February Membership meeting on February 21st will be held in Leesburg @ Homewood Suites. Click on the link in upcoming events to the right for address & directions.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Bargaining Report #57 January 27, 2012
Bargaining continued this week in Rye, NY. In our meetings, the Company rejected the Union’s proposals on the Advisory Committee on Healthcare, Healthcare Benefit Coordinators, Pensions, Corporate Profit Sharing and Meal Allowances. The Company offered counter-proposals on the Advisory Committee on Healthcare and one part of our proposal on pensions.
We also met and discussed the Company Call Sharing proposal. The Company provided data and answers to some of the questions we asked last week. Some of the answers created more questions and requests for information. Our discussions on call sharing will continue as the Company responds with further data. The talks have recessed for the week and will reconvene on February 6th.
As we continue to fight back against the concessions the Company is pushing at the bargaining table, we know it will take the commitment of every member and retiree to send a clear message to management this is a fight we intend to win.
Stay engaged. Stay focused on what is going on during this round of bargaining. The Company is attacking our middle class standard of living.
We will send more updates as they become available.
Your VCS Bargaining Team met with the Company again this week and to date there has still been no real progress in resolving our many differences.Yesterday the Company gave us their second proposal concerning Health Care Benefits and at first glance this is another RETROGRESSIVE proposal that will cost each of you much more for a benefit that will offer less coverage for you and your family.Your Committee will thoroughly review this proposal and begin formulating a counter offer to this Company proposal.The Union is scheduled to meet with the Company again during the week of February 6th at which time we will discuss this RETROGRESSIVE proposal that is being offered again by VCS.We will also begin to formulate a counter offer that will not reverse many years of progress.It is up to each of us to let this Company know where they can put their current proposal dealing with Health Care as well as every RETROGRESSIVE demand that remains on the table.We must double our efforts to convince this Company that we will not GO BACK and that we need to move FORWARD together to secure our future and that of VCS.Your assistance is essential to accomplish our goals in this round of negotiations.We cannot allow the Company to accomplish their goal to reverse many years of progress that we have experienced and send us back to the mid 90’s and the formation of this Company.We must stick together and clearly let them know that we will not allow them to destroy our future with VCS.We still need each of you on a daily basis to let this Company know THAT WE WILL NOT GO BACK.We must continue to pressure the Company and part of that pressure must be directed at the Verizon Wireless Stores in your area.We must be out there at these Stores, under the direction of your Local, passing out flyers to the general public on a daily basis letting them know what Verizon is attempting to do to all of us and about their GREED.Thanks for your support up to now and with your continued support WE WILL PREVAIL!!
Comcast and Verizon Wireless this week will launch a marketing program in Seattle, Washington and Portland Oregon promoting their respective services to the other's customers, ahead of regulatory approval of the deal.
Under the trial promotions, customers who sign up for a two year contract with Verizon Wireless and Comcast services will be eligible to receive a prepaid Visa card of $100 - $300, depending on which Comcast bundle is selected and the length on contract. The prepaid card is intended to go towards the purchase of a smartphone or tablet. The marketing approach comes after landmark deals announced last month under which Comcast is proposing to sell Advanced Wireless Services spectrum to Verizon Wireless for #2.3 Billion.
Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks also entered deals to sell AWS licenses to the carrier. Under their co-marketing deal, Comcast will promote Verizon Wireless Services through its call centers and the carrier will pitch the MCO's Xfinity triple play in its retail stores. Comcast and Verizon Wireless expect the marketing program to roll out to other markets this year and into 2013.
It is interesting to note that the Portland market is one of the first, considering Verizon sold their wireline assets to Frontier in that market. Makes you wonder if Frontier ever envisioned Verizon partnering with Frontiers main competition for a bundle wireline-wireless offering? Especially this quickly.
Frontier recently partnered with AT&T for wireless resale. Frontier and Fair Point, the other carriers who recently purchased Verizon wireline assets, may be in for an interesting battle over those former Verizon customers.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Bargaining Report #56 January 20, 2012
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Bargaining Team met with the Company in Rye, NY this week. The Union presented the Company with a counter-proposal on pensions addressing concerns brought to the table by both sides in earlier proposals. The Union Call Sharing sub-committees from the NY/NE and Mid-Atlantic tables met to discuss the Company’s most recent proposal on that subject. We identified many items in the Company proposal that needed clarification. Following our meeting together, each committee then met with Company and their subject matter expert for him to explain the rationale behind this recent proposal. We were NOT surprised to hear the Company response to some of our questions. We then made several data requests to the Company about the proposal in order to get a better understanding of the exact impact this proposal would have on our region. We are waiting on the Company’s response to our requests. We also met this week with a Company subject matter expert on the pension plan. We had many questions concerning the Mid-Atlantic Pension Plan funding and participants. While many of our questions were answered, others were left open with the Company having to get back to us. The Mid-Atlantic Union committee made several other counter-proposals to the Company this week and we are awaiting their response. The talks have recessed and will reconvene next week. This round of negotiations is proving to be one of the most difficult any of us have ever experienced. Management has moved very little from their original demands. Only a renewed commitment from every member and retiree, to bring pressure through mobilization, both in the workplace and outside of the workplace, will make management see we are not giving in on our commitment to good union jobs with decent healthcare and a secure future. Contact your Local and renew your commitment today. We will send more updates as we move forward at the bargaining table.
Your VCS Bargaining Team met with the Company last week and again this weekand to date there has been no real progress in resolving our many differences.During this period of negotiations your Committee has made numerous attempts to find some common ground that we can agree to with the Company that will move each of you forward so that you and your family can continue the way of life that you have come to enjoy and one that you certainly deserve.To date, if VCS got their way everyone would move backwards and immediately be hit with a reversal of the standard of living that each of you have worked so hard to achieve for yourself and your family.We cannot allow the Company to accomplish their goal to reverse many years of progress that we have experienced and send us back to the mid 90’s and the formation of this Company.Everyone has fought hard through the years to get us to where we are today and we cannot allow the GREED of this Company to send each of us back to the dark ages as it relates to our employment history.We must stick together and continue to show this Company where they can put their RETROGRESSIVE demands and clearly let them know that we will not allow them to destroy our future with VCS. We still need each of you on a daily basis to let this Company know THAT WE WILL NOT GO BACK.We must continue to pressure the Company and part of that pressure must be directed at the Verizon Wireless Stores in your area.We must be out there at these Stores, under the direction of your Local, passing out flyers to the general public on a daily basis letting them know what Verizon is attempting to do to all of us and about their GREED.If we do this at these Stores the Company will begin to feel the results of our efforts.THIS IS A MUST!!Thanks for your support up to now and with your continued support WE WILL PREVAIL!!We will meet again with the Company the week of January 23rd
IT’S TIME TO TAKE BACK THE MIDDLE CLASS!!
STAY STRONG – STAY UNITED!!!
It’s all about good Union Jobs!!!!
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