A message from President Dave Weidlich
I want to thank the members who were able to join us last night for our bargaining/Verizon acquisition update Zoom membership meeting. As always there are a lot of moving pieces to bargaining and being able to explain and answer your questions was great. For those of you who could not attend I hope I can outline the highlights and if you have any follow-up questions, feel free to reach out to me, Executive Board members or Business Agents.
Many of you may remember our previous sale from at&t to Frontier and the effects bargaining that resulted when Frontier needed to get the sale approved at PURA. We were able to negotiate and secure some great assurances in our 2014 MOU. In 2014 Frontier only needed approval in CT. We fought the acquisition in the beginning and ultimately Frontier realized that they needed CWA support to get the approval. We received a contract extension with raises, new jobs, improved two-tier wages for the former prem techs and no layoffs with a guaranteed head count. So much was improved because of the leverage we had to influence the approval Frontier needed from PURA.
In 2021 we participated in the bankruptcy change of control docket but had no effects bargaining because they were not proposing to make changes to our contract or practices. We did file our concerns related to jobs during the process and Frontier responded to PURA with a commitment to not lay off technicians or call center workers.
We initially opposed the current 2024 docket because Verizon had not made any assurances to CWA. This change of control process with Verizon is different than the previous changes of control because there are multiple states involved, many of which have already been approved by their State agencies. However, over the last weekend our District One V.P. Dennis Trainor, Asst to V.P. Billy Gallagher, our Attorney Sumanth Bollepalli, Tonya Hodges, Katie Montalbano and I engaged in discussions in exchange for our Local to approve the sale at PURA. This agreement was reached because CWA is now supporting the Verizon change of control docket at PURA in Connecticut.
Here are some highlights:
- Elimination of contractors in the home post-acquisition
- A commitment to discuss and follow the true intent of the Porter letter when using contractors
- A Plant-Pride program that will address plant maintenance issues
- Within the first year of closing, will hire at least 25 bargaining unit employees into call-taking roles and will hire at least an additional 25 employees into call-taking roles within two years of the closing of the final approval
To be clear, this agreement is separate and independent from our current negotiations with Frontier. As previously reported, we have been extending expiration dates so we can continue to bargain with the full protection of our contract. The timing of these extensions has worked out favorably. We have focused this week on the impact the contracting and outsourcing has had on our bargaining unit. Frontier has been slashing jobs with voluntary offers and outsourcing jobs. It was very important to get some future commitments from Verizon, yet we still must reach an agreement with Frontier addressing jobs and outsourcing as well. Our bargaining team remains as committed as ever to be successful in this fight. We know that together with your support we will win!
- Tonya Hodges – Chair – D1 Staff Rep
- Katie Montalbano – Co – Chair – D1 Staff Rep
- Dave Weidlich – Co – Chair President
- Louise Gibson – Secretary-Treasurer
- Esther Almodovar – CM VP
- Phil Colello – Plant 1 VP
- Ray Lucarelli– Plant 2 VP
- Frank Oliva – HQ VP
- Sherri Jefferson - CM BA
- Michael Ciscar – Plant 1 BA
- Jason Seibold – Plant 2 BA
- Diane Vieira – HQ BA
