WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America said it reached a tentative agreement on a new, five-year contract for Verizon Wireless technicians in the New York City area.
CWA, which has been trading barbs in the press with the No. 1 mobile-phone operator, said the new accord gives workers seniority rights insofar as determining the order of layoffs and job recalls.
“This was a big issue for our members, because when the company had a layoff last year, it chose to let go employees with as much as 10 years of service while keeping new hires who were still on probation,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, head of the union’s New York, New Jersey and New England region.
The CWA also is fighting to win a new labor contract for 78,000 wireline workers at Verizon Communications, the parent landline carrier. As such, there has been concern that a standoff on wireless contract talks could hinder progress on a separate, wireline labor contract impacting far more workers.
CWA said it achieved 3-percent pay raises and Sunday wage differentials for wireless workers over the term of the contract. Verizon Wireless, however, said some workers will get only 2-percent wage hikes. The wireless contract expired Aug. 1
“We don’t think that’s a very big deal,” said Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless spokesman.
Gerace, saying the media has blown wireless labor-management talks out of proportion, predicted the CWA-Verizon Wireless agreement will be ratified by union members before the end of the week.
The new labor contract covers only 51 workers out of Verizon Wireless’s 40,000 work force, but its real significance may be symbolic as organized labor attempts to increase representation of wireless and other emerging tech sectors with greater growth potential than legacy landline telephone companies monopolized by Bell telephone companies. CWA needs to entice a new breed of membership to retain its political clout in the future.
Indeed, while hailing the new wireless labor contract, CWA has not tamped down the rhetoric and continues to keep the pressure on Verizon Wireless to permit broader unionization. A different agreement between the two parties allowing Verizon Wireless employees to organize expires in August 2004.
“We still believe Verizon Wireless has a very anti-union attitude. People are intimidated and harassed when they express support for the union,” said Candice Johnson, a CWA spokeswomen.
