CrossTalksPRNG2olo
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF LOCAL 1 104
George Bloom
IS IVAN
SURPLUS TOO?
There are strong rumors that Ivan
Seidenberg's fellow Board Members
want him off the Board. Ivan only made
$17.3 million last year, u'hich is a 147c
cut from the year before. The Board has
been unhappy with his inability to move
the stock price up. Ivan is 63 years ofage
and has to retire when he reaches 65. The
question is, "Will he be able to hold on?"
Verizon recently announced it has
put a hold on seeking any new CATV
franchise agreements. So that means that
if you are unable to get FiOS now, it is
unlikely you will get it anytime soon.
What does that mean to our members? I
don't believe it's good. Verizon has
already declared some 4000 members
surplus in New York State, and unless
you are in one of the areas where the
FiOS build is being completed, I think
work will be very slow. Fortunately, we
have job security under our present
collective bargaining agreement. Verizon
claims they currently have a 207a
saturation rate in the areas where FiOS is
available, and they believe that a 307o
saturation rate is achievable. However,
in a recent conference call Ivan told Wall
Street that we had better reach a 407o
saturation rate or management's heads
would roll. Perhaps the rest of the Board
(continued on page 9)
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA. AFL-CIO
Tom Benedetto
GRIEVANCE
UPDATE
The arbitration case for the Modified
Absence Control Plan remains in progress.
There have been several hearings already
with the next date in May. I will keep you
posted as this case moves alon-s.
Atthis time, we are awaiting the decision
on a dismissal case here in Locai 1 104. The
case was concluded in late October and the
decision has still not been rendered. We
have also secured arbitration dates for three
other dismissals. Finally, we will get a
chance to hear these cases before an
arbitrator. Thesethree members have waited
an excruciatingly long time for their day.
Along with our lawyers, we will do all we
can to put good cases together and try to get
these members back to work.
We have had success with the
arbitration/mediation process that was
bargained as a trial in the 2008 contract
bargaining. In the three cases we have had,
one was mutually resolved, and we also had
two settlements prior to the hearings, where
both members received their suspensions
back and the incidents were removed from
their records. We have three more cases on
the calendar. I believe it is a good process
for handling short suspensions. I handle
these cases, along with our CWA Staff
Representative and the Business Agent of
the grievant. The cases are argued and
(continued on page 8)
VOLUME 57
Ed Connelly
FISCALLY
SPEAKING
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Believe it or not, there was a time
when it was actually fun to be a telephone
employee.
There was a time when management
just allowed you to do yourjob and supply
telephone service to the customer. As
employees. we had pride in doing a good
job and receiving a fair salary for such
labor. New York Telephone was like a
big family, sometimes dysfunctional, but
a family nonetheless. We were told that
we were one of the most. if not the most,
productive companies in the United
States.
Your foreman would give out work in
the morning and give you whatever new
directives he or she had, and you went
along with your day. Did we sometimes
stop fbr coffee more than once a day or
stop at a store to pick up something not
job-related? Of course we did. But we
did our jobs and if we didn't, someone
would ask us if we were having trouble
or needed assistance. No one ever got
suspended or fired, and we took care of
things in the workplace. Somehow, all of
that has changed, and now, if you're not
towing the company line, you will be
disciplined or subject to termination. I
long for the old days.
(cctntinuetl on page 8)