Final NE/NY Verizon Bargaining Report

39,000 CWA and IBEW members struck Verizon on April 13th because after 10 months at the bargaining table, management had totally refused to address the most important issues for our members.

These issues included job security, limiting contracting out of both plant and customer service work, closing of call centers, preserving the Force Adjustment plan, protecting pensions and retiree health care, limiting the company’s ability to transfer us away from our families, abusive supervisory practices, and finally, winning a first contract for retail workers at Verizon Wireless.

The company believed they could win our cooperation on limiting health care costs—AND shove the rest of their demands down our throats at the same time.

The unity and determination of our members for 6 ½ weeks on the street—in the great tradition of 1971 and 1989—proved that management was wrong. Our members stood up and fought back, and turned back virtually every concession that remained on the table when we went on strike on April 13th.

Most important, we preserved our job security language, kept call centers open, increased the amount of call center work performed by union members across the footprint, reversed plant contracting initiatives, protected our pensions, gained 1500 new union jobs, AND won a fair first contract for the Verizon Wireless workers.

Click here to read the detailed NE/NY bargaining report.

As you read it, you should be proud of what you and your fellow members accomplished for yourselves, and for the entire labor movement, over the last seven weeks. You proved that when working people stand together and fight back, they can win.