The 45,000 striking Verizon workers have halted their work action and are going back to the bargaining table with management.
A statement issued this afternoon by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Washington, DC, confirmed that workers will be back on the job on Tuesday.
CWA Local 1107 New City Secretary/Treasurer Bob Milone says, “We’re going back to work Tuesday morning. There’s no contract, though. They’re continuing to bargain.”
Milone does not have details on the narrowed focus of the bargaining talks. According to the union, Verizon had put 100 demands on the table.
“They narrowed the focus on what the real issues are, says Milone. “We’ll work with the contract that is in place now.”
“The pickets were working,” says Milone. “The company needs us back to work.”
Milone said the picket lines were up Saturday morning but have since been taken down.
The strike started at 12:01 a.m. August 7 and was nearing the end of its second week.
“I’m proud of our members,” he says. “We need to get our people back to work and give our customers the service they deserve.”
Police throughout the region have been notified that workers will no longer be on the picket lines that have been in place at Verizon facilities.
Here is the statement from the unions:
Members of CWA and IBEW at Verizon Communications will return to work on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at which time the contract will be back in force for an indefinite period.
We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed.
We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward.
CWA and IBEW represent 45,000 workers at Verizon covered by this contract from Virginia to New England.
censor them and shut them up. God Bless America!
That's both rude and inaccurate. Or is it only rude if someone disagrees with you?
How anyone here thinks that an $80k salary for a family of 4 in Rockland County is a good wage is incomprehensible. After taxes, what's the net on that? Am not a mathematician but it is substantially less. And because I pay my taxes and Verizon as a corporation does NOT, it irks me to the core. The company has been earning record profits while they whine (finally an appropriate use of the word!) that landline is plummeting. They knew that it would as far back as 20 years ago, yet invested in Vodafone in Europe rather than the infrastructure here in America. Likewise they knew that DSL was redundant as they were training us to sell &/or install it. That's corporate America for you, investing in a losing proposition for the almighty tax write-off.
GIven that you don't use your real name, you can say anything you want. Doesn't mean we have to believe it, though. I wish Patch would enforce the ToS so that people would have to own what they say. It almost certainly would make the comments more civil.
"As for me I have been in business for over forty years employing hundreds of people. One of the things you learn when operating a small business; don't discuss politics or religion with your clients. That is why you sign your real name." That's his "explanation" for using a fake name.
A lot is made of "productivity gains". For the most part, that's not due to people who used to goof off. It comes from improved technology and from demand more and more of their employees. Increased productivity due to improved technology is reasonable (although it usually leads to fewer jobs); increased productivity due to forcing people to work 50 or 60 hour work weeks is not only exploiting them but leads to fewer jobs being created.
You may not like what someone else says, it neither gives you the right to be rude nor does it make you right.