Raising the stakes in the protracted contract negotiations between Verizon and its unions, labor officials planned to announce a campaign today to collect the names of people who would be willing to switch their service to AT&T, a competing provider of local, long-distance and wireless phone services.þþUnion officials said that the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which is coordinating the effort to appeal to millions of Verizon customers, would not yet urge them to switch phone companies. But the threat is seen as an effort to increase the bargaining position of the unions representing 78,000 Verizon technicians and operators who have worked without a contract for 10 days and also a sign that there may be more rancor in the negotiations than had been indicated earlier.þþThe move, aimed at customers from Verizon in a time of intense competition in the industry, puts a digital-era twist on the kind of consumer boycott César Chavez pursued in the 1970's in his ultimately successful bid to organize farm workers in the California grape industry. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. plans to start by urging roughly 3.5 million people — those from families with union members in five Eastern states where Verizon is the dominant phone company — to log their names, addresses and phone numbers on a Web site, where they could be easily compiled for submission to AT&T.þþÿIt's an electronic picket line,ÿ said Joe Euhlein, the director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s Center for Strategic Campaigns. Union officials said they choose AT&T as an alternative to Verizon because of its good labor relations and its strong presence in Verizon's territory. þþVerizon, which has its headquarters in New York, argued that any boycott of its services could harm the company, and with it the union members it employs.þþÿWhen customers leave Verizon, revenue goes down and we can't employ as many union workers,ÿ said Eric Rabe, a spokesman for the company. ÿIt's not something where they win; it's something where they stand to lose.ÿþþVerizon's two main unions threatened a strike on Aug. 3, when their contract ran out, but postponed a walkout after they said they were encouraged by the progress of the talks.þþThe two sides have been negotiating since late July with the help of the top federal mediator in Washington. After a break over the weekend, the unions and Verizon resumed face-to-face bargaining yesterday at two regional sites, in Rye, N.Y., and Washington.þþJeff Miller, a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, which represents around 60,000 Verizon employees, said that the unions might still strike. In 2000, the C.W.A. and a fellow union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, struck for 18 days, affecting phone service in Verizon's territory along the Eastern seaboard.þþBut Mr. Miller said the union believed that Verizon had prepared itself this time particularly well for a strike — in part by hiring replacement workers — prompting the unions to consider other tactics.þþWhile boycotts are a common tool of organized labor, they have usually been used only during a strike or against companies that were opposing the unionization of employees.þþIn planning a boycott, union officials acknowledged the risk that some customers would leave Verizon permanently. Mr. Miller said the unions planned to urge the customers to return to Verizon after the labor strife has ended. þþJeff Halpern, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said that a successful boycott could have a substantial impact on Verizon's financial position. Mr. Halpern noted that Verizon provided around 30 million primary phone lines to consumers and that the unions were threatening to try to persuade as many as 10 percent of its customers to switch.þþMr. Miller said the potential boycott was a new tactic for the telecommunications industry. One thing making it possible, he said, is the widespread use of the Internet, which allows organized labor to inexpensively reach millions of people.þþThe other pertinent development, Mr. Miller said, is the increasingly competitive nature of the telecommunications industry. After decades as a regulated monopoly and then years in which competition was carefully controlled, the telephone business now looks more like a free-for-all in which companies that once specialized in one service now offer everything from local service to long-distance calling to wireless and high-speed Internet access in a wide variety of ways.þþAT&T, once exclusively a long-distance provider, now offers local service in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland, all Verizon strongholds. Tracey Belko, a spokeswoman for AT&T, said the company would welcome and could handle signing up more than a million new customers.þþShe said that AT&T was told by officials representing communications workers that the union probably would not provide names of potential customers for two to three weeks.þþShe said AT&T had been told two weeks ago of the unions' plans. But she said that union officials had not made clear that they also intended to encourage people to switch back to Verizon after a settlement. She did point out that customers were free to do what they wanted.þþMr. Rabe, from Verizon, said the company's labor contract actually offered more protection against layoffs than does the AT&T contract, a difference that Mr. Miller readily acknowledged. But Mr. Miller countered that AT&T's 22,000 union employees had comparable wages and benefits and he said their dealings with management had generally been better than at Verizon.þþMr. Miller said Richard Trumka, the labor federation's secretary-treasurer, is scheduled to announce what the unions are calling a carrier switch campaign. The campaign will urge people to visit the Web site — www.fairnessatVerizon.com — that urges visitors to show support for the fight against Verizon.þþJohn Ronches, an assistant to the secretary treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, which has 465,000 members in the five-state region, said the unions also planned to have representatives at various work sites asking employees to sign pledges to switch carriers.þþÿWe think we can be helpful,ÿ Mr. Ronches said.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
