Verizon Workers Prepare for Contract Fight: At Stake, Health Care, Job Security, Wages, Internet Access

Thorny issues are coming to a head in the six-month countdown to the contract expiration at Verizon, the nation’s second-largest telecommunications firm. The contract covering 55,000 Communication Workers (CWA) and more than 10,000 Electrical Workers (IBEW) expires August 2.

The unions are determined to hang onto hard-fought gains from previous battles, including a four-month strike in 1989 over health benefits, by maintaining current health care and pension benefits, holding onto strong job security language, and organizing Verizon’s newer divisions.

“As always, wages, health care, and job security are big issues for the membership,” said Steve Smith, a retired Verizon technician who is now an IBEW organizer in Boston. “But we hope to put organizing rights for Verizon Business right up there as well.”

Verizon’s demands thus far have concentrated on trying to get workers to shoulder more health care costs. Company plans to increase the non-union portion of the business and to sell off large segments of its older copper wire network are sticking points as well.

EARLY BARGAINING

Following a national trend, last fall top Verizon managers approached CWA and IBEW leaders with a proposal for early bargaining. The unions agreed, but according to union negotiators, the company’s initial offer was so bad they walked out.

Verizon workers currently have fully paid family health coverage—a rarity in the United States today. The company proposed that workers pay between $79 and $158 a month for health insurance premiums, and accept higher prescription drug and out-of-pocket costs.

In a flyer distributed to members in early February, CWA pointed out that only 6 percent of workers in the United States have fully paid family health insurance provided by their employers.

The unions acknowledged that while Verizon’s health care costs have risen 58 percent since the last contract to $2.3 billion, the solution is not to shift costs to workers, but to fight for and win universal health care.

The last contract, negotiated in 2003, included 2 percent pay raises. With inflation, many Verizon workers have seen their wages lag compared to other comparable trades.

“While health care and job security are big issues, we’d like to see a significant wage increase as well,” said Mike Baxter, a CWA Local 1101 steward in Manhattan.

The unions are entering the contract fight with some leverage. Verizon is in the early stages of a massive project to replace its copper network with a fiber optic network. Verizon’s new product, FiOS, is a dedicated fiber connection providing high-speed Internet, hundreds of television channels, and dial tone for voice to homes.

Most of Verizon’s revenue now comes from the non-union side of the company, posing a serious threat to the core union workers.

The unions believe that Verizon would like to get the union contract settled and not risk a strike in the middle of the projected $23 billion FiOS build out. Many workers see this contract as a key moment before changes in the telecom industry redefine the terrain.

“Verizon wants to get FiOS fully rolled out and will pay now to avoid an interruption. Once they have FiOS in place they can afford to put us out on the street for a long time,” said Alison Morea, a long-time steward in CWA Local 1101 who recently transferred to Local 1109 in Brooklyn.

BATTLE OVER INTERNET

While Verizon wants to place FiOS only where it is most profitable, the unions have sought to broaden the issue by calling for universal access to high-speed broadband. A high-speed Internet connection is no longer a luxury, CWA argues in its “Speed Matters” campaign, but is as essential today as a telephone line.

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Verizon is moving in the opposite direction, though. The company is focusing on high-profit urban areas and attempting to spin off its rural holdings. In 2006 it announced its intention to sell its landline network in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.

Since then CWA and IBEW have been in a pitched battle with the company to stop the sale, affecting about 2,500 IBEW and CWA members.

In January 2007 Verizon announced they had found a buyer—Fairpoint, a small company highly in debt. Despite workers’ best efforts, regulators and the FCC are expected to approve the deal.

Verizon’s long-term plan includes building up the non-union portion of its business. Verizon bought telecom rival MCI in February 2006, creating a new subsidiary, Verizon Business. The unions argued that the new VZ Business workers are part of the core company and should be covered by existing collective bargaining agreements.

Verizon, which has also been fighting for years to keep its highly profitable Verizon Wireless division non-union, disagreed.

The company has ignored the card check and neutrality agreement it signed with CWA in 2003 for Verizon Wireless workers, and the majority of wireless workers remain non-union. Most of the company’s revenue now comes from the non-union side of Verizon, posing a serious threat to the core union workers.

CWA and IBEW began an intensive organizing campaign as soon as Verizon Business was established. A majority of VZ Business workers in New York and New England have signed cards saying they want to join a union.

Last year thousands of CWA and IBEW members and stewards participated in trainings emphasizing why their future depends on organizing Verizon Business and Verizon Wireless workers.

PREPARING FOR A FIGHT

About 3,000 members of IBEW and CWA participated in rallies in Boston and New York one year before contract expiration. Union representatives are traveling to Verizon work sites encouraging members to save money and prepare for a strike.

The two unions are also working together to develop a coordinated campaign.

“Anything we do in a contract year we do in lockstep with CWA,” said IBEW organizer Steve Smith. “One of the great things we have going for us is the two unions working together.”

Verizon’s union members pride themselves on a history of “no givebacks.” The five-year contract that is coming to a close provided job security, but also allowed members to become more complacent than they would have under a three-year contract. And the foray into early bargaining meant mobilizing got off to a slow start.

“Verizon’s making profits,” said Morea. “There’s no reason for givebacks. We’ve protected our benefits and our future before. We need to kick it into gear, and the membership needs to get on board.”

With six months to go until contract expiration and so much at stake, CWA and IBEW members have the chance to lead the way with a contract fight to maintain good jobs, and put universal health care, universal broadband access, and workers’ right to organize up front on the national stage.

Pam Galpern is a Verizon field technician in Manhattan and a member of CWA Local 1101.