This is an update on the Article 35's.  The canvas process has completed and the company is in the process of notifying those members who selected and qualified for a reassignment to other jobs.  The second EISP offer has closed and those taking the EISP will be leaving the payroll January 24th. 

There are still approximately 90 members who did not take an EISP and who did not return a canvas sheet or did return the sheet but did not qualify for the selection they made.  Since all the job vacancies have not been filled the Union has requested the company make a second offer of the remaining jobs to these members in seniority order.  The company now has stated they are not adequately staffed to survey the members but if any of the 90 employees would like to express interest in either a CST or COT job in West Virginia they can call Angela Sposa,Verizon Labor Relations at 804-772-1134. This informal canvas is not a contractual requirement so the company has stated that the jobs will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.

 As noted earlier in this process the removal of these 470 members will cause the company to reshuffle the workforce moving some technicians to different work locations and changing their job functions.  Today the company notified the UNION that they will be moving technicians from Construction to FIOS.  The company has solicited volunteers over the past month but the number of volunteers is insufficient to meet their needs. The company has refused to move members from Construction who have an NCS date after August 2003 and their reason for not moving these techs should be crystal clear.  Their intent is not to spend money training technicians who are the targets of future surpluses. We must continue to fight corporate greed and Verizon’s pandering to Wall street at our expense. Get involved in the mobilization activities.