Vol. 72/No. 33      August 25, 2008

Strike authorization won 93 percent from members who voted, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the largest union at Qwest. The contract, which is set to expire on August 17, affects about 20,000 workers in 13 states. Health care, retirement benefits, and wages are at issue.

Qwest is providing telecommunications at the Democratic and Republican national conventions coming up over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, negotiators for Verizon, CWA, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers agreed August 10 on a three-year contract, which now goes to the union members for ratification.

The tentative contract provides wage increases of about 10.9 percent over the three-year period. The agreement provides union recognition to 600 Verizon workers previously in the company’s business unit and makes many temporary workers permanent employees. Verizon also agreed to increase future pension payouts. Union officials expect membership to increase by 2,500 under the new agreement.

The union took blows on health-care benefits, on the other hand. Co-payments for medical treatment will go up. New hires will no longer be eligible for full payment of health insurance premiums after they retire, but instead will be limited to a fixed monetary amount of coverage based on the number of years a worker is with the company. Verizon officials say they expect to achieve significant savings from this “breakthrough.”  
 
 
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