Strike Looms as Workers Reject Verizon’s Offer

Representatives for more than 86,000 telephone workers rejected the latest contract proposal from Verizon Communications, the dominant local telephone company from Virginia to Maine, intensifying the prospect of a strike. Workers could walk off the job at midnight Sunday, when their contracts expire, putting a halt to orders for new service and repairs and straining operator assistance. Basic telephone service would be largely unaffected because so much of the network is automated. Verizon proposed a five-year contract providing average wage increases of 3.5% a year, according to sources close to the talks. But the unions at the table--the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers--dismissed the proposal as inadequate, citing their demands for greater job security and improved working conditions. The unions are seeking assurances they will be able to organize workers within Verizon’s fast-growing wireless business. They continued to press for limits on forced overtime for telephone operators and customer service representatives.