IBEW Local 824 (Tampa FL) Rejects Contract over Security and Flexibility Issues

Jul 29, 2005

Union Refuses Verizon Offer; Next Move Iffy

By WILL RODGERS
wjrodgers@tampatrib.com


TAMPA - The union for 5,000 local Verizon Communications Inc. employees rejected a new contract proposal from the telephone giant Thursday, putting in jeopardy whether the employees will report to work Sunday morning.

The contract between the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 824 and Verizon Florida expires at midnight Saturday.

Doug Sellars, Local 824 assistant business manager and spokesman, said Verizon officials delivered their ``final'' proposal Thursday, but it failed to address the union's top two issues: job security and flexibility.

He said union and company officials will continue meeting, but it doesn't look like the two sides will reach an agreement. He declined to discuss what Verizon's IBEW workers might do if they end up without a contract Sunday morning.

``We immediately rejected the entirety of that proposal because it did not address the issues of our membership,'' he said.

``We have contingency plans in place,'' Sellars said. ``We're just not there yet.''

Bob Elek, Verizon's spokesman in Tampa, said Thursday's offer was the ``first formal proposal'' from the telecommunications company and in no way was it represented as the ``final proposal.''

He said it is the company's ``expectation'' and ``intention'' to reach a new agreement with the union by the midnight Saturday deadline.

``They never really gave a reason why they rejected [the proposal],'' Elek said. ``I know some of those issues were addressed.''

The union says policies and work schedules prohibit Verizon's call-center employees to fulfill family obligations or go to the restroom without being timed. The union also is concerned Verizon will jettison jobs out of the Tampa Bay area because of efficiencies gained from wireless and fiber-optic technologies.

``This is a multibillion-dollar company that seems only interested in padding the bank accounts of its stockholders, rather than creating and maintaining good jobs in our community,'' Sellars said.

But Elek said Verizon has hired 427 new employees and retrained 165 technicians already on the payroll to handle the company's new fiber-optic network. He said Verizon is committed to its six-county territory - Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

``I think we care about our communities and our employees' interests in those communities,'' he said.

Reporter Will Rodgers can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

This story can be found at: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBSXKVPPBE.html