Business Manager Reports

On Saturday, January 14^th, we had an Organizing Training class here at the union hall, for our members and also members from Local 108.  The class was well received and another training class has been scheduled for Saturday, February 25^th.  We have 14 members signed up for this class already.  This class will be more geared toward helping our Organizing Committee with the house-calling process.  Last month, I stated we would begin our Organizing campaign with Disney and our first house-calling day was on Thursday, January 26^th.  Along with Dan and Michelle off the staff, we also had Kathy Smith and Doug Williams (not the retired quarterback) from the International Staff and Pam Elleby and Sue Jerome from Local 824.  After the first couple weeks of house-calling, we have quite a few Disney employees that have signed cards saying they are interested in being represented by the IBEW and also some of those employees have stepped up to be on their Internal Organizing Committee.  As I said last month, this will be an ongoing campaign and we can use all the help we can get.  If you are interested in the class later this month, please let Dan or Michelle know. 

We had a meeting in the E-Center last month and we were able to resolve some vacation availability issues, and also work on an issue we are having with Reps being able to track their sales.  Sherry is working with her manager to do some tracking and once that tracking is complete, we will get back together to discuss how that process is working.

The EVRC is going to have another class in the near future for any member that wants to transition to the FSC.  If you remember, they started this a little over a year ago where they gave the employees in the EVRC time to train for the FSC test on Company time.  This was done after the Union and Company had quite a few discussions to ensure the members had the knowledge to go through the testing process.  If you work in the EVRC and do not want to go to the FSC, you will not be forced to transition over.  We have had questions asked about how long will the EVRC still be in existence and should I move over to the FSC.  The only way to answer that question is by saying the Company has NO plans to dissolve the EVRC.  We all know that copper is not the future of Verizon, but we will not be totally copper-free for a long, long time. 

We had another FNFT scheduling meeting last month and the Company has agreed to schedule the FNFT’s 2 Saturdays a month, like they were a couple of years ago instead of the 3 and sometimes 4 Saturdays a month.  There was a conference call a couple weeks ago with the schedulers in each work center to ensure every area was on the same page.  We are hoping the schedule will stay like this for a while and we will be having more discussions with the Company throughout this month.

The Force Adjustment of Splicer's in Tampa has been called off.  The Company was looking for 20 volunteers to move to CZT II positions in Southern and Western Divisions.  Only 6 volunteered to make that move and will be effective next’s week.  The plan is to ask FNFT’s in Southern and Western to go on-loan for up to 6 months to CZT II.  In addition, the Company has a new program called NEVO that will utilize some of the Fluid CZT II’s and Cable Splicer's to transition chronic copper customers to the FIOS product. This will keep the Splicer's in Tampa from being force adjusted.  We were happy to know the Company worked with us to keep our members from relocating from Tampa to Sarasota or St. Pete.

The Company is also saying that they may utilize contractors in certain areas to do voice-only ONT installs.  We have been talking with the Company about the problems we had with contractors performing this work in the past, and that we do have employees in other classifications that are trained to perform FIOS work immediately.  Obviously, we are looking for the Company to approve additional requisitions for the FNFT classification.

The CSSC decided in November that they were going to extend the hours until 9:00p, Monday through Friday.  In January, they decided they were going to move the close time back to 8:00p.  We are working with management in the CSSC to get a true 4-week schedule like we had for years until contractual language was changed to give them a 2-week schedule.  If this happens, members will have more time to schedule personal things and maybe help with their attendance as well.

Late last year, with our permission, the National Group Protection Company offered our members Supplemental Insurance.  There was a mail out to every member and a web site that you had to go to to sign up for their services.  We received some data from them last week that showed 105 members accessed the web site and 24 members elected some sort of supplemental coverage.  That doesn’t seem like a lot, but they were happy with those numbers for an initial offering.  We will be discussing another open enrollment for 2012 and as soon as that is confirmed, we will post on our website. 

There is another Company that works only with Unions across the country called the Sage Group.  They came to visit us last month and they would like to offer classes on medical billing.  They told us that other local unions have had positive feedback from their members.  I did talk to the Business Manager of Local 21 in Chicago and he confirmed what we were told.  So, in the very near future, you will receive some information in the mail about their services.  The Tuition Assistance in our CBA will cover these expenses if you decide you want to participate.

Our Livesource agreement expires in April of this year and we will begin bargaining with the Company on Monday, March 12^th.  We are in the beginning stages of preparing and will be communicating with those members shortly.  Unfortunately, our steward in Livesource, Connie Behers, is retiring and will not be a part of our Committee this year.

The issue we were having with the 3^rd position to be filled in the Dispatch and Transmission Specialist title was resolved a couple of weeks ago by the Company offering the position to the next senior member that bid for that position.  We were glad the Company followed the language of the CBA and that we didn’t have to go through the grievance/arbitration procedure.

Talking about arbitrations, we received the award from the hearing that was held in October.  More than anything, this case was a he-said, she-said case.  The Arbitrator believed the Company did NOT have Just Cause to terminate the employee and he will be returning to work shortly.  Not only will he be returning to work, but the Arbitrator also awarded full back pay and seniority from the date of termination.  We haven’t had an Arbitrator award back pay for quite some time, so we were pleasantly surprised by the award.  The member was terminated in 2009.

In Solidarity,

Robert

First, I would like to say Happy New Year to everyone and hope that everyone had a safe Holiday.

The last month of the year was relatively quiet as it usually is in December.  However, we did have a little excitement when it came to the 3 positions to be filled in the Dispatch and Transmission Specialist title.  Two positions were awarded to the 2 senior employees who bid on that job and were made effective on December 18^th. The 3^rd position was originally offered to a member with a seniority date of 1997 and had already declined the position when we found out that it had been offered.  Next the position was offered to another member with a 1998 seniority date.  I called Labor to request all the names of the employees that had applied to see why members that I knew with 30+ years had not been offered.  While we waited, over the holidays, the 3^rd position was put on hold.  I personally spoke with the member that had been offered to explain that we were going to uphold the language of the contract as it relates to bidding and promotions.  If the list of candidates was done properly and she was to be awarded the position, then I would see to it that she received that job. The Company is in the process of deciding to close additional Dispatch centers in other states and bring that work to Florida.  We have a meeting scheduled next week to talk about that work coming here.  If we do get more work and additional headcount, that information will be posted on the website.

We were notified on Wednesday afternoon that the Company will be declaring a surplus/force adjustment of Cable Splicer's in the Tampa Exchange.  All the Outside Plant Chief Stewards for those work groups were notified immediately after we were notified.  The Company has also declared that the force adjusted employees will not be laid off due to the need of CZT II’s in Bradenton, Sarasota, Gandy, Seminole, and Skyway.  Beginning Monday, Cable Splicer's on the Coast will be canvassed to see if they would like to move to CZT II in those locations.  The week after, all Splicer’s in Tampa and Eastern will be canvassed to see if they want to move to those locations, as CZT II’s.  The week after that, CZT II’s in Tampa and Eastern will be canvassed to see if they want to move to the Coast.  Each week the canvassing will start on Monday and end on Friday.  After the 3^rd week, the Company will meet with the Union to review any volunteers and reassess the need to force adjust any Splicer's in Tampa.  In the event a force adjustment occurs, the “B’ is a “B” letter will take effect and all Splicer's and CZT II’s will be combined for this purpose as defined in the MOA on page 74 on our contract.  We will keep the Chiefs advised as we move through this process.

The Company also put out an email last month, even though we have not been officially notified, that Verizon will be getting totally out of the CPE business.  They will no longer perform move and add orders nor will they sell any more maintenance agreements.  They will continue to install the Avaya products and will honor all maintenance agreements that are currently in place.  We are waiting to see how this may affect our membership.  We think a lot will depend on the economy and if businesses begin to expand and purchase new phone and data systems.  Also, we need to see how many maintenance agreements we have in the State of Florida.  We will update the membership when we have more details.

