Unions

Qwest, union agree on revamped contract

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:58:04 -0400

Qwest Communications and the Communications Workers of America have reached a tentative agreement for the second time on a new contract affecting about 20,000 employees. After union members voted to reject the earlier tentative offer, Qwest agreed to extend the contract for one more year, making it a four-year deal. The new arrangement offers union members an additional year of job security and an additional 3 percent pay increase (the original offer included annual 3 percent raises for three years).

However, the new offer doesn't further increase the raises, and it still calls for employees to contribute their own healthcare premiums, two areas thought to be impasses for some union members. The new contract will reportedly be up for vote on Oct. 31, otherwise known as Halloween. Will it turn out to be another fright night for Qwest?

For more:
- read this story at MarketWatch

Qwest, union resume talks

Doug Mohney — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:42:48 -0400

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.

Qwest, CWA to resume talks; non-union cuts reported

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:14:40 -0400

After Communication Workers of America members voted down a tentative new contract agreement with Qwest Communications, the telco and CWA officials are due to meet again at the bargaining table this Thursday. Both sides have agreed on a deadline of midnight Friday to reach a new contract agreement. The CWA already has been authorized by its membership to call a strike, but it is unclear whether or not that will happen if the new deadline passes without agreement.

CWA rejected the tentative contract offer largely because it called for them to pay healthcare insurance premiums for the first time, costs that would have eaten into some of the 9.7 percent pay increase (over three years) included in the proposal.

Meanwhile, Qwest reportedly is cutting a number of non-union jobs across its 14-state region. The number of planned cuts was reported by the Omaha World-Herald to be between 400 and 600 jobs, though Qwest didn't confirm specifics about the plan or the numbers involved.

For more:
- see this story at Rocky Mountain News
- read this report at The Omaha World-Herald

DT faces its own union fight over streamlining

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:00:55 -0400

Germany's Deutsche Telekom has long seemed a safe haven from the layoffs and other operational cost cutting measures affecting many of the world's telcos, but now DT may be set to face the music. The company has long wanted to move thousands of jobs out of its fixed-line unit to other, lower-paying jobs in the company, and it had announced plans to consolidate 63 of its call centers into 24 locations, a move affecting about 8,000 employees.

But union Ver.di may have something to say about these plans, as unions are particularly strong in Germany. DT is still one-third owned by the German government and about 60,000 of its 263,000 employees are civil servants with job guarantees and other wage benefits. DT has been able to manage past cost cuts via voluntary separation offers, but cuts have become increasingly frequent. Now facing a new level of economic and competitive pressure, the telco may need to resort to laying off workers this time around if it can't gain concession from Ver.di. The union, meanwhile, has not ruled out the potential for a major strike.

For more:
- read this story at The Wall Street Journal

Verizon: Strike would not slow FiOS

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:24:29 -0400

While Verizon employees handed out strike fliers in Washington, D.C., and a day after the Communications Workers of America described ongoing contract negotiations as "disappointly slow," Verizon insisted that if there were a strike, its well-thought-out contengency plan would keep FiOS deployment progress moving.

That plan would include use of retirees, contractors, and if necessary, the importing of workers from Western states where there are fewer unionized employees than in Verizon's East coast stronghold. Such moves certainly would be costly to the company, and you could see skilled employees working in unfamiliar environments like New York City, Verizon newest target for FiOS deployment.

For more:
- see this report at Light Reading

Related articles:
Union members handed out strike fliers in Washington, D.C. Union report
CWA said this week negotiations were moving slowly. CWA report
Verizon and its unions averted a strike last weekend. Verizon report

CWA: Verizon talks 'disappointingly slow'

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:45:42 -0400

The Communication Workers of America union, in a brief statement late Tuesday night, said negotiations with Verizon had recessed for the evening, and that the "pace of the negotiations is disappointedly slow." Talks were set to resume again this morning.

Meanwhile, Denver-based Qwest Communications still faces the expiration of union contracts affecting more than 21,000 workers on Aug. 16. Qwest and the CWA and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers had earlier expressed the desire to have a new contract worked out before the Democratic National Convention this month and the Republican National Convention next month, events taking place in the Qwest markets of Denver and Minneapolis, respectively. Stay tuned for further updates.

Related articles:
FierceTelecom readers have had a lot to say about ongoing Verizon talks. FierceTelecom report
Qwest and its unions have started working toward a new contract. Qwest report
Verizon and its unions averted a strike last weekend. Verizon report