Message from Vice President Chris Shelton to our members at Verizon

Click here for a printer-friendly PDF

WHY START BELIEVING THEM NOW?

We all know that the welfare of employees is not what Verizon really cares about!

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

For the last several weeks, Verizon has been sending letters from Marc Reed called "Bargaining News." These letters say that all the Company wants to do is give members who want to leave the payroll more money and the Union won't let them. Don't believe this! Verizon wants to get people off the payroll because they want a tax benefit or they want to impress Wall Street, they are not proposing this because they want to do something good for our members. They are not doing it to improve customer service. They will not commit to a further FIOS build out. They are not doing it because it is the best way to run the business. They have no real plan - they are doing it for the bottom line. What stops them from doing what they want and causes them to send dishonest patronizing letters to you - our contract! We all fought hard and long for our contract and we will fight to protect it. And, as it turns out, our contract is also protecting the business.

The real facts

This will be long, I apologize - but you need to know what is really happening.

1. First, remember that last year Verizon came to the Union seeking to get people off the payroll using a Special EIPP/EISP offer. We told them that we would not agree to their proposal unless the Company agreed to address future work needs. They would not address future work and the Union said NO.
2. This year, Verizon came to the Union again on October 2, 2014, saying they wanted to offer some members a Special Offer EIPP/EISP and wanted the Union to agree. On October 17, the Union again told them that we needed to address the future work needs of our members. They waited 12 days and came back with a counter that did not include future work needs. The Union then asked them for information about all the things that would be affected by their proposal and their business plan for dealing with the workload after people took the offer. They complained to you that the Union was making a big information request close to the deadline. Remember - this is their deadline, not ours.
3. Before getting a response to our information request, the Union had many concerns. Some of them were:

• In the COT title in FAA 1- they have had field techs loaned into that title for a long time.
• For the last several years, the Company has been sending field techs into FAAl involuntarily on temporary assignments. People from upstate New York have been forced on three-week rotations for two years. Other techs have been forced to commute to FAAl from other FAAs on a daily basis.Yet, the Company suggested that they would be willing to declare a surplus in FAAlfor field techs!
• Our members still think that customer service is important. The Company seems to have forgotten that part of its mission. Our members tell us horror stories about customers being required to wait long periods for repairs. Yet, the Company wants to declare surpluses!
• How many people would be force transferred by the Company's plan?
• How much forced overtime would there be?
• What will the N day levels be?
• The Company has already loaned employees from one job title to another in various locations.
• The Company's numbers are bogus. High-level managers have told us that they are not even involved in the numbers.
• High-level managers have told us that they don't have enough people now to get the work done.
• Operators have been transferred and loaned into other titles for long periods of time.
• What will happen to vacation requests?
• The Company has no answers for these problems. Yet, the Company wants to declare surpluses!

The Company's money men must really want people off the payroll because after they sent you another "Bargaining News" letter, they gave us a lot of information. See, they could do it just as we thought. The reason they made a big fuss about our information request is because there was stuff they did not want us to see. Now that we have some information, we see more problems. I won't bother you with all the details, but it is clear from their numbers that the Company's numbers are bull, in so many words. They don't know what they are doing and the mess they are making hurts our members. It is also hurting customers.

Rather than go around with the Company again, we offered them a new deal that would protect all our members. We offered to go along with their proposal if they would agree to a three year contract extension with 3% raises each year and improvements to the pension. They said no almost immediately.

They don't care about the members or the stress they are putting people under trying to get the work done, they don't care about the customers who are kept waiting, they don't even seem to care about the future. But, we do. It is the job of the Union to represent the interests of all our members. We will not agree to a proposal that hurts many for the benefit of the few, no matter how much we want to help everyone. This is a rich, rich company. They need to start paying attention to the needs of all their employees - the people who have built the business and make it run - not just the interests of the "business people."

Next time you get a bull sh-t "Bargaining News" letter, remember the last contract fight and how they treated the 90 members who were fired. The Company settled all 90 cases with the Union because the Union filed charges and the NLRB issued a complaint. The Company lied then.

They are lying now. Again, the Union is fighting to protect all our members.

Very truly yours,

Chris Shelton
Vice President, CWA District One