Verizon Communications Inc. workers
voted to give two unions permission to call a strike of their
80,000 members if contract talks with the company break down.
Members of the Communication Workers of America passed a
measure to call work a stoppage “if (union officials) deem it
necessary,” the CWA said in a statement. The International
Brotherhood of Electric Workers approved a similar strike
authorization, the IBEW said in a faxed statement. Both measures
passed with 92 percent of the vote.
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The unions want to keep pressure on New York-based Verizon,
the largest U.S. local-telephone company, as it negotiates new
contracts for 80,000 union workers. Negotiations between Verizon
and the unions have focused on employee health benefits,
absenteeism and job security.
Verizon spokesman John Bonamo said the strike authorization
votes are expected events in the negotiation process.
For a strike to take place, the CWA’s 20-member executive
board must authorize CWA President Morton Bahr to call the
strike, and the 10-member IBEW negotiating committee would have
to decide whether Verizon workers in Rhode Island, Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont strike.
The IBEW will join the CWA next Monday in Rye Town, New
York, for labor negotiations, IBEW spokesman Paul Feeney said.
Back on the Job
Last week an arbitrator ordered Verizon to rehire 2,300
fired workers in New York because the business conditions cited
for the cuts didn’t meet contract criteria. A similar ruling was
issued last week for 1,100 fired workers in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and
Maine.
The ruling may encourage the unions to keep in place
contract terms that make it hard for Verizon to fire people,
analysts have said.
Verizon is seeking concessions in labor agreements that will
enable them to change an employee’s geographic location and job
duties to help fit the company’s business needs, Bonamo said in a
phone interview.
The company has sent letters to the 3,400 employees eligible
to be rehired. They have until July 30 to accept the positions.
Verizon slashed 18,000 U.S. jobs in the year ended in March,
leaving it with roughly 227,000 employees, after it lost local-
phone lines to competitors and total revenue growth slowed.
Bloomberg News