The Company also has a plan to have a tech, named a AAA tech, that would do multiple functions within the CO, Broadband and Com Tech classifications.  Fortunately, we have a contract, with distinct classifications within the different wage schedules, and any changes would have to be negotiated with the Union.  As of today, no discussions have occurred to talk about what the Company may be hoping to do.  Once we do begin those discussions, we will report the outcome to the membership.

Several months ago, we had initial discussions with the Company about a possible upgrade for the Business Response Reps, located downtown.  Their job functions have changed and more responsibilities have been place on those employees.  The Director that we were talking with was reassigned and just before Christmas we spoke with the new Director to bring her up to date on where we were in the process.  We hope to be able to report some positive news in the near future.

If you didn’t see the email last month, Verizon will no longer have Inter Company mail.  If you need to mail something within Verizon, your department will be responsible for buying stamps and envelopes and mailing through the U.S. Mail.

Our Truck Drivers are the ones that used to pick up that mail and deliver it to all work locations.  Now, the Company will be closing our warehouse and have supplies delivered directly to work centers and buildings throughout Florida.  Starting today, the Supply Company will be canvassing the Truck Drivers to see if there is any interest in reclassifying to the Material Handler classification or continue moving supplies from work location to work location.  We still do not have all the details, because the Company hasn’t thought this plan through.  We were told there would not be a layoff of Truck Drivers here in Florida.  As we get more details, those Supply members will be advised. 

The staff and Officers met with Tony Cortese before Christmas to discuss some changes in Workers Compensation.  Tony advised us that Verizon has changed adjustors several times in the last ½ of 2011 and now the adjuster is located on the East Coast of Florida.  He has had some difficulties with Sedgewick but also advised us that he has been successful helping many of our members.  As always, he continues to inform us to inform the members that if you are injured on the job, please contact the Hall and a Workers Comp attorney if only to ensure you are treated as you should be treated.  Tony has worked with our members since 1997 and has been a tremendous help to us over those years.

As we closed out 2011, we ended up with 631 grievances filed for the year.  That was almost ½ of what we filed in 2010.  We plan on scheduling 3^rd step meetings more aggressively this year than previous years.  Along with trying to keep the 2011 grievances moving along, we have been reviewing outstanding grievances dating back to 2001.  During December, we were able to review all the outstanding grievances from 2001 through 2004 and will begin reviewing 2005 outstanding grievances this month.

We have an arbitration scheduled for the 25^th of this month and Danny Alfonso has been preparing for that hearing.  The arbitration we have scheduled in February was set for the 22^nd, but the Arbitrator notified us late in December that he had to reschedule and now it will be on the 24th. Within the next 2 weeks, we should have decisions on the next 2 grievances to take to arbitration.  Around the 16^th of this month, we should receive the Arbitrator’s award from the hearing that was held in late October.

Next Saturday, the 14^th, we will be holding the Organizing training at the Hall with 15 of our members who volunteered and 10 members from Local 108.  We will have a 2^nd Organizing Training class on Saturday, February 25^th, beginning at 9:00 a.m.  We have 10 members already signed up and if you would like this training, there is a sign-up sheet in the back.

We will have a special guest at the February General Meeting as the IBEW 5^th District Vice-President Joe Davis will be in attendance and will give a brief report.  Please plan on attending next month and inform your sisters and brothers as well.  Vice-President Davis was just re-elected at the 38^th International Convention and has been our IVP for a little over 5 years.

In Solidarity,

Robert

I want to again remind every member of the actions taken at the IBEW International Convention in regards to the dues increase of $2 beginning next month.  As stated over the past three months, this increase is to be mainly used for organizing as many workers as possible into all branches of the IBEW.

Also, last month we talked about the Organizing training that will be conducted by the International on December 10^th.  This class has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 14^th, beginning at 9:00 am.  We had 20 members sign up for this training and if you would like to be involved in this training, please contact Dan Wagner. We are moving closer to beginning our organizing drive, with the possibility of up to 750 more members in our Local Union.  Dan and Michelle are working with Kathy Smith, who is an Organizer with the International, gathering more information so we will be as prepared as we can be to begin this campaign.  As we begin, updates will be provided to the membership.

I posted some information on the website earlier this week notifying the members of the registration period for Nactel.  Nactel is the online degree program sponsored by the IBEW.  They have many Telecommunications programs to earn your AA, BA, and now even a Masters program.  They also have courses you can take that will give you a certificate and validate your certification in that particular course.  We have several 824 members that are currently enrolled in Nactel, and several that have graduated from the program.  The link to Nactel is on the home page of our website.

During the last month, our IBEW Retirees Club met here at the Union Hall and part of their discussions were ways that they may be able to assist us in organizing campaigns.  Under the leadership of Sandy Ambler, Delmas Little and Patti Wilkins, this organization has grown over the last year and we believe will continue to grow and we will have more volunteers to assist us in many areas.  We look forward to working with them and we know that the active retired members still care about the future of our Local.

We had a meeting last month with the Director of the EVRC to ensure we continue to have an open line of communication and a decent working relationship between the stewards and the new manager.  Chrissy Baker, John Glye and myself were hopeful after that meeting that the relationship will continue as it was with the previous manager. 

In the FSC, after having several discussions with management regarding the work schedules, there will still be required overtime, but some relief has been provided.  Members will not be required 2 hours everyday and on one day there is no required overtime at all.  The Company thinks that if they are successful in re-working some of the contractual restrictions in the Northeast, more relief from overtime will be possible.  Earlier this year, our Local, along with Local 827 in New Jersey and Local 2323 in Rhode Island requested a meeting to discuss the work load, among other things, within the FSC’s represented by the IBEW.  Due to the prolonged bargaining in the Northeast, this meeting was postponed until there is a new contract in place.  As soon as that happens, if it happens, we will schedule that meeting.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeanmarie asked to have a meeting with all of the OSP Chief Stewards to discuss the Company’s plan for the rest of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.  Most of the discussion centered on the schedules and how many Saturday’s members were needed to work.  The original plan was to schedule 83% of the work force each Saturday.  I asked Doug Blackburn and Kip Beard to meet with the Company to find a way to reduce that percentage.  After several hours of discussions, and more discussions in the days after, Jeanmarie reduced the Saturday coverage to 56%.  Things really work better for us and the Company when we work together and I applaud both Doug and Kip, along with the managers, to be able to resolve this issue in the manner they did.

The BSSS workgroup, located on 301 in Tampa, performs order entry and works billing issues on major business customers.  The Company notified us earlier this month that the will separate the billing reps from the order reps and create separate work groups.  The Collective Bargaining Agreement states that when employees perform the same work duties and are in the same classification, they shall be combined as one.  We believe the Company is violating the contract by separating these members and we will follow through the grievance/arbitration procedure to have this issue resolved.

We will also have a meeting Monday with management in the CSSC to discuss the switch over to a new system called COFEE ANYWHERE that will take place later this month.  In addition, there are 45 positions posted on the web for the CSSC.  Updates from this meeting will be emailed to the members in those locations.

I spoke to Myles yesterday and was on a call last night to get updates on the bargaining up North.  After speaking to Myles, there still has been no movement and both committees have agreed to have “off the record” discussions, that basically means neither side can be held to any suggestions they may have to reach an agreement.  Still, nothing has changed since they began bargaining this past summer.  Some of the members that were fired are still in limbo as of now, waiting on decisions from hearings that took place in the last month.  These members are being taken care by their locals through the outcome of those hearings.  Currently, all the members are still working under their previous agreement and receiving the pay and benefits under that agreement.  I advised Myles that the TCC 2 Defense Fund is over $21,000 and we are ready to assist whenever they need us.

