Happy Labor Day
09/01/2008 - 7:42am
IBEW 2323 Ratification Vote
08/12/2008 - 3:21pm
Informational meeting at the Providence Westin Hotel Tuesday August 19th at 9am and 12pm.
Informational meeting at the Cranston Knights of Columbus. Wednesday August 20th Voting begins at 5pm and meeting begins at 6pm.
Voting will also be held in the offices of IBEW 2323 on Thursday 21st through Monday the 25th.
08/10/2008 - 5:39pm
WAGES
Effective 8/3/2008 3.25%
Effective 82/2009 3.5%
Effective 8/3/2010 3.75%
COLA
Effective 8/1/2010 One half of the increase in the CPI-W in excess of 3.75% Between May 2008 and May 2010
Corporate Profit Sharing
$700 Minimum Distribution Paid in March of 2009, 2010. 2011
08/10/2008 - 3:54pm
Verizon Settlement Provides New Union Jobs, Protects Health Care For Active and Retired Workers, Boosts Wages, Pensions for 65,000
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new tentative three-year contract settlement with Verizon achieves union employees' major goals of promoting union jobs and expanding bargaining rights, providing good health care for both active and retired workers, and increasing wages and pensions for 65,000 workers from Virginia to Maine, the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reported.
In a breakthrough agreement, Verizon will extend union recognition to 600 former MCI technicians at Verizon Business who have been seeking representation for nearly two years. These workers, who perform the same jobs as the union workforce, have received strong support from CWA and IBEW members in a campaign to tear down the wall between union and non-union sectors at Verizon. The agreement also includes new opportunities for union workers to provide customer support and service at Verizon Business.
The tentative settlement also eliminates subcontracting of work in a number of job areas, converts many temporary jobs to permanent and brings additional jobs associated with Verizons cutting edge FiOS technology into the union bargaining units. Overall, the settlement should create 2,500 new union jobs.
Verizon and the unions have agreed to meet regularly during the course of the new agreement to review technological and business developments affecting employment, which will allow the company to stay current with business opportunities while also insuring that the unions are able to continue to represent employees as the business environment changes.
The issue of health costs and benefits was a major focus of the talks, as it has been in contract negotiations in virtually every industry. The settlement preserves fully-paid health care premiums for all active and retired employees. Future hires will have a defined contribution formula for retirement health care with the amount of Verizons contributions subject to negotiation in each subsequent contract.
In addition, Verizon agreed to work with the unions in a joint effort to achieve meaningful health care reform. The company will provide funding of $2 million per year to the project.
The settlement calls for wage increases totaling 10.87 percent compounded over the three-year contract term. COLA (cost of living adjustment) language remains in the contract.
Pension bands also will be increased by 10.87 percent compounded over the term of the agreement.
The settlement also provides for a streamlined grievance dispute resolution system which will speed up a process that has been taking as long as three years to complete.
"This is a breakthrough agreement in many ways," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "It creates new union jobs including major growth areas like FiOS, it takes a big step forward on health care and it brings hundreds of Verizon Business employees the union rights they deserve. We applaud management for agreeing to keep the best health coverage in America and for their commitment to work with us for real health care reform. This settlement provides a framework for growth at Verizon and a good standard of living with careers for our members."
"This agreement is a tribute to the solidarity and activism of IBEW and CWA members working at Verizon," said IBEW President Ed Hill. "Our members mobilized strong and negotiated hard for a good contract that will benefit workers and their families now and in the future. We congratulate union and company negotiators for finding solid common ground upon which we can build a better Verizon. With this agreement we have met our goals to protect the retirees who helped build this company and have negotiated important provisions that will ensure future jobs for union members."
CWA represents 50,000 workers at Verizon and IBEW represents another 15,000 in the northeast.
Click
HERE for summary.
08/10/2008 - 12:02pm
Negotiations are continuing and we've made significant progress toward our goal of a settlement that meets our members' critical goals and issues.
We will update you throughout the course of the day and still have some remaining issues to work through.
08/09/2008 - 10:49am
Bargaining continued very late into the evening in Rye New York and Washington D.C. of Friday in an attempt to secure a new collective bargaining agreement. While progress continues to be made at all tables there still remains issues to be resolved. Thanks to all of the Members of Local 2323 for your continued solidarity through this process. Additionally, thanks to those who sent messages of support from Rhode Island to the Bargaining table in New York. As updates become available they will be placed on this site.
08/08/2008 - 11:10am
The IBEW/CWA Unified Bargaining Committees have set a bargaining deadline for completing contract negotiations with Verizon. That deadline is Monday, August 11, 2008 12:01 am. At that time, the existing contract that was extended last weekend will expire. Strike action then becomes possible if a fair settlement is not reached.
The strike date will be set by the two union presidents in consultation with the bargaining committees. Negotiations are continuing at this time. Among the critical issues: permanent, quality jobs at Verizon and other job issues, health care and retirement security, a fair wage settlement and others. As updates become available they will be placed on this site.
08/07/2008 - 1:24pm
Bargaining Update for August 7th, 2:30 PM
The Bargaining Committee has been fighting for a good contract. As of this date we continue to fight.
We have a responsibility to ensure that the information you receive from the Union is correct.
BEING RIGHT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING FIRST.
Rumors and reports are everywhere, and as we get closer, the frequency will increase.
We realize that the Membership is anxious, but our job is to remain focused on the task at hand.
When and if we reach a tentative agreement, that information shall be released to the membership.
08/06/2008 - 10:08pm
Yesterday, the parties continued marathon bargaining throughout the day, ending at 11 p.m. last night. Today, negotiations have resumed.
Is progress being made? Yes. Is it slow going? Also yes. Do we have a plan for success? You bet.
We have presented Verizon with a unified and united front and strong position on all our critical issues. Now, we're working through some of the most difficult issues in the areas of jobs and employment security for members at our company. Our strength in bargaining has been reinforced by the highly visible and widely reported to the company mobilization that continues. Verizon hasn't come around yet, but we're pressing the company on all our critical issues, especially when it comes to jobs.
This bargaining involves serious issues health care, retirement security, and especially jobs. These negotiations are all about ensuring that our members will be full participants in the future of this company and in this industry, not walled off and excluded from the jobs and future that we have made possible.
There are more than 60 people involved in the bargaining process from our two unions. In addition to the elected bargaining committees, there are experts on health care, pensions, economics, communications and legal issues. Needless to say, the company has many, many more people on its side.
Verizon's rapid shift from copper to fiber and beyond in the future makes it clear that we must negotiate a contract that secures the jobs of the future and opportunities for our members, addresses subcontracting, expands bargaining rights for workers and provides for employment security.
We will not be bypassed by the company that we built and helped make so successful. If our efforts to secure a fair agreement that provides for jobs today and for the future are not fully successful at the bargaining table now, we will secure it on the picket line when necessary. Theres no doubt about that. Our goal is to win on these issues and we will.
08/05/2008 - 9:34am
The IBEW and CWA Bargaining Committees continued to meet late into the night last night Monday in Both Washington D.C and Rye New York. Bargaining resumed early this morning in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues. Slow but significant progress is being made and the clock remains stopped at 11:59 PM August 2nd. What is clear to the bargaining committee is that it is the unity of the membership that is forcing the company to move. Our members are the most important part of this bargaining effort and we realize the issues around maintaining a highly charged mobilization and readiness when members have so little specifics about the negotiations. Thank go out to each and every member of IBEW Local 2323 who have shown the solidarity throughout this process.
