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Verizon, unions reach tentative agreement

Hours before a promised 12:01 a.m. strike today, two unions representing 65,000 workers from Virginia to Maine reached a three-year tentative agreement with the telecommunications giant Verizon.

Hours before a promised 12:01 a.m. strike today, two unions representing 65,000 workers from Virginia to Maine reached a three-year tentative agreement with the telecommunications giant Verizon.

Calling it a "breakthrough agreement," Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, said that it provides a "framework for growth at Verizon and a good standard of living with careers for our members."

The two unions, CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the proposed settlement:

* Increases wages and pensions by 10.87 percent over three years;

* Preserves fully-paid health- care coverage for active and retired workers; and

* Recognizes 2,500 new union jobs, including growth areas such as FiOS, the company's fiber-optic service.

* Eliminates subcontracting in some areas; converts temporary jobs to full time; and speeds grievance resolution, which had taken up to three years.

Verizon also agreed to extend union recognition to 600 former MCI technicians at Verizon Business, after a two-year joint-union campaign "to tear down the wall" between non-union and union workers doing the same job.

Future hires, however, will receive a defined contribution from Verizon, subject to negotiation, towards their retirement health care.

A Verizon executive vice president, Marc C. Reed, said the contract would allow the company to remain "focused on delivering to our customers the best in broadband, communications and entertainment."

Union members must vote by mail ballot on the contract ratification by Sept. 18, said CWA spokesman Tom Crawford.

If ratified, the contract calls for Verizon to fund a joint management-labor health-care-reform committee for $2 million per year.

"We applaud management for agreeing to keep the best health-care coverage in America and for their commitment to work with us for real health-care reform," Cohen said.

Wage increases and other benefits will be retroactive to Aug. 3. Members had continued to work past their Aug. 2 contract expiration during labor talks.

IBEW president Ed Hill credited the "solidarity and activism of IBEW and CWA members" at Verizon for a tentative agreement that "met our goals to protect the retirees who helped to build this company and . . . ensure future jobs for union members."

The proposed contract covers 50,000 CWA and 15,000 IBEW workers, who do the same jobs in 10 states. They are represented by CWA Locals 13000 and 13500 and IBEW Local 1944 in Pennsylvania.

A walkout could have delayed installations and repairs of telephone and broadband lines. An 18-day strike in 2000 left a backlog of 230,000 orders and repair requests.

The Associated Press contributed

to this story.