Frontier WV/VA Strike Report 3

Since day one of the strike, the CWA Bargaining Committee has been available to meet 24/7.  On day seven, a Company Representative reached out to the Union and expressed an interest in trying to identify outstanding issues in the hopes of moving towards an agreement and settlement of the strike.  The Union Representative and Company Representative met Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week and discussed a possible path forward.  It was agreed the Union and Company Bargaining Committees would meet today to attempt to resolve the outstanding issues and reach an agreement for a successful contract and a conclusion to this strike. Upon meeting with the Company this morning, the Company presented a settlement package that not only didn’t resolve any outstanding issues, but added three additional issues to the table.

One of the added items is an attack on our Ashburn, Virginia Network Operation Center and the elimination of the employment security they have today.  A second was the addition of a healthcare proposal that is worse than the proposal for the prescription drug plan than the proposal on the table at the expiration of the contract. The third is the addition of a third-tier consultant to the call center in Charleston.

The Union caucused then returned to the table in the afternoon.  During the afternoon meeting, the Company amended the settlement package to include the withdrawal of the Contracting Initiatives letter that threatened Operators, Assignment Administrators, Maintenance Administrators and Engineering Assistants.  The Union rejected each and every one of the Company’s newly proposed demands.  We told the Company we are not agreeing to eliminate the employment security or our members in Ashburn.  We will not add an additional tier to the call center for consultants in Charleston.  The Company’s proposal to now add an even worse prescription drug plan which the Company could not explain was blatantly regressive bargaining.  We rejected language increasing the 0.7% language to 25 per year.  The Union restated all of our demands still on the table including Employment Security for all members. 

After almost two weeks of this strike it is clear to your bargaining team the Company neither cares about nor is in any hurry to reach an agreement that will end this strike and put our members back to work to service our customers.  Each and every member needs to double and re-double your efforts to demonstrate to this company that we are going to continue to fight until we achieve a fair contract that protects the jobs of our members and provides a quality network for our customers. This strike has received nationwide support from CWA and other union members across the country. We will continue ratcheting up the pressure from the membership, the public, and elected officials until the Company comes to the table and secures our members jobs and invests in the quality network our customers deserve.

STAY STRONG!  WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN!

#cwawvstrong #1u #cwa2222 #cwastrong #fightingforourfuture