Summary of Tentative Agreement
Duration of Contract: The terms of the contract will become effective upon ratification and will remain in effect until 11:59pm on August 3, 2019.
- Wages and Other Compensation The combined 4-year wage increase will result in a compounded 10.9% base wage increase by the end of the contract. Within 30-days of ratification, a bonus of $1,000 will add to wage gains. An HRA of $250 and the corporate profit sharing plan will also bolster income.
a. General Wage Increase. The increases listed below are applied to all steps in the basic wage schedules on the date indicated: • 2016, First Sunday after Ratification – 3.0% • Subsequent increases will occur on the first Sunday following the anniversary of ratification: o 2017, 2.5% o 2018, 2.5% o 2019, 2.5% o Compounded increase: 10.9%
b. Ratification Bonus. • $1,000 will be paid within 30 days of ratification.
c. Corporate Profit Sharing • The CPS program is preserved – the company will award corporate profit sharing distributions in each year of the contract, with the minimum distribution of $700 each year.
d. Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) • $250 will be contributed to eligible member’s HRA accounts on September 1, 2016.
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• These funds must be used by December 31, 2018. • Members who opted out of medical coverage are not eligible and will be issued a $250 bonus by October 1, 2016.
- Pensions and Retirement Security At the onset of bargaining, management wanted to force members to choose between a pension plan or a 401(k) and demanded to freeze pension accruals at 30 years of service, which would have decimated pension benefits of long-service employees. We successfully beat back that demand, preserving the pension for all current plan participants and even boosting pension bands.
a. Pension Plan Protected • The pension will retain the lump sum cash out provisions based on the mortality tables in effect on the date of ratification. • Pension bands will be increased 1% in 2016, 2017 and 2018. • If a non-married vested participant dies prior to retirement without having a designated pension beneficiary, the pension plan will pay a lump sum benefit to the estate of the deceased participant.
b. Savings and Security Plan (401(k) Plan) • Member maximum contribution levels are increased from 16% to 25% of wages.
- Preserving Job Security and Growing Jobs
CWA members went on strike for 48 days to protest management’s demands to strip our contract of job security protections. Management wanted to get rid of limits on contracting, gain “flexibility” to transfer workers to different states for months at a time, and to shift additional work to outside and offshore contractors. During the course of the strike, workers in the Philippines reached out to CWA to report on the poor wages and working conditions in call centers there. The agreement preserves job protections won in past contracts and even provides for more jobs, despite management’s original intent to strip all protections from the contract.
a. Poles • Contracting out of pole maintenance work will be stopped. Management will add 20 crews to do pole work. • Commitment to cut the backlog of 60,000 double poles by 50% over 3 years.
b. More Call Center Jobs • Verizon will hire 1,300 new full-time call center employees during the term of the contract, 850 in the MidAtlantic region
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and 450 in NYNE. • In the NYNE region, 275 Sales and Service, 175 Tech Support.
c. Job Security Provisions Protected • All existing job security provisions, including no involuntary layoff, forced transfer, and downgrade, were maintained. • Due to the company outsourcing logistics work, we were able to obtain additional job security provisions for those workers in NY.
d. VZB Techs • In addition, we expanded the geography for surplus declarations from work group/locations to Article 8 units. • In the event of a surplus that could lead to layoff, employees who leave the payroll will have an additional option to receive the Enhanced Income Protection Payment (EIPP)
- Health Care Changes for Active Workers
Our goal in bargaining, as always, is to ensure that members are financially better off at the end of the contract than they were at the beginning. For health care, this meant protecting members from excessive cost shifting and instead finding savings through increased plan efficiency.
Although the contract contains new health care costs for members, keeping up with the overall increase in health care costs, there are improvements as well, such as a new class of “preferred” brand drugs with lower cost sharing and a $250 company contribution to a health reimbursement account. We also successfully rolled back the company’s demands to drop the EPO plan and end Class II and Sponsored Child eligibility.
Overall the wage increases in this agreement more than pay for new costs under the health plan, meaning that employees will gain ground in their living standard as a result.
a. Contributions The tentative agreement increases monthly premium contributions for all medical plans (HCN, MEP, EPO and HMOs).
MEP HCN deductible does apply to OOPM. Individual 2016: $525 2017: $575 2018: $625 2019: $670 2016: $775 2017: $825 2018: $900 2019: $960 2016: $250 2017: $275 2018: $325 2019: $345 2016: $775 2017: $825 2018: $900 2019: $960 Family 2.5x 2.5x 2.5x 2.5x Out-of-Pocket Maximum (OOPM) Individual 2016: $1,400 2017: $1,550 2018: $1,700 2019: $1,815 2016: $2,300 2017: $2,600 2018: $2,800 2019: $2,990 2016: $1,400 2017: $1,550 2018: $1,700 2019: $1,815 2016: $2,300 2017: $2,600 2018: $2,800 2019: $2,990 Family 2.5x 2.5x 2.5x 2.5x Coinsurance 10% 40% 10% 40% Copays Primary Care Office Visits $20 Coinsurance, after Deductible $20 Coinsurance, after Deductible Specialist Office Visits $25 Coinsurance, after Deductible $30 Coinsurance, after Deductible Emergency Room Visits 2016: $100 2017: $110 2018: $120 2019: $130 Coinsurance, after Deductible 2016: $100 2017: $110 2018: $120 2019: $130 Coinsurance, after Deductible Chiropractor Services No Change $60 maximum per visit No Change No Change Maximum Allowed Amount (MAA) Does not Apply 240% of national Medicare fee schedule Does not Apply 240% of national Medicare fee schedule
c. HMO and EPO Plan Changes • EPO Option preserved for currently enrolled employees • Copays for specialist visits will be no greater than $30 beginning July 2016. • Copays for emergency room visits will be no greater than the following
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amounts.
ER Copays 2016 $100 2017 $110 2018 $120 2019 $130
d. Prescription Drug Program • New Brand Drug Formulary: After ratification, certain brand drugs in each treatment category will be designated as “preferred” by Express Scripts and subject to a lower copay. This “preferred” drug list will give Express Scripts leverage to bargain with the pharmaceutical companies for lower prices. Members taking “non-preferred” drugs will be notified of the savings available from switching to a preferred alternative approved to treat the same condition. • Compound Drug Pre-Authorization: Certain pharmacies offer the service of altering the active ingredients of prescribed medications into new forms. Examples include removing dyes for allergic patients or putting the drug into a cream or lozenge form for patients that can’t swallow pills. These services often increase the cost of the drug substantially. Pre-authorization will now be required before the plan will cover a prescription filled as a compound. This will require the prescribing doctor to verify that the compound form is medically necessary. An appeals process will be established for any patient denied coverage for a compound drug.