Verizon Rejects Mediation Offer

Updated: Unions Seek Federal Mediation In Verizon Contract Talks

CWA, IBEW Request Intervention in Negotiations With Telco; Verizon Rejects Mediation Offer

Rally at Pearl Street 7-18-2011. Click on photo to view album.

By Todd Spangler- Multichannel News
7/19/2012

Verizon said that senior vice president of labor relations Lawrence Marcus sent a response Thursday to the CWA’s Shelton that said the company “declines your request to proceed to mediation.”

“As the negotiations reach a key juncture after 13 months of bargaining, we don’t need another ‘process’ which will inevitably result in further delay — we need the unions to address the full range of issues on the table instead of engaging in delaying tactics to avoid making the tough decisions,” Marcus wrote, according to Verizon.

The unions pointed out that Verizon has generated more than $16.3 billion in profits over the past four years and that its board of directors approved a 200% increase in compensation for CEO Lowell McAdam to $23.1 million per year.

On a call Thursday with investors discussing Verizon’s second-quarter earnings, chief financial officer Fran Shammo said, “When we entered into these negotiations, we knew that this was going to be extremely difficult and very hard negotiations, and it was going to be a long haul not a short haul.”

Read the full story.

Verizon is laying the groundwork to abandon its rural phone network.

Verizon CEO Ponders Killing Off Rural Phone/Broadband Service & Rake In Wireless Profits

Lowell McAdam Verizon CEO spoke on a wide-ranging number of topics for the benefit of Wall Street investors at the Guggenheim Securities Symposium.  Transcript of the event

Union Hall Call, July 19, 2012

Listen to the audio archive of CWA’s July 19 Union Hall Call. Speakers were: Lou Greico from the Dayton Newspaper Guild; Abdur Bilal, a worker from Piedmont Airlines; Jerry Carney from IUE-CWA Local 83761; Jennifer Travis, a fired Verizon Worker; CWA President Cohen.

Download The Audio File