Dear Commons Community,

Verizon, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached a tentative agreement on a new contract thereby ending a six-week long strike.   As reported in The Huffington Post:

“Labor Secretary Tom Perez said Friday that telecom giant Verizon and two unions representing its workers reached a tentative agreement that will end a massive, six-week strike.

In a statement, Perez said the parties had resolved their remaining issues “in principle,” but were still hammering out the contract language. Once that is done, the unions — the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — will submit the contract to membership for ratification.

“This tentative resolution is a testament to the power of collective bargaining,” Perez said. “I commend the leadership of Verizon, CWA, and IBEW for their commitment to resolving these difficult issues in the spirit of constructive engagement.”

Verizon technicians and customer service reps for the company’s wireline phone business first walked off the job in mid-April. By modern U.S. standards, the work stoppage is huge — including some 37,000 workers, stretching from the Northeast through the mid-Atlantic. It is the largest U.S. strike in five years and has begun to hurt business for Verizon, which owns AOL, The Huffington Post’s parent company.

The two sides had already resolved questions over pay and benefits for workers, but were hung up on contract language that would enable Verizon to outsource work. The unions were adamantly opposed to giving the company that ability. It isn’t clear yet how that issue plays in the tentative agreement.”

It is good to see that collective bargaining is alive and well in the U.S.A.

Tony