Verizon Workers Return With Previous Contract's Coverage

Striking Verizon wireline workers return to work Monday night and Tuesday morning with something they didn't have when a strike was called on Aug. 6 — continuing contract coverage, said William Huber, president and business manager for the New Jersey-based IBEW local 827.

The agreement for was the result of 15 hours of intense negotiations, conducted in Washington, D.C., that lasted until 1:45 a.m. on Saturday, Huber said.

The result, Huber said, was that, "We have the ability to continue to talk and our members are protected." He said that if the workers had chosen not to strike, and to remain on the job when the previous contract expired on Aug. 6, the employees would have been left with no contract protection.

Now, the unions covering employees from New England and Verizon will sit down and concentrate on main issues — which Huber defined as health benefits, pensions and jobs remaining in the purview of union employees instead of being passed along to non-union employees. The striking workers included 5,400 wireline employees in New Jersey.

Huber said that it benefits both Verizon and the unions to call off the strike and have the properly trained union workers return to fill their job responsibilities at this time.

Huber said that the union never has had any desire to hurt Verizon's business. "That's our bread and butter," he said.

However, he said the unions have the right to again strike if the negotiations do not work out.

The talks in Washington, D.C. included Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, Huber said on Sunday morning.

According to a press release on a Verizon website, Verizon and the unions—including Local 827 of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in New Jersey—have made headway in negotiating a number of local and regional issues. The parties have agreed on a process for moving forward to negotiate the major issues regarding benefits, cost structure, work flexibility and job security, the release said.

In its Saturday press release, Verizon confirmed the wireline employees now on strike would be working under the terms of the contracts that expired on Saturday, Aug. 6. The contracts will be extended with no specific deadline for achieving new collective bargaining agreements so that the parties can take the time required to resolve the critical issues, the Verizon release said.