Verizon Wireless and Workers Reach Agreement on a Contract

[Codepyro]

Verizon's largest union announced a tentative agreement yesterday with Verizon Wireless for a bargaining unit representing 51 workers. Officials from both sides said the accord could set the stage for a broader contract settlement later this week involving 78,000 workers.

The union, the Communications Workers of America, said the five-year agreement would provide raises of 3 percent a year to workers at the top of the scale and 2 percent a year for most other workers. In addition, the union said, seniority steps would mean raises of at least 7 percent a year for many employees.

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The agreement would for the first time give the wireless workers seniority rights for layoffs and job recalls.

For days, officials with the union and the company said negotiations over a contract for the 51 wireless technicians in the New York City area were slowing progress toward a larger agreement covering workers in 13 states and Washington.

The technicians have been unionized since 1989 when they were part of Nynex Mobile, which later became part of Verizon Wireless through mergers and a joint venture.

The union was hoping to obtain a generous, trend-setting agreement that it could use to help persuade nonunion workers at Verizon Wireless to join a union.

A Verizon Wireless spokesman, Jim Gerace, said, "We wouldn't have a tentative agreement tonight unless we were satisfied with the terms."

Contending that a seniority provision was a major goal of the union, Larry Mancino, a union vice president in charge of the Northeast, said, "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."

Verizon Wireless has resisted unionization efforts for more than 20,000 employees. Verizon Communications owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, while Vodafone owns the other 45 percent.

The 78,000 Verizon employees have continued to work even though their contract expired 31 days ago. Now that there is an agreement for the 51 wireless workers, union and company officials said a broader agreement could come as early as today. But one union official said it was more likely an accord would be announced tomorrow, once bargaining committees have thrashed out remaining disputes over contractual language and reviewed the settlement.