Verizon Bargaining 2011: Report # 5

CWA Districts 1, 2, & 13 and the IBEW Locals 827 and 1944 Regional Bargaining Team met with the Company today in Philadelphia. CWA District 1 / IBEW Local 2213 Regional and Local Bargaining Teams, as well as the IBEW New England Committees met with the Company today at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, NY. Your Union Bargaining teams collectively have decades of bargaining experience. In all of our experience we have never seen such an aggressive agenda as the package of proposals the Company brought to the table today. Verizon has made it clear they want to take away almost every protection we have as Union workers.

Verizon made the following demands:

Wages:

 Wages - both annual and progression increases will be tied to your yearly evaluation. If you receive a “Does Not Meet Position Requirements” you will not receive an increase.

 Eliminate Night and Saturday Differential

 Eliminate Sunday premium pay.

 Eliminate Double Time for hours worked past 49 in a week

 Eliminate all Overtime Caps.

 Eliminate city allowances.

 Create new job titles for the consumer and business call centers that would work on a commission based wage schedule.

Pensions:

 Eliminate pension accruals. For anyone currently on the payroll your pension will be frozen as of December 31, 2011 and after that, there will be no more pension plan.

 Eliminate the Pension Cash-Out option.

 Modify the 401(k) Plan and the CPS.

 Eliminate the Sickness Death Benefit.

Benefits:

 Eliminate the current health care, prescription, dental, and vision plans and offer plans with high deductibles and contributions.

 Eliminate accident disability benefits.

 Cut in half the sickness disability benefits.

 Reduce sick time pay to 5 days per year for those members with 20 or more years, 4 days for those with 15 - 20 years, 3 days for those with 7- 15 years, 2 days for those with 2 – 7 years and 0 days for those with less than 2 years.

 Reduce Paid Holidays to seven.

Job Security:

 Eliminate the Job Security Provisions for all employees.

 Eliminate the Movement of Work Protection

 Eliminate the 35 mile transfer provision

 Eliminate provisions in Force Adjustment Plan

 Eliminate New Contracting Initiatives agreement – which would allow them to increase the level of contracting

Other:

 Eliminate the vacation allocation of 18% and eliminate short notice excused work days

 Eliminate the half day on Christmas Eve

 Reduce the notice to the Union on Major technological changes from 6 months to 30 days

 Eliminate many of the programs and letters of understanding including the ACFC, ACHC, TABEC, Stress Letter and restrictions on Monitoring.

This is not a Company facing a financial crisis. They are extremely profitable. This is not a Company coming to its union employees seeking ways to work together to face the challenges of the future. Their proposals seek to destroy our future.

We need to send a very clear message that this is not acceptable, that we will not be passive as they seek to gut our contract.

Districts 1, 2, and 13 as well as the IBEW in New York, New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania stand unified and ready to fight.

We stand unified and ready to fight for your Wages, Benefits and Working Conditions.

We stand unified and ready to fight for the middle class standard of living that you have earned and rightfully deserve to keep.

Now more than ever we need to mobilize!

Mobilize! - Mobilize! - Mobilize!