Thursday we issued grievance number 606.  Unless the Company changes some policies or a major issue arises, we will be under 650 grievances for this year.  Again, we believe that with this number of grievances, the process of seeing grievances through the steps will become a little quicker.  On arbitrations, we had a terminated member come into the Hall this week to pick up his settlement check in lieu of going to arbitration.  He had found another job and did not want to return to Verizon.  We have a termination arbitration scheduled for January 25^th, and another one scheduled for February 22^nd.  One is from the BSC and another is from the CSSC.  There were several members terminated in the last 14 months for not following the process of selling products to customers.  Although we realize selling is what Verizon does, we do not agree that every call is applicable for a sales attempt.  We hope an arbitrator sees it that way too.  We hope an arbitrator still believes in true customer service.  If the arbitrator does agree with us, we will have several more terminations on this same issue scheduled immediately after that ruling.

The 4^th quarter ISP that was offered to the Service Reps in St. Pete and the Truck Drivers in Supply resulted in zero Truck Drivers accepting, but 8 Service Reps did elect to leave.  Their last day of work is today.

An update was sent to all members on our email list a couple of weeks ago to ask our members to assist the EWMC in collecting Christmas Cards to send to the troops serving abroad.  There are cards at the Hall that you can fill out, or you can buy your own and fill them out.  Please bring them to the Union Hall by Monday, December 19^th so Grace can collect them and get them in the mail.  We are hopeful that we can collect 1000 cards.

As we end 2011, I would like to thank the stewards for all of their hard work throughout the year and also want to thank every member who takes the time to read the Union email updates and participates in the Local Union.

The Officers, Staff, and Executive Board wish every member a safe and Happy Holiday Season!

In Solidarity,

Robert

I would like to remind everyone of the actions taken at the International Convention regarding the per capita increase.  In January, our dues will be increased by $1 each payday.  All the Chiefs should have been notified and/or emailed President Hill’s notice of the increase.  The dues increase goes directly to the International to be used mostly for organizing throughout the United States and Canada.  We want to make sure that all members are notified in advance of January.

Speaking of Organizing, our Local will have a training class on Saturday, December 10^th here at the hall.  The International Training Department will be here to conduct the training.  During last month’s General Meeting, we had 12 members sign up for this class.  If you are interested, please see Dan Wagner or email one of us here at the Hall.  It looks like we will be moving forward with an organizing drive sometime in January.

We were notified last week that our Building Maintenance Techs will be split into 2 work groups.  One group will continue to perform most of the duties they now perform and the new group will work on generators Company-wide and the A/C units downtown.  We were also told that reporting locations should not change.  There was a meeting with the Techs last week and Dan Wagner attended that meeting with the Techs.

We believe we have made some improvements with the schedules in the FSC.  Perry and Keith have been working on this for a little while and earlier this week we met with the manager and hopefully we see the relief on the next schedule.  I have to give credit to Keith for his 210 button idea and also getting the members to wear the 210 buttons.  When the members started wearing these buttons, it seemed like the Company was a little more interested in improving the schedules.  The new manager in the FSC is working very well with the stewards and we appreciate his willingness to help our members.

The Company has moved forward with soliciting 4 NT’s from the FSC to go on-loan to the Jeop Desk.  In addition, and not with the blessing of the Union, the Company has solicited 7 FNFT’s from the entire region to go on-loan to the Jeop Desk and be trained to do an NT job.  The 7 FNFT’s will be on-loan as well.  This is NOT a permanent position.  We realize the Company is looking to prove to corporate that more NT’s are needed in Florida, and hopefully that will be the end result.  Our NT’s in Florida are very well trained and very knowledgeable at their jobs.  We have been trying to get additional headcount within the NT position for quite some time and Jeanmarie believes that we need more in Florida as well.  As this pilot moves forward, we will be reporting on any progress made in increasing our headcount.

The Design Techs in downtown Tampa have had plenty of work for quite a while now.  We met with the manager there this week as well and they have decided they are going to train some Reps in that center, who are wage schedule E, to do some testing work at wage schedule A.  Both the Company and the Union are hopeful we will be able to place some more members into the Design Tech position in the near future.  This classification is where we placed 15 or so members in the Design Tech position in late 2010. 

It looks like we are going to have 2 CZT II’s in Eastern Division that were force adjusted at the end of last year returned to their home work location.  There will also be the opportunity for an additional 3 members to become CZT II’s when the bid goes on the web.  Also, the FNFT’s that were forced from Eastern Division to the western part of Tampa should be moved soon to either the University or Causeway work centers to get them closer to home.  We will not be content until these members finally get back to Eastern Division, but that is going to depend on the FIOS activity out there.

During the last month, the bids for the Dispatch/Translation Specialist were posted and I was informed that we had 170 members apply.  There are only 3 positions to be filled but again, this is the first time since 1987 that we have had wage schedule B positions in Inside Plant.  We knew there would be a lot of interest and we were right.  We may have an opportunity to bring more work into that center and hopefully that will equate to an increase in headcount as well.

I want to say thank you to Sue Jerome, the Chief Steward in the SRC, for continuing to what seems to be an uphill battle sometimes to resolve issues in the SRC.  There are still a few issues that need to be resolved and it seems like management is starting to work with Sue.  Hopefully, these issues will be resolved in the near future as well.

Last week we finally received the job descriptions for the Communication and Senior Technicians from Verizon Business.  Not surprisingly, they were virtually identical.  Dan emailed those members this week to inform them our next step is to talk to the management people who were responsible for deciding how these members were chosen to be in the classification they ended up in when they moved into the bargaining agreement last year.  We will be reporting more shortly on this issue.

Arbitrations and Grievances – we have filed less than 600 grievances and we are in November.  I report on this number every month partly because I’m amazed that we will be well under 1000 for the year.  I have to keep giving my thanks to all the stewards who are working most of their issues out with their managers.  With 600 or so grievances, you can tell that we still have issues to deal with moving into 2012, but a lot of these grievances revolve around absenteeism and worksheets.  As of today, we have 27 terminations this year, which is lower than last year.  We had an arbitration last week on a termination from the CSSC and we will have that decision back in about 60 days.  As I stated last month, the hearing that was scheduled for November was resolved and that member is already back to work.  The hearing we had scheduled for December 1^st was resolved this week with a cash payout to the member.  The member decided that he did not want to return to work.  We will be notifying the Company next week which grievance we will be arbitrating in January.  There are only a few termination grievances left from 2010 that still need to be reviewed, and I believe we will start the review for 2011 grievances before the end of this year.  

I have a brief update on bargaining in the Northeast.  Instead of meeting in 1 large committee, both sides decided to break into smaller groups for different issues.  After speaking with Myles last night, no progress has been made in any group.  The Company is looking to save over $150-200 million by having the employees pay approximately 5% of their salaries on healthcare premiums, in addition to going on an 80/20 plan.  This plan will increase costs to the employees by more than just the 5% premium contributions.  This is a major issue for the unions and it doesn’t look like there will be a tentative agreement anytime soon.  As I mentioned last month, either side can give 7 days notice to either be locked out or go back on strike.  As of last night, the Union or the Company has not discussed this option.  If there is any news between now and the next meeting, we will post an update on our website.

Thanks for your attention and have a great weekend.

In Solidarity,

Robert

Last month, the IBEW Convention was held in Vancouver, British Columbia and one of the bigger subjects President Hill spoke about was organizing throughout the IBEW.  President Hill reviewed with the delegates the organizing campaigns over the last 5 years to show the delegates how the money was spent from the previous increases in the per capita.  After the review was completed, the delegates in attendance voted to increase the per capita $2 beginning in January 2012, and another $2, beginning in January 2014.  Assistance from the International will be approved to any Local Union that has viable organizing targets.  Without the per capita increases from the last Convention in 2006, the IBEW would have less than 200,000 BA Members. 

Speaking about Organizing, our Local has had a few targets during the last 12 months, but none of them panned out.  We are currently soliciting members to participate in a Voluntary Organizing Committee, and believe we will begin a campaign shortly.  We will be training any member who volunteer to be on this Committee on Saturday, December 10^th, here at the Union Hall.  The IBEW Training Department along with an Organizer will conduct this training.  If you are interested, please notify your Rep or email me.

