Saturday, August 20, 2011
Verizon Employees to Return to Work
By GREG BENSINGER
About 45,000 Verizon Communications Inc. workers agreed to return to work Tuesday, under a previous contract, after striking to protest benefits cuts that the telecommunications giant sought to offset declining sales in its traditional wireline business.
The old contract will go back into effect Tuesday, while negotiators continue to work towards a new resolution, said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, which represents about 35,000 Verizon employees. He said workers were willing to return because the company seemed ready to negotiate.
"The strike was about the process. We are now convinced that a change to the process is possible," Mr. Cohen said. "The risk of going back to work while negotiating this is worth it to us." He said talks would resume late next week.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company would still seek changes to union members' benefits to align them more closely with declines in the wireline business, and that he hoped the return to work would help move discussions forward.
Mr. Cohen said he thought it was unlikely the two sides would reach a new tentative agreement within the next month. He said he expected "good faith" negotiations to continue beyond that point.
Verizon or its unions—the CWA and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers—could halt talks within the first 30 days if they determine that the other side is no longer negotiating in good faith, Mr. Young said, adding that most of the major issues remained to be resolved.
"We have to reach an agreement," Mr. Young said, noting there was no timeline for doing so.
New York-based Verizon reported that its first-half revenue in wireline—which includes home and business telephones as well as FiOS cable and Internet—fell 1.2% from a year earlier to $20.4 billion. The unions said Verizon's profits—$3 billion in the first half, including gains from the wireless business—should allow them to compensate workers as they have in previous contracts.
"It gets things back to normalcy and puts people back to work," said Jim Spellane, a spokesman for the IBEW, which represents about 10,000 Verizon wireline workers. "We're taking this as an indication that serious bargaining can continue."
Each side had accused the other of malfeasance during the walkout. Verizon said the unions may be responsible for some acts of sabotage to equipment and sought injunctions in mid-Atlantic states. The unions accused remaining Verizon workers of being overly aggressive with picketers and said the company wasn't bargaining in good faith.