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Verizon, unions fight
over new contract
proposal

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By Kalpana Srinivasan
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Verizon Communications and its unions remain at odds over a new contract proposal on the table, dashing hopes that thousands of East Coast telephone technicians and operators would soon leave the picket lines and return to work.

The company, seeking to resolve a strike that has dragged on since Aug. 6, offered the unions what it called a "revised comprehensive offer" early yesterday. But union negotiators quickly denounced the offer, saying it failed to address such key issues as mandatory overtime and the shifting of workloads to areas of cheaper labor.

On some points, the proposal represents a step backward, union officials said.

"Verizon had better put its energies into serious collective bargaining if it wants to end this strike any time soon," said Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America -- the larger of the two unions bargaining.

Company officials insisted that their offer did respond to concerns raised by the unions.

"It's certainly not fair or true that we have not addressed these issues or taken them seriously," said Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe. He added that the issues "are all interlocking pieces" that have to be looked at together.

Union officials asserted that the proposal did not address key points, such as shifting of work by Verizon from the former Bell Atlantic territory to GTE's region. Verizon, the nation's largest local telephone company, is the product of a June marriage between those two companies.

CWA bargainers said the only company proposal addressing overtime -- related to the definition of a "reasonable excuse" for turning down forced overtime -- would weaken workers' existing rights.

Verizon says its lenient policy allowing employees to call in on the same day they take off drives the need to require employees to work overtime.

The unions also asserted that the company is seeking concessions regarding job stress for employees in call centers. According to CWA, Verizon wants to limit to 1.5 percent the number of workers that can transfer each month. Union officials argue this traps customer service representatives and consultants in high-pressure jobs without opportunities for movement. The company says that it in call centers with heavy volumes, excessive transfer of employees would exacerbate staffing problems.

The back-and-forth comes as the two sides seek to reach new contracts for 87,000 Verizon workers. The company says it will not call in federal mediators so long as the parties make some progress in their talks. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is striking along with CWA.

The company's 30,000 managers have jumped in to tackle a daily running total of 90,000 repair orders, a problem boosted because of inclement weather in parts of the Northeast.

The strike affects Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

(Verizon is the parent company of the former GTE Hawaiian Tel, but the strike does not affect local operations.)