Fairpoint Corporate Greed

The unions officially started negotiations April 25. Spillane says there have been about 20 sessions with the company so far, and there is no deal in sight. Negotiations will intensify over the next few weeks.

"The big sticking points are right now they want to take away our retiree health care. They also want to change our health care to a worse health care plan and the premiums would be extremely high. The next big one is they want to have the ability to allow contractors to come in here and do the work versus having our own employees," said Spillane.

"Our proposal addresses the need for flexibility when it comes to meeting communication requirements of today's customers and future customers. We have to be able to provide them what they need in today's evolving telecom environment," said Angelynne Amores Beaudry, FairPoint Communications.

Spillane says the unions are trying to compromise, they just sent a proposal for a different health care plan that would save FairPoint over $7 million.

FairPoint argues without change, the company cannot be successful in the future. And what they are offering is a benefits package similar to what non-union employees are getting.

The proposal also includes a freeze of the existing benefits plan. An employee can keep the accrued benefit, but would not accrue any further benefits after the freeze date.

"It's not like they can't afford it, it’s not that it is something they can't easily offer they are just choosing to take the money out of our heath care plan because they want to give money to investors as a dividend. This is not an example on where the company needs to save money or something needs to be done. We don't like the idea you want to take money from Vermonters just to give it to the Wall Street executives that are filthy rich anyway," Spillane.

Not so says FairPoint. I did not Author did document.FairPoint Refuses to Compromise at Meeting Today in Boston

Written by Glenn Brackett    Tuesday, November 18 2014 13:48

Telecom company officials refuse to modify demands at Tuesday meeting arranged by a federal mediator.

In more than six months of talks, FairPoint officials have never moved from their initial demand for $700 million in crippling cuts.

FairPoint workers have offered more than $200 million in cost-saving compromises since negotiations began.

BOSTON — FairPoint officials refused to modify their demand for $700 million in cuts at a meeting Tuesday in Boston. A federal mediator arranged the meeting, which was an attempt to jump-start contract talks that FairPoint abruptly ended this summer.

FairPoint’s nearly 2,000 union workers have been on strike since October 17 because of the company’s unfair practices. The workers are calling on FairPoint to return to the table and negotiate an agreement that maintains good jobs and quality service for New England.

“The company began these talks demanding $700 million in crippling cuts, and today they’re still making the same demand,” said Peter McLaughlin, Chair of System Council T-9 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). “They’re not trying to find common ground with us, they’re trying to turn good middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs with bare-bones benefits.”

The company walked away from negotiations with its union workers in August and imposed proposals that slash all workers’ benefits and cut pay for most new employees by more than 20 percent. Before going on strike, the workers spent nearly two months trying to reopen talks with the company.

“This North Carolina company can keep dragging its heels, but we will win a fair deal for New England,” said Mike Spillane, Business Manager of IBEW Local 2326 in Vermont. “We will not allow them to outsource the good jobs of New England and turn them into temp jobs filled by out-of-state contractors.”

“FairPoint’s attack on its skilled workers is an attack on the customers we serve,” said Don Trementozzi, President of Communications Workers of America Local 1400. “FairPoint’s executives need to understand northern New England’s telecom network isn’t their own personal profit center. It’s the lifeline of the people we serve.”

FairPoint, a North Carolina-based company largely owned by Wall Street hedge funds, has hired replacement workers during the strike, but they are struggling to maintain the company’s network. There have been reports of widespread service interruptions and long lag times fixing storm-related outages.

“You can’t run a high-tech company with low-wage workers,” said Glenn Brackett, Business Manager of IBEW Local 2320 in New Hampshire. “Every day they prolong this strike is one more day they’re forcing substandard service on our customers in northern New England.”

Throughout the contract talks, which began in April, FairPoint has insisted on $700 million in deep and damaging cuts. The union has offered $200 million in cost savings, but the company has refused to make a single substantive compromise in bargaining.

In the wake of Tuesday’s meeting, FairPoint workers and their supporters from across the Northeast are moving forward with a major rally in Montpelier this Thursday, November 20.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) System Council T-9 includes local unions in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and represents nearly 1,700 employees at FairPoint Communications. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1400 represents nearly 300 FairPoint employees in the three states. For more information, visit www.FairnessAtFairpoint.com.