Verizon Unions Strike as Contract Talks Fail
By Devin Banerjee - Aug 7, 2011 2:01 AM ET .
As many as 45,000 Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) workers began a strike after failing to reach agreement on a new contract with the second-largest U.S. telephone company. The contract expired yesterday at midnight.
“Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families,” the Communications Workers of America said in a statement.
The strike, which began when the old contract expired yesterday at midnight, may delay service calls and disrupt installations for telephone and Internet service. The company has trained more than 40,000 managers and contractors to step into the roles of union workers, said Richard Young, a Verizon spokesman.
“We are confident that we have the talent and resources in place to meet the needs and demands of our customers,” Mark Reed, Verizon’s executive vice president of human resources, said in a statement.
The New York-based company began negotiating with more than 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in July over terms of a contract to replace one that expired yesterday. A proposal to change health-care benefits is one of the issues to be resolved, with the company and unions remaining sharply divided.
Sticking Point
Verizon wants workers to contribute more for health insurance, including paying monthly premiums for the first time, while the unions say their members can’t accept the financial burden, given the current economy.
“We’re looking to bring our union more in line with what the rest of the workers pay,” Young said last week in an interview, adding that about 130,000 of the company’s approximately 196,000 employees already contribute to health- insurance premiums. The company also wants to increase co- payments and deductibles for union workers.
Ron Collins, the CWA’s chief of staff, last month called the proposal a “radical change.” Verizon is a profitable company that pays senior executives well and isn’t in danger of going out of business, said Bob Master, a legislative and political director for the CWA.
“We remain ready to meet with Verizon to work out a fair agreement,” the IBEW said in a statement calling the strike. “But at this point, we had no choice.”
The CWA said talks between the unions and the company will continue, and that workers are prepared to “continue the fight” until the two sides reach an agreement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-07/verizon-says-contract-talks-broke-down-unions-to-call-strike.html
DO SOMETHING!
| 
