Michelle Agne

Brothers and Sisters,

Grace Smith, Chief Steward in the SST, Marilyn Glymph, Steward in the SST and I met with management. We were advised that the BSSR completed 30,000 cases last year which equates out to about 5 cases per rep. The compensation plan for the sales reps that the BSSR support went out and it is said to be doubled this year so cases are projected to be up this year. We were advised in late December that some billing was still coming into the BSSR. We were told that this was less than 1 reps work. The company has decided to move that work to the BSSS billing group. 2 BSSR’S will attend High End Ordering training due to the increasing volume.

Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC, Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC and I met with Rhonda Britto (S.E. Regional Sales Manager) A few of the items of discussion were, Quota, Set Top box returns, and scheduling. We will be having another meeting in February where we will get the follow up answers on these concerns. We were advised that the Brandon and University Verizon Plus stores will now be opened until 7:30pm. Last month we were advised that the CSSC (Sales/Retention) would be opened 8am - 9pm. The company advised us after further call research that it has been determined to move the hours back to 8am – 8pm beginning on February 13^th.  Please remember that YOU have to ask for a steward if you are called into an investigation or being given a write up.

I was notified last week that there appears to be several members that have been out on Metlife/FMLA without approvals. It is your responsibility to give the correct claim number when you call out. If you or any of your coworkers are having problems with the Metlife or FMLA paperwork please have them call the hall so we can assist them.   

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680(Cell)

Brothers and Sisters,

Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC, Jim Brading Chief Steward in the BSC, Robert Prunn, and I met with management to go over the 2012 Compensation Plans. One of the biggest changes that we see that will affect all departments that place sales orders is when placing an “M” Order. No credit will be given for moving the same products from one location to another. If you have to place an “O” and “I” in place of an “M” please get management approval.  We will continue to meet with Stavros Maglis (CSSC), Juan Escodo (Retention) and Daryl Hawkins (BSC) every Friday for our environmental meeting.

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301 Complex, Melissa Braswell, Steward at the 301 Complex,  Robert Prunn and I were notified that management is going to split the BSSS representatives into 2 separate (billing and orders) work groups. A grievance has been filed.

Grace Smith, Chief Steward in the SST, Marilyn Glymph, Steward in the SST, Robert Prunn and I will meet with management to discuss the issues in the SST.

Sherry Waters, Chief Steward in E-Commerce and I have been working with management to close out any outstanding grievance follow up’s. We will continue to schedule monthly roundtable meetings and encourage all members to let Sherry or the Stewards in E-Commerce if you would like to participate.

We continue to receive several calls each day concerning the Short Term Disability/Metlife process. If you or any of your coworkers are having problems with the Metlife or FMLA paperwork please have them call the hall so we can assist them. We have samples that we can email or fax to take to the physicians to make the process easier and states exactly what each vendor is looking for.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

Brothers and Sisters,

I have received many calls over the last month concerning the Short Term Disability/Metlife process. A Metlife claim needs to be opened after any sickness disability with duration of 4 or more consecutive days of incapacitation. Any preplanned surgery that will consist of 4 or more consecutive day of incapacitation. Once the claim is open it will take 3-5 business days for Metlife to approve the claim. Metlife will send out an approval/denial letter to the member and the supervisor. If you are having problems with your Metlife or FMLA paperwork please call your rep at the hall so we can assist you. We have samples that we can provide to take to your physicians to make the process easier and states exactly what each vendor is looking for.

Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC and I have met with management several times over the last month for our environmental meetings for the BSC/CSSC. An expression of interest went out to the BSC offline group looking for 2 additional representatives for the Jeop Desk. As of today that has been put on hold until management can assess the effects to the work load with this pending move.  We were advised that several investigations are being opened on members accessing their own and other members Verizon bills and issuing credits. PLEASE call into customer service or see your coach if you are having billing or financial issues on your own account. The EAX had a practice evacuation of the building taking only 7 minutes for everyone to exit.

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301 Complex and Melissa Braswell,  Steward and I were notified that the upcoming move that was projected for last month has been put on hold until after the of the New Year. Private Line training was given to BSSS’S. A make up class will be scheduled for those who were sick or on vacation in the near future.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680

Brothers and Sisters,

I wanted to start off this month with some information on Workers Compensation. Over the last couple of months we have been challenging the company with regards to filling out FMLA paperwork. We don’t need to fill out FMLA forms when members are workers comp approved. The company has approached several members demanding that these forms be filled out.  Please don’t go to your primary doctor and have this done. Please call your rep at the hall if you find yourself in this situation.

If you are out sick and are having problems with your Metlife or FMLA paperwork call your rep at the hall so we can assist you. We have samples that we can provide to take to your physicians to make the process easier and states exactly what each vendor is looking for.           

Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC and I met with management for our environmental meeting for the BSC/CSSC. The BSC offline refresher training classes have been completed. This will help to rotate job assignments. Business VOL retention calls are now being routed back into the BSC. 6 additional IHD representatives and 6 additional FNFT have been placed on loan to the VZ Plus channel to assist Retail Sales Consultants with customer complaints and technical questions. This has been expanded due to the great success in saving customers that would of otherwise canceled their services. We were advised that in the CSSC there has been a noticeable increase in hand off of calls and the customers are being routed back into the Florida CSSC. If you are having problems with your systems please let your coach know and see Zaida or Jim.

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301 Complex and Melissa Braswell, Steward were notified that the 301 Complex where they are located has been sold and they will relocate to the main building 11^th Floor in early October. We were notified that management has observed members on unauthorized websites. Please see Dora or Melissa if you have any questions on this matter.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680

Brothers and Sisters,

Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC and I met with management for our environmental meetings for the BSC/CSSC. We were notified that the CSSC will be open from 8am to 8pm starting July 18, 2011.  3 IHD representatives have been placed on loan to the VZ Plus channel to help with customer complaints. In the downtime they will be sent AMT Tickets and Vouchers. This has been a great success and has saved many customers that otherwise would of canceled their services. Sales in the CSSC are reported to be phenomenal. Attendance in the CSSC/BSC is at a all time low.

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301Complex and Melissa Braswell, Steward continue to work with management to get each BSSS representative the training that is needed to perform each task. Circuits which include PL’s will be scheduled in the near future. The 301 Complex took part in the national Flip Flop day on June 17^th. Prizes were given out for the brightest, prettiest and funniest.  $50.00 was raised and donated to Camp Sunshine.

I wanted to thank Erik Jones, Dora Mullis, Tim Coolidge, Xavier Ortiz, Scott Hufsmith, Luis Rodriguez and wife Tracy, Matthew Burnett and wife Kristin, for joining me in the 2011 Kindness Campaign Volunteer Day. We provided 4 days of food to over 200 families in just under 3 hours.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680

Brothers and Sisters,

Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, Zaida Menendez Chief Steward in the CSSC, and I met with management for our environmental meetings for the BSC/CSSC.  Attendance rate in the BSC is 11%, CSSC 12%, and Retention 13%.  Some of you may have received an email from your coach pertaining to transfer rates. The center objective in the CSSC/BSC is 20% and we have asked management to provide data on where each center is at this time and if this would only be on a misdirected state call or departments as well. Stav took this as a follow up. The month end result for BSC was 108%. Positive recognition is being given to the BSC daily from all over the company. Observations are being given excellent results.

Sherry Waters, Chief Steward in E-Commerce and I met with management to address the continuing concerns that we have with overtime. We have asked several times over the last couple of months to have all account associates trained in each state so if one is backed up some sort of relief can be offered. 30 account associates are being trained now, we are hoping this will alleviate some of the overtime.   

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301 Complex and Melissa Braswell, Steward have worked tirelessly to get management to offer additional training in FIOS to BSSS’s so order entries can be equally distributed on the floor. Over the last month this has been accomplished. Herb Williams the director of the BSSS group came to recognize and discuss 1^st quarter recipients and results.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680    

Brothers and Sisters,

Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC, Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC and I meet with management weekly for our environmental meetings. We have had several representatives that are confused as to when they get quota relief or when they get a draw. A draw is given to a representative when they are out the entire month. Quota relief is given when a representative is out 5 or more days. We were advised that the CSSC will be open all holidays except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The holiday bid for Memorial Day has been posted and as of last week only 4 representatives have signed up to work. We were told that RMG thinks that they will need about 80 to 90 reps on these days. We were advised that in the CSSC that the Served and Capable ques are going away. Everyone will be in the same que. Quota will be the same for RIC/SIC. 

Zaida, Jim, Robert Prunn and I met with Melaine Williams, Stavros Maglis, Aimee Della-Croce to discuss the BSC. We addressed our concern about only 16% of BSC Representative making quota last month. We had spoken to several BSC reps and had been told that Quota had gone up, call volulmes were down and they were receiving a lot of misdirected and billing calls. We asked reps to keep track of all incoming calls for a week. We are still compiling the data. Melanie advised us that CA and TX are still in the process of getting reps billing trained. She feels that everyone will be done by June. We have 9 Bus Sales Reps that still need to be trained in Florida. By, now each BSC Rep should have gotten with management to go over job expectation and if any additional tools or training are needed. We also addressed that the BSC is held to 2 standards. Process and Numbers and we have asked that we need to go with one. Management has committed that they will go with Process. We have asked for time for everyone to adapt to doing the call process on each call. Stav has committed to a ramp up session and will work with us.

Sherry Waters, Chief Steward in E-Commerce, Robert Prunn and I met with management to address some issues and concerns that we have in the E-Com department. Overtime in the E-Com has been an ongoing issue for over a year. Account Associates have been required 2 hours on Monday and Tuesday and voluntary on Saturday for well over a year. After the offline group was created the overtime now includes Thursday and/or Friday as well. Management does not feel this is the case. We were advised that CPH time has gone up and productivity has gone down due to the fact that Acct Associates are no longer able to refer any contacts to the CSSC. This takes longer to educate the customer and solve the issue.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org

813.731.7680(Cell)

Brothers and Sisters,

Zaida Mendenez, Chief Steward in the CSSC, Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC and I were only able to meet with management one time this month for our environmental meeting due to scheduling conflicts. We were advised that Immediate Call Back process has been changed once again. If you are in the middle of processing an order and you are disconnected from your customer you are now able to call them back. If ICB spikes back up they will go back to IHD doing them. IEX prints each representative’s whole day for scheduling. This comes out to about a 145 pages for SIC reps. 45 pages for RIC/IHD/Retention reps. Due to the large report it is impossible to hang the schedule on the bulletin boards. As, of right now you will have to go to RMG view the entire schedule.

