LETTER FROM DENNIS TRAINOR

Last Saturday, thousands of us rallied in New York City one week ahead of contract expiration on August 1. We sent Verizon a very clear message: We will do whatever it takes to win a fair contract.

Get angry. Get ready to fight back.

Now, with expiration just hours away, we see no urgency on the part of the Company to reach an agreement with us. That means mobilizing is critical, including preparations for a possible strike. Every member needs to join the fight.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that Verizon has no regard for our members—the working women and men who built this Company and have made it unbelievably profitable: $1 billion a month in profits for the last 18 months straight!

As the clock ticks down to midnight on August 1st, company bargainers have still not replied to our proposals. Instead, they continue to demand:

• Complete elimination of job security.
• Major reductions to medical benefits including higher deductibles, co-pays, premiums, and co-insurance.
• Elimination of family care leave.
• No COLA.
• Elimination of Saturday and Sunday differentials.
• Elimination of the lump sum pension. Employees would have to choose between a pension which would be frozen at 30 years or an enhanced 401k.
• Elimination of the Accident Disability Plan. Establish a rolling 5 years period for 100% payment on Sickness Disability. Once 100% is used – members are paid 50% (currently full pay benefits recycle after being back at work for 13 weeks).

Click here for the entire list.

This afternoon, the Union team presented a comprehensive proposal to management which made substantial movement on several issues. Now the ball is in the company’s court. The clock is ticking—it’s past time for the Company to get serious and agree to our demands. It’s not like they can’t afford a fair contract—their sale of the Wireline properties in California, Texas and Florida netted them $10.5 billion in income. They should use that money to expand FiOS in the Northeast, upgrade the crumbling network where they are not building FiOS, and reward their employees with a fair contract.

Yesterday, we told the company that our members’ interest in jobs and job security is directly linked to the public interest because maintaining the legacy network, and building and installing FiOS, is what our members do and what the public needs. That’s why the Mayors of Syracuse and Kingston, backed up by four other letters of support from elected leaders,  came to the table with us yesterday to argue for FiOS builds in their communities.

Not to mention that Governor Cuomo has created a $500 million New York Broadband Program that is available to subsidize Verizon’s buildout of high-speed internet in underserved communities. That money would provide a 50% subsidy to the cost of building out FiOS.

Verizon’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Marc Reed, suggests in his recent emails to employees that he is concerned for you and your family. But if he really cared about you and your family, why is he proposing to gut the contract that provides for you and your family? Why is the company unwilling to build-out FiOS and properly maintain the copper network to protect jobs as well as ensure good service for customers?

August 1 is almost here. Are you ready to fight back?

In solidarity, 

Dennis Trainor  

District 1 Vice President