Will unions take on Verizon?

THE COMMUNICATIONS Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are moving in slow motion as the contract covering 70,000 Verizon employees is set to expire August 2.

After months of on again, off again negotiations, the company continues to press hard for concessions on health care, retiree benefits and work rules. But the unions have needlessly faltered in using the current transition to fiber optics as leverage for a better contract.

Verizon is about to initiate a build-out of an all-new fiber infrastructure (FiOS) that will bundle dial tone, cable TV and high-speed Internet in the five boroughs of New York City. The company's agreement with the city calls for completing the build in six years, which is a unique opportunity for the union to both hold the line on benefits and demand better compensation.

The company offer in mid-July consisted of no raise in the first year (with an undecided lump-sum payment instead) and then 2 percent in the second and third years of the contract. For a company that takes in almost $100 billion in revenue annually and has invested nearly $30 billion in new technology for the fiber optic system, this is a slap in the face to its employees.

CWA and IBEW members have been frustrated by the lack of progress in talks, as well the scarcity of clear information from local leadership over the status of negotiations. Lack of information is standard during negotiations. But the unions are unwilling to declare front and center that we will walk out at 12:01 a.m. on August 2 if there is no settled contract. That's damaging to the momentum we need for this fight.

The overall mobilization plan has been very weak. Informational picketing on Thursdays has been poorly organized and attendance low, and the union waited to call a contract rally until July 26--just a week before the contract deadline. Attendance is likely to be thin, given that it is on a Saturday, when about 25 percent of the workforce is forced to work rotating shifts. Also, people question the importance of rallying outside an empty corporate headquarters.

It appears as if the CWA and IBEW have taken a page from labor's "partnership" book and mistakenly decided that if they got on board with lobbying the city for FiOS, the company would agree to a good package in negotiations. This strategy has been a failure in other unions, and it clearly backfired on us.

At this point, it seems that the leadership wants to scrape by with an agreement that doesn't give up an embarrassing amount, but that doesn't cause a risky and expensive strike.

If we take concessions, it would be a missed opportunity of a historic scale. The membership has an opportunity to impress both the company and union officials with a strong mobilization. The company watches all union activity very closely. And the union leadership can only come back with a weak contract if the membership gives them the room to do so.

Union activists are planning on distributing stickers and fliers to let our leadership know that we are unwilling to work without a contract. Come August 2, our message to the company must be loud and clear: no contract, no work!