, President of Local 4371; Karl Akers, President of Local 4372; Mike Oliver, President of Local 4671; and Ed Lowdenslager, President of Local 4773.

Vice President Jeff Rechenbach sent a clear and unequivocal message to management that District 4 and our Verizon members were mobilized and united in support of our committee and the effort to get a contract that was fair to our members.

Our bargaining committee presented an overview to management of the key issues in bargaining. The proposals that our committee makes are developed from the input that they got from members' bargaining surveys. In our union, negotiations start and end with our members expressing their views.

The key issues presented to management include:

I. Improved Standard of Living. This includes wages, upgrades, improvements of wage related items, fairness for wage rates within the North Central Contract and more.

II. Employment Security. This includes the issue of layoffs, downgrades, termination allowance and bumping. We also are presenting proposals to assure that the jobs of the future are union jobs.

III. Improved Benefits. This includes improvements to savings plans, pensions and health care for both active and retired employees.

IV. Justice on the Job. This includes issue like: working conditions, time off/vacations and other issues.

This week will be spent in a more detailed review of the union's proposals. We hope to get proposals from management by next week.

These bargaining reports will come out on a regular basis, with the frequency dictated by the pace of bargaining. If these negotiations follow a traditional pace, there will be little 'news' in the early stages, thus these reports will be once a week or so. As the pace increases, the reports will become more frequent.

In mobilization news, members across all five states sent a strong message to management that we are united in support of our CWA bargaining committee. Members wore stickers, tied black ribbons to antennas and even stood up in some centers to express their solidarity. This round of negotiations will have a strong role for a mobilized Verizon membership. Together we can make a difference.

The next report will be on Thursday, December 16, 2004, or sooner should developments warrant.