Yesterday, the ballots were counted for the ratification of a new 3-year agreement for our Supply members and it was accepted by 95%.  The contract is in effect until September 20^th, 2014.  The next contract that will be negotiated is the LiveSource agreement, which will expire in April of next year.

Every member should have received a post card from the National Group Protection Company.  Our Executive Board approved NGP earlier this year to offer Supplemental Benefits to our members.  The information is on the home page of our website and a link will take you to NGP’s site where you can read information and sign-up for benefits.  ALL benefits offered by NGP are in addition to any benefits you may have with Verizon.  This is a UNION MEMBER ONLY benefit and can only sign-up with your IBEW membership number.

Earlier this week, we had 5 members terminated for time coding issues.  We do not have the Security Reports in hand as of yet, but I want to reiterate something that we have all heard many, many times before.  Be where you are supposed to be and do what you are supposed to be doing!  It is very hard to defend a member when that’s not the case.  There are almost always some mitigating circumstances that may explain some actions, but please let your supervisor know if you are doing anything other than the job you are assigned.

During the last month, we received an award from a termination arbitration and we were not successful in that case.  The one that was scheduled in November was resolved and that member has already returned to work.  The next arbitration will be in a couple of weeks and we will report the outcome of that when we receive the award.  We have another termination that we believe the Company will decide to bring back to work without going through the hearing and that will be reported on next month.

If you didn’t read the email from last month, some Verizon workers in the Northeast were fired for gambling on the job.  The gambling was participating in a Fantasy Football Pool.  We have had some members in the past questioned about participating in these pools, and I just want to advise everyone that if you do participate, please do it off the clock.

As of Wednesday, we issued grievance number 522.  At this rate, we are still optimistic that we will be able to catch up on outstanding grievances more quickly in 2012.

I believe that I reported last month that the BSSS work group was moving from 301 to the Tampa Main building.  That has been put on hold and now the Company is not sure when or where this group will end up at.  Once we are advised, we will notify the members.

If you work in the FSC, you know that your work schedule sucks.  After speaking with Perry and Keith, we are in the process of collecting data from all of the FSC’s in the country.  As a virtual call center, we are going to ensure that hours and days off are not unfairly distributed to a few centers.  Keith wore a shirt the other day that had the numbers 210 on the front and back.  2 for how many hours he was required each day, 1 for the 1 Saturday and 1 Sunday he is scheduled off each month, and 0 for how much family time he gets each month.  This was pretty clever and I believe that Keith is having buttons made with 210 on it for each member to wear until the scheduling issue can be worked out more favorably for the members.  Also in the FSC, we have 14 NT’s, wage schedule A.  We have had many talks with the Company about hiring more NT’s in Tampa.  They have even THC’d a couple CSA’s to NT to be able to take more calls from our techs in Florida.  We now have Jeanmarie trying to get more NT’s in Florida and the FSC does not even report to her.  We will keep you informed of any progress we make with the FSC.

We were informed last month that there were Buried Service Wire Technicians performing functions as Inspectors and doing invoice work and were not rotating Saturday coverage with the rest of their work groups.  They were also being paid an incorrect THC code.  We met with Company this week and resolved both of those issues.  The Company is also going to place the top 2 senior BSW Techs into the Jeop desk and we will meet again next month to follow up on rotating more techs into the Jeop desk.

During the last couple of months, the Company has placed 9 CSSC members who are in wage schedule D1-1 and 1 member who is wage schedule D1A into Verizon Plus Stores on-loan.  After realizing that they had to pay per diem and mileage, the Company decided to make these positions permanent, but wanted them in the lower wage schedule.  We met with the managers and later with Jeanmarie and the Company decided to place these positions in the Plus Stores into the higher wage schedule, D1-1.  The Union believed all along this was the correct wage schedule and we are happy that we could work this issue out.

If you haven’t seen the email from Jeanmarie and myself yet, we are going to work together on the Tampa Bay Heart Walk on November 5^th.  The walk will take place at Raymond James Stadium and information to join the IBEW 824 team is on our website.  This is another way, like the Feeding America campaign earlier this year, for the Company and Union to get recognition for the work we do in our communities.  I hope that you can find time to come out and walk with us on that Saturday.

Finally, I will give a brief update on bargaining in the Northeast.  Earlier this week, the Union Committee presented revised proposals and counter-proposals to the Company and right now the Company is still reviewing those proposals.  There has been no major movement on the big issues like Healthcare and Pensions.  The 30-day timeframe to notify each other to terminate the old contract has come and gone and now either side could give 7 days notice to either lockout or go on strike. There has not been a threat from either side to do that at this time.  When the members returned to work, there were 82 employees who were either suspended or fired for alleged activities during the strike.  As of last week, I was told that over ½ of those employees have been returned to work.  Talks are continuing to bring the rest back to work as soon as they can. We are still collecting donations for the Defense Fund and I want to thank every member who continues to donate through our website each payday.  We are well over $20,000 and climbing. Please don’t forget to donate if you can.

In Solidarity,

Robert

During the last month, the TCC2 established a Defense Fund to raise money to assist our brothers and sisters in the IBEW who were on strike.  This information is on our website and the Chief Stewards were notified as well.  Our members donated over $10,000 in one week.  I want to thank every member who donated to this fund.  The IBEW leaders at the bargaining table are requesting we continue to raise money, even though their members went back to work.  There are still major issues to be resolved, including our Pensions and our Medical Premiums.  The Unions were on strike due to the Company not bargaining in good faith and stated from the beginning of the strike that the members would return once the Company began bargaining in good faith.  Both sides agreed that the members would return to work, under the provisions of the contract that had expired, essentially extending the contract until a new agreement can be reached.  If bargaining continues with the Company continuing to demand the Union accept the major takeaways, they could be on strike again.  Hopefully, they can work these issues out and come to a fair and equitable agreement.  If they do not, we will need to do our part to support the members financially as much as we can.  Our hope is that after a fair and equitable agreement is reached, the TCC2 Defense Fund will remain and be used for the members within the TCC2, which includes us, for other bargaining tables or maybe natural disasters.  I will be able to report more on this fund in the future.  You can continue to donate by cash or check or go to our website and click on the link to contribute through Paypal by credit or debit card.  The solidarity within our membership during the strike has been solid.  We had 6 employees join the union this month, a couple which had never been in the union before.  To our new members, I say thank you and welcome.

Arbitration Update – we are currently waiting for a decision on a termination that was heard on June 21^st.  We have several terminations from 2010 that have been rescheduled a few times for the third-step, mostly due to the terminated member cancelling at the last minute.  We are in the process of scheduling these for the last time and notifying the member that once they said they are available for that date, we will follow through to have that meeting completed.  I believe that we will begin reviewing 2011 termination grievances before the end of November.  It has taken a lot of time and energy on the part of my staff and the stewards, but I am really proud of them that we will have NO outstanding terminations that are over 12 months old.  We are reviewing a couple of grievances on contractual language that will probably be requested for arbitration between now and February.  I will keep you informed in the next couple of months.

While the strike was going on, we had multiple days of third-step grievance meetings scheduled and my Reps notified me that they were being cancelled due to management having to serve strike duty.  After a conversation with Labor Relations, the grievances were rescheduled.  We did not need 1^st line managers in our meetings to resolve our grievances.  These managers had the opportunity before the grievance was filed and then again at the 2^nd-step meeting.  We all know that the first liner isn’t going to make any decisions at the 3^rd step.  As of this morning, we have filed under 500 grievances this year. I said it last month, but I believe it bears repeating, if we continue on this trend, we will have a much quicker time frame of filing a grievance and hearing that grievance at a third-step meeting.  Again, I say thank you to all the stewards.

