On May 11, 2010, Verizon declared a total of 2073 employees surplus in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A special one-time incentive offer was made to all Verizon employees – both surplus and non-surplus.

 

     A total of 1196 employees , those members being in surplus job titles at surplus locations up to the amount of the declared surplus, have been accepted as volunteers pursuant to our contract and are currently in their final week of work at Verizon.

 

     The Union wishes all of these members well in the future and thanks them for their expressions of unionism and solidarity throughout their careers.

 

     There remain, according to the Company’s declaration, 877 remaining surplus employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 81 of the remaining surplus employees are Splice Service Technicians and Outside Plant Technicians who are not covered by our Job Security Agreement and remain vulnerable to layoff by Verizon, if the Company chooses to proceed with a rearrangement associated with a layoff. Based upon an earlier agreement with the Company, the Union was able to negotiate job security for members hired since 2003 in the Fiber Solutions Center.

 

     The Union had placed a bargaining proposal on the table with Verizon to extend job security to our remaining 81 outside technicians in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

 

     Now there are another 296 employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have volunteered to leave with the offer as well. Verizon has not, as of yet, accepted these employee’s offer to leave. These employees may be from non-surplus titles, e.g., Service Representatives and Mechanics. There is also the issue of what is referred to as oversubscription – employees who have exceeded the surplus amount at their job title and reporting work location. There are 166 oversubscription employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island – 68 Service Representatives in Mass., 13 FCSA’s , all in Rhode Island, 5 Central Office Technicians with 1 in RI, 36 Administrative Assistants with 1 in RI, and 14 Toll Assigners and 10 Customer Service Assistants, all in Massachusetts.

 

     There are also 127 non-surplus employees, which include 12 Service Representatives in RI, 26 AEMs with 4 in RI, 22 BEMs with 3 in RI, 8 Driver Bs- 1 in RI, 4 Coin Collectors- 1 in RI. The Union met with Verizon on Monday, June 14^th in Boston to discuss the results of the offer and its aftermath.

 

     The Contract articles that will guide us in our deliberations are Articles G.23, G.24, and G.25 – the Force Adjustment Plan. The Union has offered a variety of solutions to Verizon which we believe will meet the needs of the members we represent. The Union wants Verizon to agree to no layoff of any members and no involuntary force rearrangement of any members based upon the results of the surplus declaration.

 

     The Company has stated that they have not, as yet, made a decision on whether or not all departments will allow the oversubscribed and non-surplus employees the ability to leave with the offer. Therefore, Verizon has not agreed to let all of those 296 employees go. Preliminary discussions have been held with some department directors regarding the members I represent in Rhode Island. No final decisions have been made.

 

     Additional meetings with the Company are planned for next week in Boston and further developments, if any, will be shared with the membership.

 

     Obviously, no agreement can be reached unless and until Verizon responds with answers for each business case which they have initiated on their own by their declaration of surplus.

 

     It is the Company, and not the Union, which declared this surplus. Article G.23 of our contract states that “the Company shall determine the job titles and bidding area or work locations in which a surplus exists, the number of employees in such titles and locations who are considered to be surplus and the period during which the employee will leave the service of the Company.”

 

     The Company set the numbers, job titles, and locations for the surplus.

 

     Now, the contract goes on to state in Article G.24 that “the Company may offer to employees in non surplus titles the opportunity to leave with the offer conditioned on the Company obtaining a qualified replacement for that employee from the employees remaining in surplus job titles. “ Then, in Article G.25, the contract goes on to illustrate how to proceed to a local area canvass , a New England -wide voluntary canvass, and rearrangement up to, potentially, layoff.

 

     The contract must be adhered to and it will be followed. Verizon must comply with the Agreement. Verizon management cannot be allowed to comply with some articles, but not others. That would be unfair.

 

     The process will continue and the Union would ask all members to be patient.