The two main unions at Verizon Communications said yesterday that there would be delays in reaching a settlement because of new proposals that the company had made on job security.þþBut Verizon, the nation's largest telecommunications company, immediately countered that the unions were unnecessarily stretching out the talks to win concessions.þþPredicting that the negotiations would continue into early next week, union officials said Verizon's proposals would now require several sets of regional talks over how the job security language would affect workers in 26 separate local agreements.þþÿVerizon has introduced new complexities that will delay the process,ÿ said Jeff Miller, the chief spokesman for the Communications Workers of America.þþThat union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers threatened to stage a walkout by 78,000 workers last Sunday morning, but they withdrew the strike threat when union officials became encouraged by progress in the talks. A strike would affect Washington and 13 states stretching from Maine to Virginia.þþVerizon criticized the union's call for regional talks that would dwell on details about job security.þþÿIt appears union leaders in their press release today are attempting to needlessly delay progress in order to achieve additional, last-minute concessions,ÿ the company said in a statement.þþJob security has been one of the principal issues in the talks. Verizon said it needed more flexibility to lay off and transfer workers because of rapid changes in the telecommunications industry, including the decline of its traditional land-line business and fierce competition faced by its wireless and broadband operations. þþBut union officials have maintained there was no need to weaken existing job security provisions, noting that Verizon has trimmed its unionized work force by 15,000 through buyouts and attrition over the last three years.þþLate yesterday afternoon, the two unions issued nearly identical statements, saying they had received new job security proposals from Verizon that would require regional talks.þþBut Verizon asserted that it did not present any new proposals on job security yesterday. þþThe company said: ÿVerizon made a proposal to union leaders to address job security days ago. Both sides understood the intent and the language, and had agreed on a basic framework to deal with this and all the other major issues.ÿþþJim Spellane, a spokesman for the electrical workers' union, denied that the unions were seeking to cause needless delays.þþÿThis is not a punitive thing,ÿ he said. ÿThis is the way things have to be.ÿþþHe warned that the talks could still break down, saying, ÿWe cannot say for certain that there will not be a strike.ÿþþThe unions said that detailed regional negotiations were needed over Verizon's ability to move personnel when it declares it has a surplus of workers in a geographical area. Declaring such a surplus starts a series of procedures that can allow the company to lay off workers or relocate workers beyond traditional limits for transfers. þþThe unions said the newly proposed language on job security would affect the 26 local agreements in different ways, thus necessitating the delays and more detailed bargaining.þþUntil now, the main talks have been held in Washington with the assistance of the federal government's top mediator, Peter Hurtgen. Yesterday, for the first time in more than a week, the two sides did not meet with him. Instead, they exchanged proposals by fax and talked on the phone.þþThe two unions said the focus would now move to regional talks, one set for the Northeast, to be held in Rye, N.Y., and the other set for the mid-Atlantic region, to take place in Washington.þþ
Source: NY Times