We began bargaining the Supply contract this week and after 5 days, we have only agreed to a 3-year agreement and 5 existing MOA’s.  There are many more issues on the table with job security and contractors being our most important.  We are hopeful that we can work through both of these issues and get closer to reaching a fair agreement before the expiration date of September 24^th.

Over the last couple of months, the CSSC has sent several reps on-loan to various Verizon Plus stores for up to 180 days.  What Zaida found out was these reps were not being reimbursed for mileage or receiving per diem, as the contract states.  This issue has been resolved and the reps affected are going to receive their contractual premiums.  Also in the CSSC, we were notified that they are going to place reps from the Customer Contact Sales Associate classification, which reside in the 70/30 comp plan to the retention workgroup.  The retention work group happens to be work performed exclusively by the reps in the Consumer Sales Consultant classification.  The reps in the 70/30 comp plan make $2.82 less per hour than those currently in the retention group.  The Company believes they can do this without posting a bid as the contract states.  We will file a grievance and follow through to an arbitration because we believe that what is happening is actually downgrading work.  We will keep you informed as we progress through this issue.

As we move towards the end of the year, we are seeing less work for our Cable Splicers in most Divisions.  The storms that we are having almost daily are keeping the CZT II’s busy, but as the rainy season ends there doesn’t look like there will be a lot of work for that group either.  The Company notified us last week that they were going to canvass both the Splicers and the CZT II’s to seek volunteers to either move permanently to the FNFT classification or augment the FNFT’s for up to 180 days on-loan.  We were told that they would not be forcing anyone from either classification; they are only seeking volunteers.  The only Division this will not involve is Eastern where we had a force adjustment of FNFT’s last month.  From that force adjustment of 13 members, 5 have been or will be next week returned back to Eastern Division.

We were notified last month that the Company is creating a new District in OSP.  This new District will encompass Bradenton and St. Pete.  Of course, this new District is crossing Division lines and we do envision there will be some problems.  Our contract does not recognize Districts, only Divisions, so we will be paying close attention to any issues that arise.

During the last month, we were successful in bringing some new work to Florida.  The Verizon Business Dispatch Center, located in Texas, dispatches all of the VZB Techs east of the Mississippi.  This work will reside at the Westside location in Tampa and will consolidate the RCMAC employees, who are wage schedule C and hold the title of Switching Provisioning Specialist and the NDC, who are wage schedule C1 and hold the title of Business Response Generalist and the new title will be called Dispatch and Translation Specialist.  This new title will reside in wage schedule B.  This upgrade/new title will involve 70+ members who will now be in wage schedule B.  We have not had any job titles in wage schedule B in Inside Plant since the Assignor/Dispatcher title was downgraded in the 1987 negotiations.  This was a big deal getting this work in Florida to include our RCMAC due to the lack of work in that work group and an even bigger deal placing this work in wage schedule B.  There will be 3 openings that will be placed for bid shortly for this new title and we will send an email out when that bid opens.  We are waiting right now for what the testing requirements will be and how our members can prepare for this test.

Remember, this Holiday weekend is OUR Holiday.  Educate yourself as to why our government dedicated this day to workers across our country.  Remember all the workers before us that sacrificed their lives in some cases, for workers like us to enjoy the way of life we have earned.  Have a SAFE Holiday weekend.

In Solidarity,

Robert

I want to cover a couple of items from last month’s report.  The Dependent Verification that the Company was to start last month has been postponed through the end of the Open Enrollment for benefits.  Remember, we now have coverage in Out-of-Network for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, we also have Long-Term Care, and there was a change for dependent dental.  Once the Company advises us the timeline for Dependent Verification, we will pass that along on the web.

The other item from last month is employees’ on-loan for 180 days.  The CSSC, BSC, and FNFT classifications now have a separate work group in the Jeop desk.  Out of the 2 BSC employees, 1 decided to go back to her original workgroup and was replaced by the next one in seniority.  There are 14 FNFT’s at the Jeop desk, and at last count we were down to the 27^th volunteer on the list.  Apparently quite a few FNFT’s didn’t want to stay there after they arrived.  Again, this was all done by seniority.

Next week is the deadline to order tickets for our 2^nd Annual Solidarity Day at the Trop.  We have some order forms on the back table or you can download one from our website.

Last week we received the arbitrators’ award from the termination hearing in May and the decision went in favor of the Company.  We are filing our brief on Monday for the hearing that was held last month and will have that decision in approximately 30 days.  We just selected an arbitrator for our next termination and will have a date shortly.

During the last month, we had 8 sets of 3^rd step grievance meetings and one of the terminations grievances was won at the 3^rd step and that member will return to work on Monday.  We are waiting on an answer from the Company on 2 other terminations heard at 3^rd step to see if we can bring them back without going to arbitration.  I will report on that next month.  To date, we have filed 400? Grievances this year, which is well below the numbers we are used to in our Local.  Again, I want to thank the stewards for resolving most of the issues with their local management. 

We will begin bargaining our Supply contract on Monday, August 29^th, at 10:00am.  The location has not been decided yet, but it is possible we bargain in our Executive Board room, just like we did with the Buried Service Wire Agreement.  The Union’s committee will include Dan Wagner, Erik Jones, Steve Corbin, one of the stewards in Supply and myself.  We mailed out the surveys over a week ago and are still waiting for the replies to begin drafting proposals.  We will start receiving our information requests from the Company next week to help our committee prepare as well.

During the last month the Company force adjusted 13 FNFT’s from Eastern Division into Tampa and then realigned 8 FNFT’s within Eastern Division.  We believe there were too many force adjusted or realigned and as of Monday, 2 of the members realigned will be recalled to Winter Haven.  We will have some more discussion next week to see if we can move anymore back to their former locations.

We were notified late yesterday afternoon of a surplus in the Service Representative classification that will affect 1 out of 1 employee located in Telecom Park.  This Rep worked for the Regulatory Department and will be offered the ISP.  If the member elects not to accept and leave, we may have a bumping situation occur.  I will report on this again next month.

In the E-Center, we had a management employee send a message on Sametime that was threatening in nature, which was viewed by one of our members.  This type of behavior has consequences whether you’re in craft or management and we will stay on top of this issue to the end.  We had a meeting with the E-Center Director to address some concerns within the work group and so far 3 of the issues discussed have hopefully been resolved.  The Union is also hopeful that we have begun a working relationship with the Director to resolve issues in the E-Center more quickly and less painful for all involved.

In the FSC, the Company has started a trial program that is THC’n 2 wage schedule C1 Customer Support Analysts to a Network Technician, wage schedule A.  The hope is to be able to handle more Florida calls in the Tampa center.  The timeline for each member to THC is approximately 3 months each and then rotated to another member.  Hopefully this can lead to more permanent positions in the Network Technician classification.

Earlier this week, the CSSC posted openings on their website of at least 25 positions.  One posting says 20 and another posting says 15.  I know that equals 35, but the Company is stating there are only 25 openings.  If you would like to work in the call center in downtown Tampa, fill out your bid before the deadline.

There is a new link on our website leading you to the NACTEL website.  NACTEL is the joint venture between the IBEW and CWA with Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and CenturyLink that provides for an online degree in the Telecommunications field.  They offer AA’s, BA’s, and Master Degree programs all at a discounted rate.  The link is on the homepage below the main menu.

Finally, I want to inform everyone on the latest news at the bargaining tables in the Potomac and Northeast areas.  If you haven’t seen the pictures or video of the rally held last Saturday in New York City, you can see some on our site or anyone of the IBEW or CWA websites.  There were between 15,000 and 20,000 members, retirees, and family members in attendance.  It was the best union rally I have ever attended in my 26 years.  The members are fired up and ready to fight to keep what they have earned over the last 50-60 years through collective bargaining.  Local 824 had 9 representatives attend the rally, all on their own dime.  We left Tampa at 6am and returned at midnight Saturday.  For several weeks, the Company informed the Unions that they would not extend the deadline of midnight Saturday.  Now, the Company has begun talking about extending past Saturday.  All of the major issues remain on the table, unresolved.  I have been talking to Myles frequently this week reassuring them that Local 824 members are ready to do whatever we can to support our sisters and brothers.  Last night in Boston, another rally was held and Myles told me approximately 3000 members attended.  As this weekend passes, we will be emailing and/or posting updates on our website to keep you informed.

