CWA News Release: Frontier West Virginia - 3rd Contract Extension

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Elaine Harris, CWA International Representative
(304) 541-7293 
eharris@cwa-union.org

Frontier Contract Extended Until April 5, 2014
Negotiations Continue after Third Contract Extension

Today the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Frontier Communications announced a third extension, until April 5, 2014, to the current labor contract. The contract covers more than 1600 employees in West Virginia.

The original labor contract expired on August 2, 2013, but Frontier requested an extension until October 12, 2013 to which CWA agreed. The union and company still had many unresolved issues by October 12 and agreed upon a second extension until January 18, 2014.

In light of the second contract extension expiring yesterday at midnight CWA and Frontier have announced a third contract extension which extends the labor agreement until midnight on April 5, 2014.

Agreements have not yet been reached between the union and the company on critical agenda items, and both sides felt they would be unable to complete negotiations by the deadline. The recent water crisis also necessitated the cancelations of scheduled contract talks and caused further delays.

Negotiations between the union and company will continue in the coming weeks. The contract under negotiation covers former Verizon employees who became Frontier employees when Frontier Communications purchased Verizon’s landlines in West Virginia as part of a multi-state, $8.6 billion dollar deal in 2009.

“We felt an extension was the best solution for both our members and the company,” said CWA International Representative Elaine Harris. “The extension alleviates a bit of stress for our members and allows us to continue to negotiate diligently on issues of vital concern to them.”

The employees, represented by CWA, have been negotiating a new contract with Frontier for the past eight months.

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Communications Workers of America