Verizon Regional Bargaining Report # 30

The Bargaining committee met with the company today to reject its proposal from yesterday’s meeting. The company was also advised that since they had rejected our comprehensive proposal then all of our individual proposals were back on the table. While at the meeting the committee took the time to express our anger and disgust over the lack of any significant movement from the company since we started meeting in June. It will soon be September and our members will not go through a bargaining session lasting 15 months like last time. This company must get serious at the table.

In data obtained from the company, we identified substantial contracting out in all of our call centers. We told them if they want to get somewhere in this bargaining than they needed to start talking about adding jobs throughout our entire footprint to ensure that work is done in our centers, including fully staffing every center the company has identified as potentially being on the chopping block. We also identified the huge problems our members would face in those targeted centers, by forcing those members to the closest center, using Southwest Virginia as an example. We told the company we would never agree to forcing members hundreds and hundreds of miles away from their home especially when so much of our work is being contracted out. We also identified information that the company has still not provided making it extremely difficult to have an open and above board discussion on several issues.

Mobilization should be going on throughout our entire footprint. The bargaining team will continue to tell this company that we will not accept their retrogressive demands that would devastate most of our member’s lives. This will only work if the company understands that all of you are in this fight. Keep mobilizing, keep fighting and together we will win.