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NLRB Readies 86-Count Complaint Against Verizon for Violating Employees' Organizing Rights
The Communications Workers of America was notified by the National Labor Relations Board for the New York Region that the agency is preparing to issue a complaint against Verizon Information Services alleging 86 violations of federal labor law at VIS operations in New York State.
The NLRB allegations, which stem from a campaign by the VIS workers to unionize, range from physical assault of a worker by a supervisor in one case to threats of reprisals, including job loss, loss of stock options, loss of time off for family illness and other coercive behavior to keep thousands of VIS workers from joining CWA.
The alleged abuses occurred at VIS locations in New York City, White Plains, Albany, Buffalo, Lake Success and East Meadow. VIS is Verizon's yellow pages sales operation; there are some 1,800 union-eligible VIS workers in Verizon's former Bell Atlantic region.
The labor board also is investigating even more serious charges including the firing of seven union supporters, and is continuing to look at CWA charges at VIS locations in Syracuse and Binghamton, N.Y.
"These allegations amount to the most widespread and egregious anti-union campaign we have every encountered in the telecommunications industry," said CWA President Morton Bahr.
"What we have documented, and what the NLRB investigators are finding, is a company-wide conspiracy to intimidate these employees into rescinding their union cards signed under our negotiated neutrality and card-check organizing agreement," he said.
VIS employees in Albany were repeatedly pressured to rescind their support for CWA and told they would lose work incentives, promotions, seniority, the ability to take time off to care for sick relatives, and even their jobs, if they supported CWA representation. Workers who attended union meetings were followed and also threatened with the loss of their jobs, the NLRB found. Also in Albany, a worker was physically assaulted because the employee joined and supported CWA.
At the Buffalo facility, the NLRB cited VIS for a similar campaign of harassment, including surveillance of workers involved in union activity and repeated attempts to force workers to rescind their support for CWA, and the same pattern of illegal tactics occurred at White Plains, New York City and Lake Success and East Meadow facilities, the Board found.
In February, more than 70 percent of VIS workers in units throughout New York State chose CWA representation through the card check recognition procedures negotiated by Verizon and CWA in September 2000. CWA was certified by the American Arbitration Association a month later, but VIS refused to accept the agency's decision. Instead, management has been pressuring workers to rescind their support for CWA and even filed a federal lawsuit to avoid living up to the contract it signed a year ago, CWA said.
Abut 80 percent of unorganized VIS workers in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states have indicated their support for CWA representation, but the company has been using every possible delaying tactic, including the illegal actions outlined by the NLRB, the union pointed out.
The NLRB allegations, which stem from a campaign by the VIS workers to unionize, range from physical assault of a worker by a supervisor in one case to threats of reprisals, including job loss, loss of stock options, loss of time off for family illness and other coercive behavior to keep thousands of VIS workers from joining CWA.
The alleged abuses occurred at VIS locations in New York City, White Plains, Albany, Buffalo, Lake Success and East Meadow. VIS is Verizon's yellow pages sales operation; there are some 1,800 union-eligible VIS workers in Verizon's former Bell Atlantic region.
The labor board also is investigating even more serious charges including the firing of seven union supporters, and is continuing to look at CWA charges at VIS locations in Syracuse and Binghamton, N.Y.
"These allegations amount to the most widespread and egregious anti-union campaign we have every encountered in the telecommunications industry," said CWA President Morton Bahr.
"What we have documented, and what the NLRB investigators are finding, is a company-wide conspiracy to intimidate these employees into rescinding their union cards signed under our negotiated neutrality and card-check organizing agreement," he said.
VIS employees in Albany were repeatedly pressured to rescind their support for CWA and told they would lose work incentives, promotions, seniority, the ability to take time off to care for sick relatives, and even their jobs, if they supported CWA representation. Workers who attended union meetings were followed and also threatened with the loss of their jobs, the NLRB found. Also in Albany, a worker was physically assaulted because the employee joined and supported CWA.
At the Buffalo facility, the NLRB cited VIS for a similar campaign of harassment, including surveillance of workers involved in union activity and repeated attempts to force workers to rescind their support for CWA, and the same pattern of illegal tactics occurred at White Plains, New York City and Lake Success and East Meadow facilities, the Board found.
In February, more than 70 percent of VIS workers in units throughout New York State chose CWA representation through the card check recognition procedures negotiated by Verizon and CWA in September 2000. CWA was certified by the American Arbitration Association a month later, but VIS refused to accept the agency's decision. Instead, management has been pressuring workers to rescind their support for CWA and even filed a federal lawsuit to avoid living up to the contract it signed a year ago, CWA said.
Abut 80 percent of unorganized VIS workers in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states have indicated their support for CWA representation, but the company has been using every possible delaying tactic, including the illegal actions outlined by the NLRB, the union pointed out.
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