Sherry Waters, Chief Steward in E-Commerce, Felicia Archie (Steward), Aisha Darby (Steward), Lisa Little (Steward), Tom Mullarkey (Steward), Robert Prunn and I met with management to cover the 2011 Compensation plan. An “Expression of Interest” was sent out to all Account Associates to form an offline group. This was awarded by seniority and training has begun. The offline group will remain on the Team Performance Award due to the fact that they will have very little customer interaction. Account Associates will go from the perk awards to a cash incentive plan using the same method of sales that have been in place for over a year.

We have gotten several calls from members confused about filing FMLA/METLIFE forms. The new forms are on IBEW824.org. And, under the FMLA tab Melissa Braswell has given FMLA Helpful Hints. We also can fax or email you sample copies of the way the forms need to be filled out.

Don’t hesitate to call or email me if you are having any issues with

FMLA/METLIFE.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne

magneibew824 [dot] org (magneibew824 [dot] org)

813.731.7680(Cell)

Brothers and Sisters,

Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC and I have met with management weekly for our environmental meetings. Observations continue to be the main focus in the CSSC. Members are being pulled in for investigations or write ups for not following the whole house process, dumping calls, unwarranted transfers of call, profanity and for talking over customers. We are still asking management to coach to the issues rather than to go forward with discipline. Please, remember that if you are called into a
meeting, that you need to ask for a steward.

Zaida, Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, Robert Prunn and I met with Melaine Williams, Stavros Maglis, Aimeee Della-Croce, Earl Dowdy, John Spadford, Lynn Whitting, Breanda Sours, Heather Fable, James Byrd and Josh Cook about the IPACD and IEX. Zaida and Jim explained several frustrations with these systems such as conferencing calling into another department, incomplete lists in VZinsight, and the lack of training on these systems. As I have reported several times over the last couple of months these systems generate several new reports that management never had access to in the past. Until there is a better understanding on both sides, management has only addressed personal times with members.

PLEASE remember that management is still being VERY active on premise visits in most departments. We have been advised that several members are not home when management are conducting these visits. If you call out sick and need to leave for a doctors appointment or to go to the pharmacy you need to call your coach. If your coach’s voicemail is full then you need to advise RMG of your departure and again when you return. If you have any questions about the confinement policies please see your stewards or contact me. IBEW824.org website has been updated with the new FMLA forms.

Dora Mullis, Chief Steward at the 301 Complex, Terry Melville, Debbie Lynn Lewis and I met with Roxie Parker and Julie Hendrickson for our monthly round table meeting. We discussed COFFEE access, Fios training and additional systems that support COFFEE (SSP, IVAP, PCAN). Roxie took this as a follow up action.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne
813.731.7680(Cell)

Brothers and Sisters,

Sherry Waters, Chief Steward in E-Commerce, Lisa Little (Steward), Tom Mullarky and I met with management for our monthly round table meeting.

The new escalation process has been updated and you should have received a copy of it. There were 3 changes to the E-Com guidelines this year. Restriction on cell phone usage while on the floor will be enforced. Full meals at your desk are prohibited but finger foods are allowed.

Coaches are going to have team meetings on ensuring that pending FMLA is understood. When you call out for an intermittent absence while pending approval your coach is going to need to link it to the 1st date of absence. If you have a claim # please give that to your coach so they can input them all together. If you have an emergency or life issue and have to leave work please notify management before you leave.

Zaida Menendez, Chief Steward in the CSSC and I have met with management weekly for our environmental meeting. Last week I reported that 3 leads in IHD would start doing all Immediate Call Backs. Aimee shared with us that ICB have went from 57 hours to 9 hours since they have started doing this on Monday. We have gotten several calls regarding this process and how it could affect the outcome of member sales. We encourage you to track your potential sales and IHD should be advising you of the outcome. Stavros is going to start meeting with SIC/RIC reps for focus meetings. The expression of interest for IHD will be posted for RIC rep by February 7^th.  I have mentioned that due to the fact that the attendance rate is up that management has been very active on premise visiting. We still have members that are not home when management arrives. It is up to you to call your coach before you leave your house. If the coach’s voicemail is full please call RMG to advise them of your movement. If you have any questions about the confinement policies please see your stewards or contact me.

Jim Brading, Chief Steward in the BSC, and I have met with management to discuss order processing in the BSC. We are going to have a focus group on February 9th to try to get some of these issues resolved.

In Solidarity,

Michelle Agne