May 12, 2006 - Please post & share

Securing the Future for All Verizon Workers

Field reports confirm that Verizon is using non-union VZ Business to do bargaining unit work, pitting workers against workers. We've found examples of clerical, tech, service, and operator work that is being shifted out of the bargaining unit, including:

  • In Florida, IBEW L. 824 has been notified that the work for about six jobs in the MC3 Maintenance group will be going to Verizon Business. The work involves maintenance quotes and agreements for to Verizon Select Services (VSSI) customers.
  • The company has not responded to data requests asking how workers in Wholesale will be affected since former MCI customers will no longer be getting service from a third party.
  • A Verizon Business tech reports that 90% of his work is residential. (We're not disclosing the location to protect the technician from retribution.)
  • Verizon Business workers are co-located with union members in central offices and other work locations doing similar -- or exactly the same -- work as bargaining unit members.
  • In Washington state, IBEW L. 89 tech work for Washington Mutual bank will be performed by VZ Business employees.
  • 19 clerical jobs were eliminated when account execs were moved to VZ Business.
  • Nine conference operator positions will be eliminated as Verizon switches to using MCI’s conference bridging.

  • If small and medium business customers purchase MCI platform products, such as VoIP, their DA and operator calls will be handled by MCI’s operators.

Fighting Back
We're filing grievances and pursuing other strategies to force the company to live up to its contracts. We delivered a message to Ivan on the day of the shareholders meeting (see story below).  You'll also be hearing from your local about mobilization actions as we go forward.  In the meantime, let your managers know that we won't stand by while Verizon tries to contain the union presence and bring down union standards instead of bringing up the standard of living for all communications workers.


Thanks, and Keep 'Em Coming

Thanks for the reports you've sent in so far! This information is crucial in helping us document bargaining unit work being shifted to VZ Business.

Please report any examples of existing VZ Enterprise or Wholesale (now combined as Verizon Partner Solutions) work that has been shifted to VZ Business, or work that would have come to the bargaining unit in the past but is now going directly to VZ Business.

Also, please identify any business process, location, CO, or customer premise where our work is co-located with VZ Business, including plant.

Send the information to unityatverizon@cwa-union.org

VZ Business employees:

Don't stand for inferior treatment!

Join with us and protect wages, benefits, job security, and working conditions for all Verizon workers.

To learn more, visit us on the web at www.cwa-union.org/verizon or contact CWA at 800-424-2872 or organize@cwa-union.org

You can also download this brochure to get more information:

Download "Welcome, MCI Employees!"
[Acrobat 188K]

Union Members:

Download the brochure and talk to former MCI employees about the benefits of organizing.

(For bulk copies, contact Sarah Splitt, splitt@cwa-union.org or 202-434-1431)

Managers Fight Pension Freeze

The freeze is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2006. Tell Ivan that it's not too late to change course and STOP THE FREEZE!

Check out our sample letter and edit it as you'd like or send it as is.

Seidenberg on the Hot Seat

CWA Locals 6327, 6360 and 6450 joined CWA and IBEW retirees and activists at the Verizon annual meeting outside Kansas City. See other mobilization pix here.

At the annual meeting, Seidenberg faced an outraged audience of workers, retirees, managers, and shareholders. Speakers took Seidenberg to task for his of the company's performance and treatment of pretty much everyone who's not an executive, especially in light of his 48% pay raise and fat pension account.

CWA Locals 6327, 6360, and 6450 from the Kansas City area came out to support Verizon members.

CWA retiree Pam Harrison, chair of the Local 1103 Retired Members Council, argued for a pension increase for retirees. Verizon retirees (depending on which company they retired from) haven't had an increase to their monthly check in 13-15 years. During that time, the cost of living has gone up 38%!

Download the "Wanted for Outrageous Corporate Greed" flyer distributed at the meeting.  [Acrobat 248K]

IBEW L. 2222 Assistant Business Manager Dave Reardon challenged Ivan on the ongoing campaign to shrink the workforce:  "You have shown a clear intent and increased effort to dilute union presence and influence at Verizon."

Reardon also added his voice in favor of pension increases for current retirees: "I would also like to say I find it sinful and malicious that the company is, again, not planning to give retirees, upon whose backs this company was built, any pension increase while you and your cohorts drive home with your 'Brinks trucks' every night."
Verizon execs bring home a Brinks' truck worth of loot every night.

