Verizon Top Management, Union Leaders Meet in N.Y.

Spokespersons for Verizon and striking wireline employees said negotiators were back at the table Tuesday to close a gap in disputed items in contract talks that and sent thousands of picketing workers into the street.

"We will continue to negotiate until we reach an agreement that's fair to all sides," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said late Tuesday afternoon.

Young, and, earlier in the day, IBEW Local 827 union president and business president and business manager, Bill Huber, said the negotiators were in Rye, N.Y., trying to move contract talks further along.

Huber said top company and union officials were at the New York meeting, trying to reduce the amount of issues that are being disputed. As of Tuesday morning, he said not much progress had been made.

But Huber said the involved unions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states will continue talks with Verizon. "We have never told Verizon that we are not interested in negotiating," Huber said. 

Meanwhile, the company said in a statement issued on Monday that Verizon customers were noticing "only minimal impact" from the strike by 45,000 of the company’s wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The strikers include about 5,400 workers across New Jersey.

“Our contingency plan is in full effect, and our management employees are stepping in to cover our workload,” Bob Mudge, Verizon president of consumer and mass markets, was quoted in the release. “We are committed to delivering excellent customer service, and that’s exactly what we plan to do.”

Verizon’s management team is trained in various functions, including network repairs, customer service and billing, back office support and other critical duties, the release said.

But Huber said on Tuesday that he was receiving reports of long delays in 4-1-1 and 6-1-1 calls to Verizon on-call assistants.

"Calls are backed up," he said. In multiple roles, he said, the supervisors are "untrained, and they don't know what they're doing."

Huber has said Verizon's management is trying to roll back the progress that the union workers have made in almost six decades of collective bargaining. Some of the negotiated issues involve safety, he said. 

Huber also said there are documented reports of Verizon's fill-in workers violating some of the union's safety rules, such as not wearing hard hats when required. Union members would be disciplined for such violations, Huber said.

Huber again said that it was Verizon's decision to supposedly force the union members "into the street," even though he said that he expects a negative impact on Verizon's market share.

Verizon has outlined some of its position in an online statement of its position on bargaining with the unions, including its contention that most union-represented employees pay nothing for health insurance costs. 

"The company is proposing that its union-represented employees pay a portion of their health care premiums, much like the majority of other Verizon employees," the site said.

Under a proposed new contract, Marc C. Reed, Verizon’s executive vice-president of human resources, said on Sunday morning, unionized

But Huber said on Tuesday that contributing more money to health care benefits is only part of the dispute. He said that shortly after negotiations started six weeks ago, Verizon proposed replacing a current health plan with one completely different, which would disrupt health care, especially for many longtime employees.

"They have gutted health care," he said. "We have so many questions," he added. Frozen pensions are another issue, Huber said.

With the strike in Day 3 by Tuesday, Huber said he didn't believe the retrained non-union workers would be able to maintain quality service for Verizon customers.

On Monday, Verizon said its fill-in team had completed more than 75 percent of repair commitments on Sunday, and with even more managers working on customer issues Tuesday, Verizon expects the ramp-up to continue.

Customers may encounter slightly longer hold times when calling Verizon’s sales and service centers and slightly longer waits for repair service during this time, according to the statement released by Verizon. Customers with billing, service or other questions can seek assistance online.

"In our opinion, they're not going to be able to sustain this and provide the services," Huber said. 

Meanwhile, Huber said the unions have no reports on Verizon's claims of at least 12 acts of vandalism and deliberately refusing to let non-union workers enter work sites in some areas.

Huber said he didn't know when and if demonstrating workers would return to Basking Ridge.

Only one of the unions involved, a local of the Communications Workers of America, represent employees in the wireless side of Verizon's business, Huber said.

However, Huber said because the CWA represents some Verizon Wireless employees in Manhattan—with the remainder no unionized—legally, the striking union members can picket any Verizon Wireless Center anywhere.