June 16, 2008 To: Verizon-East
Local Presidents
Of course, there are other issues at stake in these negotiations, and none is more critical than the jobs of the future. We need to make sure our members understand that protecting our jobs is as important as protecting our benefits. Bringing in the best contract in the world won't mean much if the bargaining unit keeps shrinking until we end up with no work. As you know, that's the course Verizon has been on: offering surpluses and backfilling with contractors; defining our work more and more narrowly; using call centers in Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, and India; moving bargaining unit work to lower-wage, lower-benefit workers at Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless; and busting organizing campaigns. This is how Verizon has shrunk the percentage of revenue that comes from union operations from 70% in 2002 to just 30%. This decline in union work has come even as FiOS has expanded. FiOS has provided a great opportunity for our members, and its revenues will increase. As the telecom industry continues to be reshaped by technology, we must ensure that future opportunities will also be ours. Voice, video, and data have already converged in many respects, and wireline and wireless are moving in that direction as well. Verizon has announced that it will use a technology called LTE (long-term evolution) for its 4G network. Verizon's Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch says that the LTE network "will be the first that truly bridges Verizon's wireline and wireless businesses. . . . The LTE network, however, will bring true broadband speeds, off of which Verizon can hang services it has always reserved for wireline." (We've attached a short article laying out some of Verizon's plans on LTE. It's also available at http://telephonyonline.com/wireless/news/lte_verizon_vzw_120307)  That future network and any other
evolution of the technology must be done by bargaining unit
employees under our existing collective bargaining agreements.
We must bring current non-union jobs into our bargaining units
and prevent Verizon from setting up more non-union subsidiaries
in the future.
The bottom line is that as Verizon grows, so should we. The wages and benefits we have fought so hard for will be secure only when future jobs at Verizon are secure. Please make sure your members understand how important it is that we protect the jobs of the future in this round of negotiations. We need to show the company that we are just as serious about this as we are about protecting our health care benefits. In Unity,
c: Verizon-West Local Presidents |
Much of our focus leading up to
bargaining has been on our health care. The bargaining
committees are working hard on an agreement that protects our
health care and other benefits.