I spoke with Jeanmarie last night to inform her that our members would not violate our contract or do anything illegal if our brothers and sisters do go on strike.  However, I will be personally asking any member that is THC’ing to management to stop immediately.  I advised Jeanmarie that our members would NOT help our local managers out while they are up north crossing a picket line.  I also told her that we do not want to go backwards in our ability to work together in Florida, but we will do what we need to do to support our brothers and sisters.  The buttons that were being worn at the rally in New York City say it all…”It’s all about good union jobs!”

In Solidarity,

Robert

I would like to start off my report tonight with a moment of silence for a 3-year member from the CSSC, who was murdered early this past Monday morning, Nicole Williams.  Nicole’s mother, Flossie Sallet worked in the EVRC and was also a member of our Local for many years and retired last year. Please, let’s take a moment.

We reported on our website last week that the Company has started mailing out information to all employees for the purposes of verifying all dependents.  This was supposed to occur on June 27^th, but no letters have been mailed out yet.  When the new timeline is given to the Union, we will post that info on the website and email all members.  Detailed information is still on our home page on the website.  If you have any problems obtaining the necessary information, please notify your Rep at the Hall as soon as possible.

In addition, you should also have received a letter from the Company with the open enrollment for your health benefits.  If you do not want to change anything, there is nothing that you have to do.  Remember, from bargaining last year, there is going to be a charge for dental coverage if you have dependents covered.  There will be 2 dental options, one a Dental PPO (Verizon Dental) and a Dental DMO.  The benefits from both plans remain the same as before.  The Dental PPO cost for family coverage will be just under $9 per pay period.  The Dental DMO cost for family coverage will be around $5.50 per pay period.  There is no cost if you do not have dependents.  Along with the open enrollment for healthcare coverage, you will have an option to participate in the new benefit of Long-Term Care.  If you remember, this coverage will be beneficial if you have a family member that needs any type of long-term care.  There will be a cost for this benefit depending on what options you select, just as there is a cost for Long-Term Disability at 50% or 60% of your pay.  If you have any questions, please contact your Rep at the Hall.

Last month we reported on the Telecommunications deregulation bill that was passed by the Florida Legislature several months ago.  Our COPE Director, Jason Smith, Michelle Agne and myself met with Verizon’s Regulatory Director, Michelle Robinson, several weeks ago to discuss this bill and what the Company sees as the advantage to not having these regulations anymore.  We had already agreed that this legislation created a more level playing field between Telecom companies in the state with the competitors, like BrightHouse and Comcast, by eliminating regulations that the competitors did not have to follow but Verizon was mandated to follow.  We found out that our main concern, which was the ability for a company like Verizon to sell off unwanted portions of the plant to any buyer, did not change in the law.  The process of a Telecom company selling any or all parts of their Company in the State of Florida is the same now as was it was prior to this legislation.

We have had many discussions with the Company during the past month in regards to the 180 on-loan language in our contract.  The Union’s position has always been that if the Company needed to continuously replace employees’ on-loan after 180 days, then there was obviously a need to create a new work group.  The Jeop Desk was one of the groups we were talking about.  We have had employees working in the Jeop Desk for over 3 years, rotating in and out when their time expired.  There will now be several work groups located in the Jeop Desk, starting with the BSC Offline Reps within the BSSR classification.  These positions were filled by seniority only within the work group.  The CSSC will also have a separate work group consisting of employees in the CSR classification in the IHD work group.  These positions were also filled by seniority within the existing work group.  They will also have a separate work group of FNFT’s, filled by seniority region-wide.  All FNFT’s throughout the region were canvassed to fill these positions.  By creating these new work groups, we did not lose the ability to have employees who are on light-duty still go on-loan to the Jeop Desk.  The BSWG techs that have been in the Jeop Desk have not been made a separate work group yet, but we think that will happen soon.  When the Company decides to have them a separate work group, all BSWG technicians will be canvassed for that group.  There are still some other classifications that are on-loan to the Jeop Desk and they are CZT II’s, which are manning the HSI help desk and the Company is going to canvass NT’s from the FSC to go on-loan to the Jeop Desk.  The HSI help desk and the NT’s are also a pilot and if the Company decides to create new work groups, seniority will prevail as I’ve already described.

Another group that has been on-loan for an extended period of time is the Special Events Team.  These are the FNFT’s that set up the FIOS product at certain locations throughout the region, talk to potential customers and then break down the exhibits and move to the next location.  This will now be a separate work group, filled by seniority from all FNFT’s region-wide.  Between the Jeop Desk and the Events team, this is where the majority of on-loan employees have been over the past 3 years.  We did get a list of employees in the CSSC and the BSC that were on-loan and were told they have returned to their normal work group.  We did allow the Company up to 2 additional weeks, for training purposes, for all on-loan employees before they return to their normal work locations.  If you know of anyone who has been on-loan for more than the 180 days as allowed by our contract, please contact your Rep at the Hall so we can take care of that.

As reported last month, the Company provided the Union the proper contractual notice of a force adjustment/realignment of 15 FNFT’s in Eastern Division.  We were able to prolong the force adjustment in the hopes FIOS installs would increase, but after an initial burst of activity, order activity dropped.  We were successful in reducing the 15 to 13, and decrease the number from 6 to 4 that would have to report from Eastern Division to Airport North, which is the greatest distance.  This force adjustment is supposed to be effective this Sunday, with a division realignment taking place immediately thereafter.  All the FNFT’s affected should have been notified already. 

There is a scheduled fire alarm drill on July 14^th for the Tampa EAX building.  There will be several of your IBEW Safety Committee members in attendance and Danny is hoping that the Company will continue these drills in the other building in the future.

We were notified last month that CEVA, the contracting company that our Supply uses in the warehouse would be closing down.  Our warehouse will be a stopping point for supplies from the warehouse in Texas.  We were also told that this would not affect the headcount in our warehouse with the Material Handlers or the Truck Drivers.

Our Supply contract expires on September 24^th this year and we will begin the bargaining process this month with getting surveys mailed to all Supply union members.  I will be chairing that committee for the Union with Dan Wagner, who is the Rep for the Supply members and a member from Supply.  Once dates for bargaining are set, that information will be placed on the website and an email will be sent to all Supply members in our database.  All of the Supply members that have provided us their personal email address will receive bargaining update emails as the process takes place.

If you did not know, the IBEW and CWA in the Potomac and New England regions began bargaining with Verizon on a new 3-year contract on June 22^nd.  The Company is seeking major concessions from the membership, including employee contributions for health-care, higher prescription co-pays, reductions in short-term disability payments, general wage increases tied to performance, freezing employee pensions, and no pensions at all for new hires.  These are only a few of the proposals presented by Verizon.  As you can see, the Company is trying to reduce every benefit that the membership has earned throughout the years.  I advised Myles Calvey, who is the Business Manager of Local 2222, and also the TCC II Chairman that our members will do any and everything that we can to assist our sisters and brothers obtain a fair and equitable contract.  If and when we are asked for assistance, I’m confident our members will be there to help.

The arbitration report for this month includes the award we received this week to the termination grievance we heard in April.  We were successful, and the member, Dan Marshall, returned to work on Wednesday of this week.  The arbitrator ruled that Dan was to be returned to work within 5 days of receipt of the award.  Danny Alfonso prepared very well for this case and presented a good argument, both at the hearing and in his post-hearing brief.  I want to congratulate Danny on a job well done and welcome Brother Marshall back to the Company and the membership.  We are currently waiting on 2 more decisions from cases heard over the last 2 months.  Danny, Dan and myself are continuing to review termination grievances to proceed to a hearing.

