Potomac Local Bargaining Report #4

Local Bargaining Report #4

Friday July 22, 2011

Negotiations continued at the Local Bargaining table today with management rejecting most of the proposals made by the Union.  The Union committee continued to push forward with our members proposals.  Some of the proposals the Union has passed across the table include the following: 

ü  Limits on management’s ability to freeze laterals and downgrades

ü  Job Posting and Bidding

ü  Elimination of the Workplace Attire Guidelines

ü  Reducing the number of assigned weekends

ü  Stronger Safety Language

ü  Restrictions on temporary assignments and limitations on forced transfers

ü  Stronger layoff language

ü  Improvements to the grievance procedure

ü  Greater flexibility for time off for doctors appointments

ü  Area upgrades

ü  Improvements in the absence for death in the family

ü  Stronger ISP Language 

We have also discussed the possibility for those members who are scheduled to leave the payroll at the end of the year to be able to voluntarily extend their time. 

In the meantime, management continues to push their list of retrogressive demands with the reasoning that we need to accept them in order to save the company.  Following years of mismanagement and treating our customers like dirt, they now expect the people who made this company run to lay down and let them drive right over us. 

Their retrogressive demands are across the board.  Not including the issues at the regional bargaining table such as healthcare and benefits, the local retrogressive demands include items such as the gutting of the Scope Agreement protections we gained three years ago.  They are also coming after our protections concerning temporary assignments, term employees, the grievance procedure, termination allowances, travel allowances; you name it and they want it back. 

The fight is joined sisters and brothers.  This company believes they can jump on the same bandwagon of attacking union represented workers and gutting their wages and working conditions as what we’ve seen in the public workers sector this year.  They are coming after us and they will win this fight unless every one of our members gets involved. 

We still have room on the buses going to New York for the rally on July 30th.  Everyone needs to be on the bus.  Bring your family and let Verizon management know we are bringing the fight to them and they better be ready for the fight of their lives. 

Mobilize!  Mobilize!  Mobilize!