NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon announced
this morning it will continue negotiations with the CWA and IBEW to
reach agreements on new contracts covering more than 37,000
Wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The
contracts expired at midnight, Aug. 1,
2015. Although new agreements have not been reached, no
strike has been called and employees will continue to work as
negotiations continue.
"We are disappointed that after six weeks of good faith
bargaining and a very strong effort by the company, we have been
unable to reach new agreements with the unions," said Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative
officer. "Our employees will remain on the job serving the needs of
our customers. In the meantime, we'll continue to meet with union
leadership with the goal of reaching agreements that are good for
our customers and our employees and put Verizon's Wireline unit on
a path toward success in the years to come."
Last night, Verizon presented the unions with a comprehensive
counter-proposal. The offer included changes to the company's
previous proposals on healthcare benefits, retirement benefits and
other subjects. The company's proposal remains on the table at this
time.
Over the past year, Verizon took extensive measures to ensure
its customers would not be impacted by any potential work stoppage.
Thousands of non-union Verizon employees and business partners have
undergone extensive training in various network and customer
service functions, including FiOS, copper repair and maintenance,
and general customer service functions.
"Millions of Americans rely on Verizon for the ability to
communicate, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," said Reed. "We remain
fully prepared to handle any work stoppage so that our products and
services will be available where and when our customers need
them."
The company's East associates work in nine states from
Massachusetts to Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in
New York, is a global leader in
delivering the promise of the digital world. Verizon Wireless
operates America's most reliable wireless network, with 109.5
million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides
converged communications, information and entertainment services
over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers
integrated business solutions to customers worldwide. A Fortune 15
company with more than $127 billion
in 2014 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 178,500.
For more information, visit
www.verizon.com/news/.
VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive
speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are
available at Verizon's online News Center at
www.verizon.com/news/. The news releases are
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www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.
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SOURCE Verizon