July 31, 2015

IBEW T-6, CWA District 1

The IBEW System Council T-6 and CWA District 1 Regional Bargaining Committees resumed negotiations with Verizon today at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, NY.

This afternoon, the Union team presented a package proposal to management which made substantial movement on several issues. Now the ball is in the company’s court. The clock is ticking it’s time for the Company to get serious and agree to our demands. It’s not like they can’t afford a fair contract their sale of the Wireline properties in California, Texas and Florida netted them $10.5 billion in income. They should use that money to expand FiOS in the Northeast, upgrade the crumbling network where they are not building FiOS, and reward their employees with a fair contract.

Yesterday, we told the company that our members’ interest in jobs and job security is directly linked to the public interest because maintaining the legacy network, and building and installing FiOS, is what our members do and what the public needs. That’s why the Mayors of Syracuse and Kingston, backed up by four other letters of support from elected leaders, came to the table with us yesterday to argue for FiOS builds in their communities.

Verizon’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Marc Reed, suggests in his recent emails to employees that he is concerned for you and your family. But if he really cared about you and your family, why is he proposing to gut the contract that provides for you and your family? Why is the company unwilling to build-out FiOS and properly maintain the copper network to protect jobs as well as ensure good service for customers?

August 1 is almost here. Are you ready to fight back?