Washington, D.C. -- Members of the Communications Workers of America at
Verizon Communications overwhelmingly ratified a three-year agreement,
approving the contract with a greater than 90 percent “yes” vote.

The agreement achieves workers’ key goals, including the creation of
more than 2,500 new union jobs through the elimination of subcontracting
in many job areas, the conversion of temporary jobs to permanent ones,
and new work on Verizon’s cutting edge FiOS technology, for example. It
provides for a compounded wage increase of 10.87 percent over the
contract term, maintains quality health care for active and retired
workers and increases pension bands.

The contract extends union recognition to several hundred former MCI
technicians at Verizon Business who have been seeking union
representation for nearly two years, and includes new opportunities for
union
workers to provide customer support and service at Verizon
Business.

CWA President Larry Cohen called the agreement “a breakthrough in many
ways” and commended Verizon management for its commitment to work with
CWA and others for real health care reform.

The agreement covers more than 50,000 CWA-represented workers at
Verizon; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents
another 15,000 in the Northeast.


Ron Collins
CWA District 2