Nearly 40,000 Verizon Communications employees who have been on strike since April returned to work on June 1.
The telecommunications company announced a tentative agreement on May 30 with unions representing striking Verizon employees. The company said the agreement includes cost-savings measures, while the unions said it provides big gains for workers.
The unions, which represent workers primarily in Verizon”™s network operations and consumer and mass business units, are celebrating the addition of 1,300 new call center jobs and 10.9 percent raises over the four years of the tentative deal.
Workers represented by the Members of the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers had been on strike since April 13.
“The addition of good new jobs at Verizon is a huge win not just for striking workers, but for our communities and the country as a whole. This contract is a victory for working families across the country and an affirmation of the power of working people,” said Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America. “It proves that when we stand together we can raise up working families, improve our communities and advance the interests of America”™s working people.”
The deal also includes provisions that assure threatened call centers in the Mid-Atlantic region will remain open, along with three of the five threatened centers in upstate New York.
For Verizon, the company said the deal allows for cost savings in health coverage, such as maintaining limits on post-retirement health care costs and adopting Medicare Advantage plans for retirees.
“The new contracts will help ensure that Verizon employees continue to receive solid wages and excellent health care and retirement benefits,” said Marc Reed, Verizon”™s chief administrative officer. “They also include key changes sought by the company to better position our wireline business for success in the digital world.”
The strike included about 1,500 members of the CWA Local 1103, which represents about 2,000 workers and retirees in Westchester and Putnam counties and southern Connecticut.
Both unions still must vote to ratify the contracts. If approved, the agreements would run through August 2019.
