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Qwest, union resume talks
Qwest and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) went back to the bargaining table on Thursday in efforts to hammer out a tentative agreement by midnight today (Friday, October 10).
A previous agreement forged on August 17 was voted on at the end of September, and it was rejected by a majority of Qwest's 20,000 union employees. The offer on the table had a 9.2 percent wage increase over three years, but with higher health care premiums for workers and retirees.
The CWA has not said what will happen if they can't reach an agreement, but a strike has been authorized if the union and Qwest can't come to terms. Both sides may view the talks as now having much higher stakes given recent economic turmoil and predictions of a recession flowing through Spring 2009.
For more:
- Rocky Mountain News reports restart of Qwest/CWA negotiations.
Related stories
Retirees riled by Qwest seeking court costs
Qwest, CWA to resume talks; non-union cuts reported
Qwest union rejects new contract
Comments
Posted by Disgusted with the Union in St. Paul | October 11, 2008 - 8:59pm
No, it's the ignorant uninformed members of an anachronistic organization that were too blind to see the economic handwriting on the wall that screwed this up. I've been with the company nearly 8 years and wince each time I see the dues forcefully taken from my check knowing they are no benefit to me. When the company did away with the residential sales and cust service structure the union blew it's own horn about how it had "saved" a ton of jobs. Really? They all moved to Sioux Falls and at a substantially lower wage than was being paid before. All they saved was a dues paying base to extort more money out of. It's an unfunny joke with no accountability on how the dues money is spent. All I see it used for is higher salaries for union "officials" than most of the workers make and to give support to political candidates many of us don't support. Wake up fellow Qwest employees, the company could easily out source a lot of our jobs and our union and the members not bright enough to understand the economic news are giving them every reason to do so.
Posted by Anonymous | October 10, 2008 - 11:46pm
It is the vindictive way that company does buisness
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