Bargaining Facts

How Many Verizon Employees Does This Negotiation Involve?

• Verizon's contract covered approximately 45,000 wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
• The employees work in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
• The Communications Workers of America (CWA) represents about 33,000 employees covered under these particular contracts.
• The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) covers about 12,000 workers.
• Another approximately 13,000 union members work for Verizon in other areas of the country; however their contracts expire at various other dates and are not involved in this negotiation.

When Does the Current Union Contract Expire?

• The current contract expired at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, August 6, 2011.

What Do Current Union Technicians Earn?

• Verizon is a great place to work, and we have the numbers to prove it. Average technician compensation and benefits in some of the markets are:

*benefits include full health insurance coverage for employees and their families, pension, 401(k) with company match, vacation and more.

Why Is Verizon Seeking Changes to Union Health Care Benefits?

• As more consumers take advantage of changing technologies and competitor offerings, Verizon's wireline business has declined in recent years. Although the growth in FiOS could be better, it is still a strong brand in the marketplace.
• Meanwhile, health care costs continue to rise. Verizon's health care plans are classified as "Cadillac Plans" by the U.S. government, and cost the company $4 billion annually covering 800,000 employees, retirees and their families. This graphic outlines the realities Verizon's wireline business faces.
• The company took a $962 million charge in 2010 due to a reduction in tax benefits related to retiree health care.
• The unions and our employees must work with the company to find ways to address these economic realities.
• Today, more than 135,000 non-union Verizon employees make contributions to their health care premiums. Verizon is proposing that its union-represented employees contribute toward the cost of rising health care expenses.
• Even with contributions to health care coverage, Verizon's proposal will still ensure that its employee benefits remain near the top of those offered by comparable companies.

Why Is Verizon Seeking Work Rule Flexibility?

• With the decline in Verizon's wireline business, the company must find ways to ensure superior customer service while enhancing operating efficiencies.
• To do so, the company is seeking changes to select union work rules that would allow expanded routing of calls and flexibility for call center representatives to handle certain types of calls without transferring customers to other centers. Currently, if a customer calls in with a question about a bill, the call goes to a rep who handles billing issues. While on the phone, if the customer asks the rep to check on a set-top box issue, under current rules, that customer has to be transferred to a tech-support representative - generally in another center. As part of our quest to increase flexibility, we're seeking the ability to have the billing rep check the box and potentially resolve the issue from their workstation. It's about simplifying the process. In the end, it eliminates a call transfer, cuts down on repair time and leads to a far better customer experience.
• Verizon's old contract is the product of a bygone era. Here's more on why.

Why Doesn't Verizon Like the Union's October Counterproposal?

• From the onset of negotiations, we have asked the unions to understand the pressures our wireline business faces and work with us to make meaningful changes to its cost structure to ensure we remain competitive in the future.
• A union proposal that adds $1 billion to our wireline costs is unrealistic, unworkable and out of touch with where the company needs to be.
• Their counterproposal includes increased retiree medical coverage, increased pension funding levels; bringing in-house all work currently performed by ourside vendors; and surprisingly, demanding enhancements to the healthcare plan that outweigh their proposed plan designs which may have modestly reduced costs.
• When you adds up these proposed changes, it totals more than $1 billion in new costs to the wireline business structure.