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By now, most of you have probably seen the
Lotus Note that Verizon sent to our members on Friday, April
2nd. And it should be no surprise to any of us that the company
is lying.
The fact is that the company told the Union at a meeting in late
January that they were experiencing major surpluses and that
they wanted to sit down with the Union to discuss ways that they
could do this without layoffs, if possible. But on February 26,
however, the company declared a surplus in various organizations
and offered an EISP. (Please note that the surplus and its offer
of an EISP still exists today.)
A Union committee of 8 chaired by District 1 Vice President,
Chris Shelton, met several times with the company and it was
always the Union's position that we wanted all of our members
offered the same "extras" that would go along with the EISP –
not just those hired before August 2003. During one of those
meetings, the company finally caved and said that they would be,
"including those hired after August 3, 2003."
But Verizon refused to:
1) bring back work to our
members that is now being performed by
contractors
2) address job security for post 2003 members
3) give any laid off member access to jobs at
Verizon subsidiaries
4) discuss an early retirement incentive
5) treat any EISP as a "layoff". |
The Unions offered several
options in an effort to help reduce the 12,000 member
declared surplus - all were REJECTED by Verizon. Moreover,
Verizon stated: "It doesn't matter what we do -it will not
change our surplus number of 12,000".
Their only goal is to try and get rid of the Union. But if there
is no Union at Verizon, we can't negotiate for active or retired
members. So please stay focused on the big picture ¬don't be
fooled by Verizon. We are at war with this company and we will
do whatever is necessary to stop this corporation from
destroying us and our families.
If you have questions as to why the talks broke down, you should
direct them to management.
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