Bargaining Begins Today for 5,000 CWA Members at Verizon West

Negotiations covering about 5,000 workers at Verizon West, members of Communications Workers of America, begin today, January 28.  The current contract expires on March 9.  Ellen West, CWA District 9 Administrative Director, will open negotiations.  The negotiations cover Verizon workers in California.

In a constantly changing industry, Verizon is a very successful and profitable company.  CWA believes that Verizon has a responsibility to keep good jobs in our communities and not take the low road of outsourcing, layoffs and cost shifting.

For workers at Verizon West, expanding quality jobs and stopping the outsourcing of work, especially call center jobs, are critical issues.  Workers also are concerned about increasing health care costs and Verizon's demands for exessive forced overtime that make it extremely difficult for working men and women to balance their work and family responsibilities, among other issues.