Verizon has agreed to hire an additional 1,400 workers and provide a 10.5 percent raise for union workers over the term of a new four-year agreement with striking workers in the Northeast.
The details of the agreement were released Monday on the heels of a Friday announcement from U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez that the parties had come to terms.
According to releases from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), 1,300 of the new positions will be East Coast call center jobs. The CWA said 850 of those jobs will be in the Mid-Atlantic region and 450 will be in the Northeast.
The CWA also said Verizon has agreed to walk back several of its other outsourcing initiatives to maintain work for pole maintenance employees. The carrier has further agreed to keep its call centers in the Mid-Atlantic region open and will maintain three of five call centers in upstate New York.
Verizon said it has also agreed to give union workers a 10.5 percent raise over the term of the contract, including three percent upon ratification, and 2.5 percent on each anniversary of the contract. The CWA listed the compound raise figure at 10.9 percent.
The CWA said the contract also provides for a $1,250 signing bonus in the Mid-Atlantic and a $1,000 signing bonus plus a $250 healthcare reimbursement account in the Northeast and $2,800 minimum in profit sharing over the next four years. The union also said the deal includes three one percent pension increases over the term of the agreement.
The parties also struck the first-ever contract agreement for approximately 70 Verizon Wireless retail store employees in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Everett, Mass.
Verizon’s chief administrative officer Marc Reed said the terms of the deal “are good for our employees, good for our customers and will be good for our business.” CWA president Chris Shelton called the contract a “huge win.”
Striking workers are scheduled to head back to work on Wednesday, June 1, the CWA and IBEW said. The unions said the agreement will be presented to members for a ratification vote after their return to work.
The return to work follows a nearly two month strike of just under 40,000 wireless and wireline union workers. The strike began on April 13 when workers walked off the job following 10 months of failed contract negotiations.
