VERIZON STRIKE SETTLEMENT LOOKS PRETTY GOOD

I just looked at the numbers for the Verizon workers. A link is here.

There are health care increases but the raises and job security clauses look pretty strong. Judge for yourself what a strong union can do by using the strike weapon. I know they don't have the Taylor Law penalties to deal with but a union needs to have a real strike threat at its disposal to have true leverage in bargaining. This is excerpted directly from the Communications Workers of America.

What follows is a detailed bargaining report. As you read it, you should be proud of what you and your fellow members accomplished for yourselves, and for the entire labor movement, over the last seven weeks. You proved that when working people stand together and fight back, they can win.  
Summary of Tentative Agreement   
Duration of Contract: The terms of the contract will become effective upon ratification and will remain in effect until 11:59 pm on August 3, 2019.    

1. Wages and Other Compensation The combined 4-year wage increase will result in a compounded 10.9% base wage increase by the end of the contract.   Within 30-days of ratification, a bonus of $1,000 will add to wage gains.  An HRA of $250 and the corporate profit sharing plan will also bolster income. 
a.  General Wage Increase.  The increases listed below are applied to all steps in the basic wage schedules on the date indicated: 

 2016, First Sunday after Ratification – 3.0% 

 Subsequent increases will occur on the first Sunday following the anniversary of ratification:

o 2017, 2.5% 

o 2018, 2.5% 

o 2019, 2.5% 

o Compounded increase: 10.9%  

b. Ratification Bonus.  $1,000 will be paid within 30 days of ratification.  


3. Preserving Job Security and Growing Jobs  
CWA members went on strike for 48 days to protest management’s demands to strip our contract of job security protections.  Management wanted to get rid of limits on contracting, gain “flexibility” to transfer workers to different states for months at a time, and to shift additional work to outside and offshore contractors.  During the course of the strike, workers in the Philippines reached out to CWA to report on the poor wages and working conditions in call centers there.   The agreement preserves job protections won in past contracts and even provides for more jobs, despite management’s original intent to strip all protections from the contract.  

 All existing job security provisions, including no involuntary layoff, forced transfer, and downgrade, were maintained.