IBEW Technicians, retired from Avaya, finally get their 2003 and 2004 pay!

Avaya to Pay Retired Techs $3.75 Million
By CWA, ILCA Member

A dispute over work that hundreds of retired technicians were to be allowed to do for Avaya in 2003 and 2004 has led to a $3.75 million settlement, which will be distributed to affected CWA and IBEW members.

Ralph Maly, vice president of CWA's Communications and Technologies sector, said Avaya was not complying with a provision bargained in 2003 that said the company would use retired employees for a certain number of weeks each year, unless Avaya could make a business case for opting out of the program. If so, the unions had to agree.

The first two quarters of the program, Avaya didn't provide opt-in/opt-out information at all in an adequate or timely manner, Maly said. For the final three quarters - ending in December 2004 - the company failed to reach agreement on 15 percent of the involved workers across the country.

CWA filed a grievance charging the company was violating the contract, hurting technicians who were expecting to work about three weeks per quarter. The company first offered to settle for $1 million, but CWA pushed them to $3.75 million. Maly said details about how the money will be divided and distributed to the hundreds of retirees involved are still being determined.

He said he's satisfied with the settlement but expects that there will be more battles with Avaya ahead. "The good relationship we once had with Avaya has deteriorated," he said. "The senior leadership has decided to take the company in a different direction and the union isn't part of it."










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