Here’s the story between the lines that you won’t find in these two reports, New York Times, and Verizon News.
The landline business is shrinking because more and more people are opting to use their cell phones as their main phone service. As a result of this Verizon’s Wireline division is losing money. So, Verizon has to cut costs to make the business profitable again.
A large part of that cost Verizon want to get under control is the cost of paying 100% of these 45,000 union workers healthcare benefits.
Here is what’s gonna happen.
These union employees are going to have to start paying towards their healthcare benefits like an overwhelming majority of the American people. So, these negotiations between the CWA, IBEW and Verizon will be about what percentage of these union workers salaries be the contribution towards their healthcare.
The days of paying nothing out-of-pocket for healthcare are coming to an end for these 45,000 dinosaurs in a dying business.
So despite what you may hear from these union leaders about getting to negotiate with Verizon, they were already negotiating Verizon on this whole point to begin with. So this strike accomplished nothing other than stopping the negotiations clock and costing 45,000 workers two weeks pay in these rough economic times.
What sense did that make to end up where you left off?
The landline business is shrinking because more and more people are opting to use their cell phones as their main phone service. As a result of this Verizon’s Wireline division is losing money. So, Verizon has to cut costs to make the business profitable again.
A large part of that cost Verizon want to get under control is the cost of paying 100% of these 45,000 union workers healthcare benefits.
Here is what’s gonna happen.
These union employees are going to have to start paying towards their healthcare benefits like an overwhelming majority of the American people. So, these negotiations between the CWA, IBEW and Verizon will be about what percentage of these union workers salaries be the contribution towards their healthcare.
The days of paying nothing out-of-pocket for healthcare are coming to an end for these 45,000 dinosaurs in a dying business.
So despite what you may hear from these union leaders about getting to negotiate with Verizon, they were already negotiating Verizon on this whole point to begin with. So this strike accomplished nothing other than stopping the negotiations clock and costing 45,000 workers two weeks pay in these rough economic times.
What sense did that make to end up where you left off?
New York Times
Leaders of the unions that have been on strike against Verizon Communications announced on Saturday that they were ending the walkout even though the two sides had not reached an overall settlement for a new contract.
Beginning with the evening shift on Monday, the 45,000 striking workers will return to their jobs, posts that they left on Aug. 7 in the nation’s largest strike since 2007, when workers at General Motors held a two-day strike.
Union leaders are ending the walkout, they said, because Verizon management had finally agreed to engage in serious bargaining on the contentious issues after the company had originally insisted on negotiating more than 100 proposals for concessions.
Officials from the two unions that called the strike — the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — made the announcement on Saturday.
The strike was a painful one, forcing thousands of workers and their families to live without paychecks for two weeks and hurting Verizon’s image, as many customers complained of major delays for repairs and installations. The walkout involved workers from Massachusetts to Virginia in Verizon’s traditional landline operations and in its new FiOS Internet and cable operations, but not workers at Verizon Wireless, which is largely nonunion.
Union officials said they had originally called the strike because they felt they were not being taken seriously and because Verizon was insisting on so many and such sweeping concessions. Verizon was hardly budging from its original position, the unions said, another point of contention. Verizon is pushing for, among other things, a pension freeze for current workers, fewer sick days, an end to all job security provisions, far larger employee contributions toward health coverage, and freedom to do as much outsourcing as it wants.
Larry Cohen, the communications workers’ president, said in an interview Saturday that under an agreement reached Friday, the bargaining was being restructured to focus on major issues, with top Verizon officials indicating that there would be real progress in bargaining. Mr. Cohen said another factor that helped persuade the unions to return to work was that Verizon had agreed to keep the expired contract in force until a settlement is reached.
“Everybody knew we faced a long list of management demands and that’s why there was a strike, and we would go back into bargaining when the talks could be meaningful,” Mr. Cohen said. “We don’t consider this a victory in any way. We consider it progress toward a good process at Verizon.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, Verizon said the parties had agreed on a process “for moving forward to negotiate the major issues regarding benefits, cost structure, work flexibility and job security.”
Marc C. Reed, Verizon’s executive vice president for human resources, said Verizon believed that ending the strike “is in the best interest of our customers and our employees.”
“The company hasn’t conceded any of its proposals,” Mr. Reed said in an interview. “At the end of the day we still have health care on the table. We still have proposals on job security and moving work on the table.”
Mr. Reed said the unions had ended the strike because of “the pressure of having people not working in this tough economy.” He added, “This is a situation where the purpose of the strike may not have any need.”
Mr. Cohen acknowledged that the bargaining ahead might still be lengthy. He said Verizon initially seemed so dismissive of the two unions’ position and so unwilling to budge from its original stance that union negotiators felt the company was seeking in effect to wipe out the unions’ bargaining rights.
“The unions have been working with Verizon to restructure bargaining in a way that represents progress for everyone,” he said. “We believe that Verizon management shares the goal of meaningful bargaining.”
Jim Spellane, chief spokesman for the electrical workers’ union, said the unions went on strike to get management’s attention and to show that the workers could not be pushed around.
“The workers felt very strongly that their whole standard of living was under attack, that everything we’ve worked for for decades was under threat and wasn’t being taken seriously,” Mr. Spellane said. “They felt backed into a corner and so the strike was called.”
Verizon officials have repeatedly said they needed major concessions from the landline division employees to keep that business competitive and to increase its lagging profitability. The company said its traditional landline business had declines in profits and in its customer base, even though that division was slowly rebounding thanks to growth of Verizon’s FiOS fiber-optic business.
More here
Verizon
Verizon Communications today announced that its 45,000 wireline employees in nine Northeastern states and the District of Columbia who are represented by the CWA and IBEW will return to work beginning Monday night, Aug. 22, without new collective bargaining agreements.
Verizon and the unions have made headway in negotiating a number of local and regional issues, and the parties have agreed on a process for moving forward to negotiate the major issues regarding benefits, cost structure, work flexibility and job security.
Verizon said 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.
Marc Reed, Verizon's executive vice president of human resources, said, "We agreed to end the strike because we believe that is in the best interest of our customers and our employees. We remain committed to our objectives, and we look forward to negotiating the important issues that are integral to the future health of Verizon's wireline business."
More here
Memeorandum
