April 6, 8pm
From Verizon, Update on East Negotiations
Management and East Associate Team Members:
Late this afternoon, the Company presented the New York/New England unions with a comprehensive proposal that included our last best offer on both medical benefits and special incentive offers. The medical and special incentive proposals are based on discussions the Company and the unions have had and incorporate many of the unions’ ideas.
The Company’s offer will increase the overall value of our employees’ combined wage and healthcare benefits package.
As part of this comprehensive offer we also withdrew a number of Company proposals, including proposals relating to collections (CFS) call sharing, 401(k) fees, evaluative observations, several medical issues and one disability issue. Our proposal on work at home was withdrawn for the CWA and IBEW NY but we continue to propose work at home opportunities for IBEW-represented employees in New England. We also offered to withdraw our proposals on Sunday tours/premiums and temporary assignments in another state, but only if the agreement is ratified by May 20, 2016.
It is important to note that there are still significant open issues, including items relating to pensions, call sharing, contracting, wages and other operational issues. After more than 9 months of negotiations, we need to bring this to a conclusion. Today’s comprehensive proposal brings us significantly closer to that objective. There remains work to be done to address the open items that are of importance to both sides. As was the case with the last East bargaining cycle in 2011-12, the issues will remain on the table, with or without a strike.
In Mid-Atlantic, there is no progress to report.
We will provide further updates as we move this process forward.
Marc Reed
Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
CWA