Verizon contract grants 10.9 percent raise, more jobs

A tentative agreement between Verizon and its striking workers will add 1,500 call center jobs on the East Coast and grant a 10.9 percent raise over the next four years, union officials said Monday.

The workers will return to their jobs Wednesday, June 1.

"After more than six weeks on the picket line, Verizon workers won an excellent new contract that will protect good jobs and preserve our standard of living.,” Dennis G. Trainor, vice president of CWA District One.

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“The members' unity and determination defeated company proposals to outsource and contract out work, and the new agreement will create 1,500 new union jobs up and down the East Coast.”

Nearly 40,000 workers, including 4,600 in New Jersey, walked off the job April 13 when the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers called a strike, frustrated over the lack of a contract after 10 months of negotiations. Of the 4,600 workers 3,900 are represented by the IBEW.

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Among the sticking points, union officials had said, are the company's efforts to contract out call center work to the Philippines, Mexico and the Dominican Republic; outsourcing line work, including installing and maintaining telephone poles, to nonunion contractors; closing call centers; and assigning wireline technicians to out-of-state work for as long as two months at a time.

Union officials called the contract a “huge win.” It will be presented for a ratification vote after members return to work.  Here are some of the details:

• A 10.9 percent raise over the next 4 years with compounded interest, including 3 percent upon ratification, and 2.5 percent on each anniversary of the contract.
• A $1250 signing bonus in the Mid-Atlantic and a $1000 signing bonus plus $250 healthcare reimbursement account in the Northeast, and a minimum of $700 in corporate profit sharing payments in each of the next four years.
• All call centers that had been threatened with closure in the Mid-Atlantic region will remain open.
• The new contract guarantees that an increased percentage of customer service work will be handled by unionized workers.  As a result, Verizon will add 1,300 call center jobs, 850 in the Mid-Atlantic region and 450 in the Northeast.
• Proposed cuts in accident and disability benefits were withdrawn. The parties agreed to changes to active and retiree healthcare that generate savings to the company while protecting excellent plan designs for medical care.

David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis@gannettnj.com; facebook.com/dpwillis732