If you didn’t hear, the American Federation of Government Employees were successful in their organizing campaign with the TSA Officers located in our Nation’s airports.  With the potential of 47,000 members, the hardest part has just begun, which is negotiating a first contract.  When all we hear is how union membership is declining, it was a very positive statement across the country that unions are still very viable, especially in this economy.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to report on our past President, Harrison Thornhill.  I had lunch with Harrison yesterday and he told me to let the membership know that even though he is retired, he follows the website and keeps up to date on all of the events that have taken place since his retirement.  If you would like to call or email Harrison, just to chat, I’m sure he would appreciate a few minutes of your time to talk.

In Solidarity,

Robert

Politically speaking, you should remember I reported last month about the passage of the telephone deregulation bill in Tallahassee.  I spoke with Verizon’s Regulatory representative to set up a meeting so we can discuss the Company’s views and outlook with the passage of the bill.  I will report next month about that meeting.

On May 22^nd, we had our 2^nd Annual Family Fun Day here at the Hall and approximately 300 members and their families attended.  The cooks, Bobby Bellott, Jeff Lane, Scott Craddock, Noah Kaaa, and Bob Dixon did a great job as they always do and I would like to thank them for volunteering to help.  If you didn’t know, anything that we need to do around the union hall, these guys always volunteer and I really appreciate it.  The Solidarity Committee, Pam Elleby, Jody Irish, Zaida Menendez, Patrice Canty-Davis, Fred Lauper, Harry Kooshak, and Melissa Vivian also did a great job putting everything together and I appreciate everything that they did as well.  I would like to thank Sherry Waters and the EWMC for hosting the children’s craft table and also Heather Tressler, a member in the E-Center for doing the face painting for the kids.  All in all, everyone had a great time and we look forward to putting this event together again next year.  As a reminder, you have until August 12^th to purchase your tickets for the Solidarity Day at the Trop, which takes place on August 21^st.

The Kindness Campaign, with 1 week left, has produced almost 10,000 pounds of food donated by our members and customers.  The top 3 yards are University, with more than a third of the total at 3,850 pounds, then Bradenton, with 991 pounds, and then Carrollwood, with 833 pounds.  In the Inside Plant buildings, a total of 430 pounds of food was collected.  To all the members that donated food or money, I would like to say thank you.  We think that we have begun to show the communities that we work and live in that we care about our communities.  On Saturday, June 18^th, we will have a day of giving back to the community at the Feeding America warehouse where you can volunteer to sort and package food, organize donations, or deliver food to the community.  If you can volunteer, it will only take 3 hours out of your day, from 1-4 pm and we can continue to show our communities that we care. 

Last month, I reported that the Company had declared a surplus of 15 FNFT’s in Eastern Division.  The following week the Company cancelled that force adjustment.  We believe there will still be a surplus in the future, but we’re not sure if it will be 15 technicians. 

On May 12^th, we were notified of a surplus and an ISP offering in 5 different classifications, with a total of 11 out of 83 employees that could be affected.  Only 1 out of the 11 is going to be involuntary and we believe that there will be a couple of “bumps” that occur, but no one will be leaving the property.  This announced surplus was placed on our website after we were notified.

Yesterday we were told that the Company has a “team” working on the job functions of the Senior Technicians, Communication Technicians, and the Central Office Technicians.  We have been trying to resolve what classification performs what job functions for several months now.  These classifications include members within our central offices, the former Select Services members and the Verizon Business members.  We plan on speaking with this team next week and hopefully we will be able to finally resolve these issues in the very near future.

With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed last year, the legislation established the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program.  This program allows for Companies to apply for reimbursement of certain health care expenses for retirees who are 55 or older and not eligible for Medicare.  Verizon applied on behalf of its’ retirees will use the funds to offset participants’ increased premiums as well as the direct increases in Verizon’s own costs for maintaining retiree health care costs.  We were told that participants that fall into the age category who participated last year should receive a reimbursement for a portion of their costs.  This reimbursement will expire by January 1, 2014 or earlier if the appropriated funds for this government program run out.  This should be a good thing for all of our retirees that fall into the age category.

We were also notified that beginning on July 1^st, Verizon would cease making contributions to the VEBA trust for the foreseeable future.  They claim that VEBA trust will continue to have a robust balance well beyond the term of the current CBA.  VEBA is our Retiree Health Care plan.  In addition, Verizon is planning on merging several Pension Plans around the country into a single plan.  Our Local, along with others around the country has some questions about these subjects and we will be meeting with the Company next week.

Verizon is planning to conduct a dependent verification for healthcare purposes.  Notices are to be mailed out in the middle of June and then a reminder notice towards the end of July.  As of right now, they will be requesting the following information from ALL employees and retirees:  to verify your spouse, a marriage certificate will be required to prove you were actually married and also a current tax return or bank statement to prove you are still married to the spouse.  To verify your child, there are several different categories:  for a biological child you will need to provide a birth certificate listing the employee as a parent; for an adopted child, you will need to provide an adoption certificate listing the employee as a parent; for a stepchild, you will need to provide a birth certificate for the child and a marriage certificate listing the employee and the child’s parent AND a current tax return or bank statement showing the employee is still married to the child’s parent.  This subject is going to be discussed in that same meeting next week with the Company and we will report any updates on our website.

During the last month, our CSSC had the “Official Complaints” brought back from Texas and 6 of our Reps are now performing that work.

I would like to point out, that we are talking with the Company about the employees that have been “on-loan” this year that the 180 days in a calendar year expires at the end of this month.  I know that some members that have been “on-loan” are not happy that they can’t stay where they are, but our contract states that you cannot be “on-loan” for more than 180 days.  If we are made aware of someone going over the 180 days, we will contact the Company so the contractual language is upheld.  If you have any questions about this issue, please contact your Rep at the Hall.

This past Wednesday, we held our 2^nd Local Union Steward Investigatory Meeting Training and will be scheduling another one in the next month or 2.

Finally, an update on our Arbitration schedule – we had an arbitration on April 7^th and our brief was just filed so we have less than 30 days to receive that award and we had an arbitration last week that went really well.  We are about 60 days or so from receiving that award and we have another one scheduled for June 21^st that Dan Wagner is currently preparing for.  The next 2 should be scheduled in July and August.

In Solidarity,

Robert

Following up from last month, I want to report that HB 1231 and SB 1524 (Telephone Deregulation bills have both passed through the Florida Legislature and will become Florida law shortly.  We still feel that these bills will have a negative impact of telephone service in our State, but hopefully we will be able to work through the issues that may affect the telephone workers in our state.

With the attacks on working people throughout the country, the Florida AFL-CIO will hold a Festival for Florida’s Future on Saturday, June 4^th, at the Central Florida Fairgrounds from 10:00a through 6:00p.  At the festival, attendees will learn about how they can fight for Florida by participating in letter writing campaigns, recording video messages, registering to vote and attending a series of teach-ins.  More information will be place on our website soon.

I know that Jason Smith, the Political Director for our Local, will give a brief report soon, I want to take this opportunity to personally thank him for all the time and effort he provided over the last 2 months, not only for our membership, but for working families all over the State.  He had been on a leave from Verizon, working with the State AFL-CIO and now will be returning to his Verizon job as a Splicer on Monday.  Jason, thank you…your efforts have not gone unnoticed and the workers around the state appreciate what you have done for them.

The 5^th District Progress meeting was held last month in Tunica, Mississippi and I understand there will be a report from the delegates that attended.  I would like to point out that our International Vice-President, Joe Davis, announced he will be running for re-election at the Convention in September.  As of tonight, IVP Davis is running unopposed.  IVP Davis has been very helpful to our Local Union and hopefully we will have him attend a future meeting so you will be able to personally meet him.

