Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast are now
working without a contract - but thus far have chosen not to strike after their
contracts expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Talks between the workers' unions and the telecom giant,
however, have stalled. No new bargaining sessions have been scheduled,
representatives on both sides said Sunday.
The impasse centers on Verizon's desire to make changes
to its workforce and stay competitive as more and more Americans leave landline
phones behind. But the unions say that the company makes billions of dollars in
profits each year and wants to eliminate job security and increase workers'
health-care costs.
The contracts that expired were for employees who provide
landline service and FiOS Internet in nine states, including Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and Delaware. There are about 3,800 workers in the Philadelphia region
alone. Wireless workers are not involved.
One of the landline workers' unions, the Communications
Workers of America (CWA), said last week that 86 percent of members had approved
of a strike in a recent poll. The company has said that its services would
continue unaffected if employees walked out.
The two sides negotiated for seven weeks before union
officials decided to leave the bargaining sessions being held in Philadelphia
and in Rye, N.Y. - each talk representing workers in different regions - after
the midnight deadline.
Union officials said they left the table after Verizon
continued to demand the same givebacks. The CWA contends that the company wants
changes that would result in forced job transfers and could eliminate thousands
of jobs through outsourcing and subcontracting.
"Verizon is making the same demands it made six
weeks ago, and that's not a negotiation," Candice Johnson, a CWA
spokeswoman, said Sunday.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young said Sunday: "They know
firsthand that our [landline] unit is facing significant challenges.
Unfortunately, the union leadership doesn't want to recognize the facts and
decided that walking away was the best course for its members."
Source: Philly.com
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