Verizon, and labor unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), announced that they have reached an “agreement in principle” on new contracts today affecting about 36,000 workers, primarily for the company’s wireline employees and a small number of wireless employees in the Northeast. The agreements were achieved under the auspices of U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and assisted by the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Allison Beck.
Verizon employees represented by the two labor unions went on strike in April 2016 after working without new contracts since August of 2014.
The following statement was released by Marc Reed, Verizon’s chief administrative officer:
“Verizon is very pleased with this “agreement in principle.” The agreement is consistent with our objective of creating high quality American jobs and achieving meaningful changes and enhancements to the contracts that will better enable our wireline business unit to compete and succeed in the digital world.
We also reached an “agreement in principle” on contracts for about 165 Verizon Wireless employees.
In the meantime, we look forward to having all of our employees soon back at work in their regular positions and doing what they do best – serving our customers.”