Hopefully you have noticed food bins in your work locations and have participated in the joint IBEW/Verizon Feeding America campaign.  As previously reported, our members are getting the recognition they deserve by helping those in our communities with the greatest needs.  The feedback we have received from the membership in regards to the newspaper ads and television commercial recognizing the IBEW has been tremendous.  Keep in mind the goal that has been set is 20,000 pounds of food collected through the end of June.  That may sound like a lot, but it is well within our ability to achieve.  The food bins in the Main building has been emptied numerous times, and in Outside Plant, the University work center has collected the most so far.  If your work area does not have a collection bin, please contact your Rep at the Hall and we will make sure you have one in place.  If you have not seen the commercial and would like to, please email your Rep and they will provide you a copy. 

Erik and I attended the Verizon Shareholders meeting yesterday and we can report that all proposals introduced by management passed and all proposals introduced by shareholders did not pass.  A couple of interesting things that Ivan Seidenberg stated were that Verizon Wireless now has over 104 million subscribers.  With the changes in technology over the past few years, you can see why it is very important for Organized Labor to represent workers in the wireless fields.  Verizon has continuously fought to have any of these workers organized, but hopefully we can change that in the future.  Wireless constituted about 60% of the total revenues for Verizon last year.  Over the last 3 years, FIOS has increased from 5% to 13% of the total revenues.  Clearly, we need to address the workers in the wireless industry.  Verizon sold 2.2 million iPhones in the first quarter of this year and 260,000 Thunderbolt cell phones (4G) capable were sold in the first quarter.  Ivan also stated that Verizon’s 4G network is currently in 38 markets nationally, and will be at 95% nationally before the end of the first quarter in 2014.  Traditional phone services, like traditional landlines decreased from 52% to 26% over the last 3 years.

Last week we had a Steward Training class here at the Hall, conducted by the International Office, and I would like to announce that we now have 23 new stewards representing members in Supply, Buried Wire, Verizon Business, along with new stewards in Inside and Outside Plant.  Congratulations to all who attended and thank you for stepping up to serve your brothers and sisters.  We also conducted our first training class for Investigative and Security meetings for stewards.  This class consisted of explaining contractual language, and also how to conduct meetings.  The feedback from the first class was very positive and we will be conducting the next class soon.  If you are a steward and are interested in this class, please contact your Rep at the Hall.

We were notified during the last month that the Fiber build in Florida will be all but finished for this year by the end of May.  We were also told that the Company is looking for approximately 43 more FNFT’s in the Tampa area.  Last month there were 18 FNFT’s from Southern Division that volunteered to relocate to Tampa.  Those 18 spots were filled by volunteers in the Cable Splicer classification in Southern.  We have approximately 140 FTTP Splicers throughout the Florida region.  The Company has canvassed the Splicers to see if there was any interest in becoming an FNFT.

We were notified in writing this week that the Company plans on force adjusting 15 FNFT’s in Eastern Division to Tampa.  We did ask the Company to canvass for volunteers, which they did, but there were no volunteers.  After the 15 have moved to Tampa, there will be a realignment of FNFT’s within the 5 work centers that have FNFT’s.  If you haven’t heard, Verizon was able to negotiate and provide 3 Orlando local stations for customers in Polk County.  We were hopeful that this would increase order activity and therefore allow the FNFT’s to not be force adjusted.  There was a little burst in order activity, but not enough to stop the force adjustment totally.

We were also notified last month that the Skyway work center has been sold and will be closed soon.  The employees in that location will be moved to the Gandy work center.

On April 7^th, we had another Arbitration hearing for a terminated member.  I would like to say that Danny Alfonso did an excellent job of preparing and presenting this case in front of the arbitrator.  We feel the hearing went very well and we should have the decision around this time next month.  Our next arbitration is scheduled for May 25^th, and the next one is scheduled for June 21^st.  I have been reviewing the outstanding termination grievances and notifying members if there case will be heard at arbitration.  Hopefully, next month I will be able to report that we have dates for July and August for the next 2 cases.

As of yesterday afternoon, we had issued 281 grievance numbers since the beginning of this year.  Last year at this time we had issued 535 grievance numbers and we ended up with 1270 grievances total filed last year.  We do have a couple hundred less members than we did last year, but we believe that issuing less grievance numbers this year stems from several things.  The stewards are getting more cooperation resolving some of the smaller issues they face daily in their work locations, and also from the stewards and the Staff at the Hall holding the Company responsible before the contract is violated and a grievance has to be filed.  If we can continue this pace, we will be under 900 grievances for the entire 2011 year.  We have not been under 1000 since 1994.  Maybe, if we can continue working issues out as we have been for the last 6 months or so, the time-frame between 2^nd step and 3^rd step should be greatly reduced.  Only time will tell, but we are optimistic.

I would like to point out a few things about Workers’ Compensation.  Everyone should know if you are injured on the job, our Workers’ Comp MOA makes up the difference of what the State of Florida provides (66 2/3) to 80% of your salary.  This is for a period of 12 months.  After 12 months, you could potentially be separated from Verizon.  With the Buried Service Wire Group, the time frame is only 4 months.  If you or a co-worker is injured on the job, even if it is not a serious injury, please let a Rep at the Hall know so we can direct you to an attorney.  What happens too often, is that we do not get a call until the employee receives a letter from Verizon stating that they have 3 days to return to work.  This puts a lot of pressure on you and us and the attorney that we refer you to.  We are always more successful if we have time to work on the issue, instead of waiting until the last day or 2.  Our goal is always to assist in helping our members get better first of all, then to ensure everything is done to get our member back to work.  If it is an injury where the member probably is never going to be able to return to work, we want to make sure to advise about Long-Term Disability and to help get all the forms filled out correctly.

It has been quite a few years since our Local Union has provided information on NACTEL. NACTEL came into existence in 1997 and Local 824 had one of the first graduates in 2002.  NACTEL is the National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning! NACTEL is the premier source of online education to address critical employment needs in the evolving telecommunications industry.

NACTEL is a unique partnership of industry employers and unions working with quality educators to create and sponsor online education programs that meet the needs of current and future telecommunications professionals.

All NACTEL programs are developed by the industry, for the industry…

Last month, President Hill appointed me to be one of 4 IBEW Directors for NACTEL.  Our Local will now have a direct voice on the curriculum of this degree program.  NACTEL has Directors from the IBEW, CWA, Verizon, AT&T, Frontier and CenturyLink.  Keep in mind that the Education Assistance of $8000 per year can be used for this degree program.  We will have a link on our website shortly with more information.

Under the Executive Board report, you will hear that the Board approved the National Group Protection Company the ability to provide our members supplemental insurance.  This insurance will be for Accidents, Critical Illness, and Life.  This insurance will be in addition to any provided by Verizon, and would pay out in addition to any insurance you currently possess.  This will be a UNION-MEMBER ONLY benefit, and Verizon will not have any part of this insurance.  We believe that you will need your IBEW membership number to verify your membership and shortly information will be mailed to your homes notifying you of the coverages available for you or your dependents and the costs to you as well.  Once the open enrollment period has been decided, you will be notified by mail and we will also send an email to all members in our database.

On Sunday, May 22^nd, from 11-4 we will have our 2^nd Annual Solidarity Family Day here at the Hall.  Fliers went to all stewards last month and we have received many emails with an RSVP.  If you are going to attend, please RSVP by next Friday, May 13^th, so we will have time to ensure we have enough food and drinks.

On Sunday, August 21^st, we will have our 2^nd Annual Solidarity Day at the Trop.  The Tampa Bay Rays will be hosting the Seattle Mariners for a 1:40p game.  The cost is $22 per person, which includes an Outfield seat, hotdog, Pepsi product and a snack.  Fliers for this event have been emailed to stewards and is also on the website.  If you are planning on attending with friends, please make a note on your form before you mail or fax it to the Rays.  Last year we had around 150 members participate and from the emails we received so far, I believe we will have more than 200 this year.

In Solidarity,

Robert