(The Boston Globe published the following story by Peter J. Howe on its website on August 19.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than two weeks after labor contracts expired for 79,200 Verizon Communications workers in the Eastern United States, the phone giant and labor leaders are set to resume negotiations here today under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
Today’s talks would be the first face-to-face meeting in 11 days for the two parties, which had been meeting earlier this month with mediation service director Peter J. Hurtgen, who played a key role in resolving last autumn’s West Coast port workers’ strike.
Verizon, the Communications Workers of America, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers all had no comment on the status of talks or how close they are to an agreement. The unions had threatened to strike Aug. 2, when three-year labor pacts expired, but have opted instead to have workers stay on the job without a contract as they organize other tactics to pressure Verizon to settle. Those include an effort with the AFL-CIO to recruit thousands of labor supporters who would agree to switch phone service to AT&T from Verizon if the unions deem Verizon is pushing for excessive concessions.
The two sides are negotiating over issues including health insurance costs, job security, and job-shifting provisions, and the unions’ desire to get better access to recruit members at Verizon Wireless, where only 50 of 40,000 workers are CWA members.
Hurtgen called for a break in mediated talks on Aug. 8, and last week Verizon and unions were back at local bargaining tables in Washington and Rye, N.Y.
Some industry analysts have speculated that last week’s major power failures in the United States and Canada could create new pressure on both sides to settle, in order to avoid possible disruptions to the dominant local phone network in the Maine-to-Virginia region. While the heavily automated Verizon network could continue operating close to normally, a strike would likely snarl phone repairs and service installations.
But Maribel Dolinov, a Forrester Research telecommunications analyst, said she doubted the recent electric emergency would affect Verizon talks, which she said appear to be making progress.
“This is a long-term agreement they are negotiating. There’s a lot on the line for both sides,” Dolinov said. “I don’t think they’re going to rush it unless somebody’s asking them to, and I don’t see government officials meddling to make anything happen. If they have a situation where they have a national emergency and a strike, I think they’d just order everybody back to work.”