Verizon managers hammered Seidenberg on the freezing of the pension plan and retiree health benefits. Bill Jones, president of BellTel retirees, demanded that the Board of Directors explain what benchmarks Seidenberg had met to merit a pay raise. None answered.  In fact, members of the board of directors who attended the meeting were joking with each other, reading newspapers, and even sleeping.  Way to keep an eye on the company!

See our last issue for reports on shareholder resolutions.

IBEW & CWA Wrestle Verizon to the Ground

The Play-by-Play Action

After the ref blows the whistle, IBEW/CWA and Verizon/MCI match up

 

IBEW/CWA quickly delivers the knockout blow

The audience cheers when the defeated Verizon/MCI is carried away. See the entire rumble here.

While Ivan was being grilled at the annual meeting, union members staged a rumble outside Verizon's Boston HQ and let the company know that its plans to keep Verizon Business/MCI non-union won't fly.

While the grudge match unfolded, signs reminded members of some of the past "rounds" we've won in New England.

In This Corner . . .
   
Round 1 - 1989 - Union Workers vs. NYNEX
Purse: Healthcare coverage
Winner: Union workers
Round 2 - 1993 - Union Workers vs. Bell Atlantic
Purse: Removal of contractors
Winner: Union workers
Round 3 - 2000 - Union Workers vs. Verizon
Purse: Stopping movement of work
Winner: Union workers
Round 4 - 2006 - Union Workers vs. MCI
Purse: Keeping union jobs union

Who will win? It's up to you.
Get active. Get involved. 

 

[Editor's note: We could add plenty of other "rounds" that went to union workers across Verizon: winning the North Carolina strike in 2000; the 2005 contract mobilization campaign in North Central; the 1995 "Larry the Contractor" mobilization at the former Bell Atlantic, and many more.]

VZ Trying to Sell 5 Million Lines in
New England and North Central

Verizon has put 5 million lines on the auction block in 2 lots.

  • Lot #1: Access lines in three entire states: Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 1.6 million lines, value estimated at $2-3 billion.
  • Lot #2: 3.4 million access lines in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan with estimated value of $4-5 billion.
  • Verizon is pursuing these sales for 3 primary reasons:
    1. Raising cash for FiOS
    2. Raising cash to buy Vodafone's 45% share of Verizon Wireless
    3. Dumping lines in areas where Verizon doesn't plan to upgrade to fiber, which means that those customers will generate less revenue
  • Possible buyers include CenturyTel and Citizens, both of which have CWA and IBEW bargaining units.
  • Verizon may have trouble finding buyers at its asking price, especially since Verizon is looking for a deal with a complicated structure that would limit the taxes Verizon would have to pay on proceeds from the sale.

We have grave concerns about potential "rural redlining" that would hurt both consumers and union members. Rural areas have less access to high-speed broadband because it does not yet pay for providers to invest in these areas. The Vermont Public Service Commission has already announced that it will look closely at any deal, particularly one involving Citizens, which "does not have a good track record with Vermont regulators." 

In 2004, we determined that Verizon's proposed sale of 2.6 million lines in upstate New York would be a disaster for workers and consumers. After a union campaign of letter-writing, lobbying, rallying and mobilizing, Verizon dropped its attempt to find a buyer. Read more.

In that campaign, CWA outlined some key principles before the state legislature:

  • adequate investment in maintaining the existing copper wire public switched telephone network -- a network, it is worth remembering, that the vast majority of telecommunications consumers currently depend on, and that millions of customers will continue to depend on for decades to come
  • adequate safeguards to ensure that all telecommunications customers will enjoy continued, high-quality universal service.
  • pay sufficient attention to the economic development implications of universal high-speed broadband rollout in underserved regions and communities, a rollout that is necessary to ensure that all have a fighting chance to participate in the new information-based, high technology economy.
  • consider the impacts of the evolving telecommunications industry on the creation and preservation of good, family-supporting jobs across the state

Web links in this issue:

Visit Unity@Verizon on the web for more:

If you'd rather receive only periodic updates when we need you to take action or there's significant news, please reply to this message and tell us "periodic."

(What's happening in your area?
Send information and photos to unityatverizon@cwa-union.org and we'll publish them here.)

Fighting for Verizon's Future:
Hometown Jobs & Quality Service

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