(The Citizens’ Voice published the following story by Elizabeth Skrapits on its website on August 18.)
WILKES BARRE, Pa. — Contract negotiations between Verizon telecommunications company and employee unions may resume Monday; in the meantime, discontent of union employees is growing.
The negotiations are taking place in Rye, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. with a federal mediator working with the company and the two unions, the Communication Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said both sides were scheduled to get together with the mediator on Friday, but the meeting was canceled because of the blackout in the northeast.
Edward Mooney, vice president of the statewide local of the CWA in Philadelphia, said a conference call is scheduled for Monday so the parties could either set new dates or figure out what they are going to do.
“There’s been progress on some levels, but none of the major issues have been resolved,” he said.
These include healthcare, absenteeism, employment security and company flexibility.
Mitchell said the unions are planning a boycott of Verizon services by asking customers to switch to competitors, mainly AT&T.
Mooney called it a “carrier switch program” instead of a boycott. He said the plan is to encourage other AFL-CIO members and the general public to fill out a pledge card that would give the unions authorization to change from Verizon to AT&T or another union carrier in their area. In locations where Verizon does not have competition from a union carrier, the unions are encouraging customers to drop enhanced services such as caller ID, call forwarding and voice mail.
Mitchell criticized the plan, stating it meant less work for employees, who would only be hurting themselves.
“If Verizon stock declines, then it only follows that the union’s $2.7 billion investment in Verizon declines,” Mitchell said. “This boycott is just an idea that can ultimately really hurt the very members the CWA leadership claims to be supporting and looking out for.”
Mooney countered, “It’s nice of them to be concerned about their workers after they laid 3,400 of them off.”
He explained that this happened last December, but after arbitration, the company was ordered to reinstate the employees. Now Verizon wants to lay them off again, which he said is one sticking point in negotiations.
“While they’re doing this, people are leaving voluntarily and through other incentive offers to retire,” Mooney said, “Over the past few weeks, Verizon workers are not only working maximum overtime, but the company is looking for us as a union to lift the cap of eight hours of overtime … just to keep up with the workload. But at the bargaining table they’re saying they don’t even need these employees.”
Mooney said the union would present the company with copies of the documents before making the change to other companies.
“Do they want to lose a couple billion dollars in revenue, or do they want to negotiate a fair contract that protects our members and secures their jobs by keeping the customers?” he asked, noting that people who switch see what the company is doing with its revenues and are not pleased.
Nor is Mooney concerned that customers would decide not to go back to Verizon.
“They’ll switch back. We did this in 1995,” he said confidently. “In 1995 there was no local competition. We didn’t have to make the switch because the contract was settled.”
“Antics such as this boycott campaign are not going to get the job done. The job is going to get done face-to-face at the bargaining table,” Mitchell said. “We remain committed to getting an agreement that is fair and equitable to our employees, that will keep them among the highest paid and compensated in the industry and also gives Verizon the cost structure that we need to continue to succeed.”
“They know what it’s going to take to settle this contract,” Mooney said of Verizon.
Mooney said the unions are holding out for solid job security language in the contract. They are also “not agreeing to a shift in healthcare costs because the company can’t substantiate the need for one.”
In addition, the unions want organizing rights for Verizon Wireless and Verizon Data Solutions, neither of which is unionized; Mooney said it is a matter of public record that whenever anyone from those divisions expresses a desire to join, the company threatens or fires them.
The unions are remaining on notice for a strike at any time. Employees have been working without a contract since midnight Aug. 2.