Union relations help spark company’s recent fiber-optic expansion in R.I.
The business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2323, William McGowan, has nothing but good things to say about Verizon, a company with which he negotiates labor contracts.
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Donna Cupelo, Verizon’s president for the Rhode Island and Massachusetts region, says the relationship between Verizon and the union is the best in the country.
It hasn’t always been this way and there are still occasional setbacks, but the newfound alliance factored into Verizon’s decision to deploy its broadband fiber-optic network in Rhode Island and base its New England region Fiber Solutions Center in the state.
Verizon is investing millions in infrastructure and employee training in Rhode Island at its Providence location – one of 28 locations in the country that the company could have based the operations.
Verizon began deploying its fiber-to-the-premises, FTTP, network in Rhode Island and launched a call center, the Fiber Solutions Center, in Providence in January that will add 350 local jobs over the next few years.
“When we were deciding where to locate our center, we had to consider the labor situation and it was a factor,” said Cupelo.
Tax credit programs – the Job Training Credit and the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit – were also major incentives for Verizon to base operations in Rhode Island.
“Verizon could have taken their business to another state. To get their investment here, there has to be a good climate – both with labor and the General Assembly,” said McGowan, who is also a former state representative from Warwick. “As a union leader, I have to have a bit of vision and a good relationship with employers.”
IBEW represents 1,000 electrical workers in Rhode Island, many of them employed by Verizon.
After the IBEW workers install the FTTP network, they will also maintain the system and work in technical support at the Fiber Solutions Center. Pay for the jobs starts around $1,000 per 40-hour week with fully paid health benefits.
McGowan worked with Verizon to keep their health insurance costs down by developing a plan to encourage employees to use generic versions of drugs, requiring the use of primary-care physicians and increased the co-pay on emergency room visits to discourage needless visits in cases where a regular doctor is a better option, he said.
The IBEW has a collective bargaining agreement with Verizon that extends through 2008. Under the terms set in 2003, Verizon cannot hire outside contractors and workers are considered Verizon employees. Those working at the Fiber Solutions Center and doing the FTTP installations will get three weeks of expense paid training at the Community College of Rhode Island on company time.
“There have been many retirements in the last few years so we have a new work force. If we continue on the path unions often follow, those jobs may not be renewed (when the contract is up in 2008). We give the company flexibility and they give us the training to take our workers into the future,” McGowan said.
Cupelo said because Rhode Island is the most penetrated state in the country in terms of broadband communication, having a competent, dedicated work force gives the company a competitive edge.
“It wasn’t always the case that labor relations in the state were good. We went through many years of trying to figure it out,” Cupelo said.
The demand for electrical and electronic goods is expected to keep increasing, but foreign competition for those products and increasing use of labor in those countries will limit employment opportunities for workers in the future, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
The loss of jobs to foreign countries highlights the need for a positive union-employer climate in the United States, McGowan said.
“If (unions and employers) keep negotiating the same way it always has, we’ll keep losing jobs,” McGowan said.
