Verizon Strike Ends, But Negotiations Still Appear Rocky

Union workers who have been on strike at Verizon plan to head back to work Tuesday.

Members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who work for the company will head back to their jobs after manning picket lines since Aug. 7. However, the unions and Verizon have not yet inked a deal on a contract for union workers.

“We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured,” reads a statement posted Aug. 20on the CWA website. “The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed.”

According to a statement from Verizon, the employees now on strike will work under the terms of contracts that expired Aug. 6.

“The contracts will be extended with no specific deadline for achieving new collective bargaining agreements so that the parties can take the time required to resolve the critical issues,” according to a statement from Verizon.

But the agreement to go back to work comes with a sour note. The CWA became “outraged” by a statement from Verizon’s Marc Reed – that Verizon hoped “to convince the unions to begin bargaining with us in good faith.” The CWA called the comment “inaccurate and insulting” because it appears to claim a small victory.

Harry J. Mitchell, a spokesman for Verizon, said Sunday that ending the strike was the company’s decision.

“It was our choice to let the strikers back to work,” he said. “These issues need to be made at the table, not the strike line.”

The rhetoric from the two campaigns shows plenty of discord remains.

“We agreed with management not to claim victory in changing the process, reinstituting the contract or shaping our goals,” the CWA statement reads. “We will live by that commitment. But Reed's comment if not retracted means that we will be prepared to fight and fight hard whenever necessary if Verizon believes it can resume negotiations on that basis.”

As it stands, the union workers are set to return to their shifts on Aug. 23.

“The point is, our workers are coming back to work Tuesday,” Mitchell said, adding that now the company can focus its attention on the competition.

The two unions represent 45,000 workers under the contract at Verizon.