Verizon and approximately 45,000 unionized workers – or roughly one-fourth of the company's full staff – have ended a bitter two-week strike that left the company's customers with longer wait times for service and the striking workers without paychecks.
According to a press release from Verizon, the striking workers will resume normal employment on Monday night, but they will do so under the terms of their original contracts that expired on Saturday, August 6. Verizon has not conceded on the concessions it's asking from its workers, but the company has also not placed a deadline on the extension of its employees' contracts, either.
In other words, both sides now have more time to wrangle out the details of the new contracts that await Verizon's unionized employees. And the move doesn't come a moment too soon for striking workers' medical benefits, which would have been suspended on August 31, per their contracts, if the strike continued up until that point.
"We agreed to end the strike because we believe that is in the best interest of our customers and our employees," said Verizon's Marc Reed, executive vice president of human resources, in a statement. "We remain committed to our objectives, and we look forward to negotiating the important issues that are integral to the future health of Verizon's wireline business."
The response from the two major unions representing the formerly striking workers, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, highlighted the renewed focus both sides now plan to bring to the bargaining table.
"We have reached agreement with Verizon on how bargaining will proceed and how it will be restructured. The major issues remain to be discussed, but overall, issues now are focused and narrowed," read a joint press release by both unions. "We appreciate the unity of our members and the support of so many in the greater community. Now we will focus on bargaining fairly and moving forward."
Verizon and its workers initially butted heads over the nearly 100 concessions that Verizon was asking of its employees following six weeks of initial contract negotiations. The company's proposals included the elimination of some worker holidays (including Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veteran's Day), a pension freeze, the requirement that workers begin contributing anywhere from $1,300 to $3,000 toward their family health care plans, a plan for matching annual raises to job performance, and a cap of five sick days per year, to name a few.
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