Verizon Strike: Bargaining Not Going Well, Union Reps Say

Editor's Note: This article is part of an ongoing series.Catch up on the latest news about the Verizon strike here.

Negotiations between Verizon and its striking workers are not going well, union representatives say.

On Tuesday, union leaders with the the CWA District 1/IBEW Local 2213 and IBEW New England Regional Committees reportedly met with the Verizon bargaining team to continue contract talks after 39,000 East Coast workers launched a massive strike earlier this month.

• See related article: Verizon Workers Prep For Massive East Coast Strike

According to union leaders, the latest discussions involved:

• Allegations that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam was seen making “incorrect” statements to picketing workers
• A “heated discussion” regarding transfers

“Verizon executives showed no room to compromise [during Tuesday’s session],” union leaders asserted. “In fact, the company doubled down on pressuring workers to agree to out of state work transfers for months at a time – moves that would drastically upend many families.”

“We also discussed the company’s Article 8 proposal,” union leaders stated. “The company was unsure on how this proposal would affect their employees. We also asked the company if they had anything to address our needs. They said ‘No.’”

Verizon “has not moved off of any of their retrogressive proposal,” union leaders added.

Workers also took umbrage at Verizon’s allegedly “misleading information” about their wages.

“The average salary of the striking Verizon workers is $74,000 a year,” union leaders stated. “Customer service reps average about $69,000 a year, and highly skilled technicians, who install or service FiOS and have five or more years of experience, top out at $84,600 in New York and about $76,000 elsewhere.”

Verizon had previously stated that the striking employees have a wage and benefit package that averages more than $130,000 a year.

“One of the reasons for the company’s inflated figure is overtime pay,” labor leaders allege. “In fact, 10 percent of Verizon’s quoted compensation includes overtime for technicians and customer service representatives who are forced to work longer hours to make up for the company’s understaffing, which includes a 40 percent drop in the last ten years.”

• See related article: Verizon Strike: Why Unions Are Reluctant To Walk Off Job

THE ISSUES

Verizon representatives have claimed that more than 99 percent of the striking employees support the company’s wireline business, which in 2015, contributed about 29 percent of Verizon’s revenue but less than seven percent of its operating income.

According to Verizon, offered terms of its wireline contract proposal include:

• A 6.5 percent wage increase over the term of the contract
• “Competitive retirement benefits” including a 401K with a company match

Verizon spokespeople also said that the current proposal includes “structural changes” to its health plan due to rising healthcare costs.

However, union leaders are alleging that even though Verizon made $39 billion in profits over the last three years, the company wants to “gut job security protections, contract out more work and send jobs overseas, and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families.”

The corporate giant is also refusing to negotiate any improvements in wages, benefits or working conditions for Verizon Wireless retail workers, who formed a union in 2014, labor leaders allege.

According to labor leaders, contract negotiations began in June 2015; the workers’ contracts expired on August 1 last year.

Union leaders say that Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam earns 200 times more than the average Verizon employee. In addition, the company’s top five executives allegedly made $233 million over the last five years.

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