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Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers who have been on strike since April 13 are celebrating big gains after reaching a tentative agreement with the company.
After 45 days of the largest strike in recent history, Verizon will add 1,300 new East Coast call center jobs and reverse several other outsourcing initiatives that will create new field technician jobs.
Striking workers, who are represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, will return to work on Wednesday, June 1.
“Our children and our families have been depending on us to stand up for what’s right and what’s fair,” said Fitzgerald Boyce, a Verizon field technician and CWA member based in New York. “Striking wasn’t an easy decision for our families, but we knew that we had to fight to save good jobs and our way of life. We fought hard and we won.”
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Verizon agreed that no additional jobs will be outsourced overseas, while increasing the number of calls routed to domestic call centers. This will result in the creation of 1,300 new call center jobs with 850 in the Mid-Atlantic region and 450 in the Northeast.
“This was the major issue for my members: protecting American jobs and keeping them here at home,” said East Windsor, N.J., Local 827 Business Manager Robert Speer, who represents IBEW Verizon employees in New Jersey. “This agreement makes a lot of progress in reversing the outsourcing trend.”
Verizon also agreed to drop its demand that technicians had to be available to travel outside their home areas for up to two months at a time.
“Our members aren’t just Verizon employees, they’re moms and dads as well,” said Calvey. “We’re glad that we’re able to make sure our members are able to come home to their families every night.”
Other terms of the four-year agreement include:
- Wage increases of 3 percent for the first year and 2.5 each year after
- No cap on pensions and three 1 percent increases over the life of the agreement
- Retaining competitive health benefits
- Strong job security language
Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director Allison Beck brought the parties together for negotiations earlier this month. The unions expressed their gratitude to Perez and Beck for facilitating the settlement.
The unions will hold ratification votes after the strikers return to work.