Verizon Contract Negotiations to Go on Past Strike Deadline

Verizon and union negotiators agreed late Saturday to continue contact talks beyond a midnight strike deadline and workers were told to plan to report to work as scheduled today, union officials said.

“We’re telling people that if negotiations are going on, people are to keep working,” Jim Spellane, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said.

Negotiators still were hunkered down at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, where key talks have been ongoing with government mediators since Tuesday.

Central issues remaining are job security and health-care costs for Verizon’s East Coast operators and technicians, who are represented by IBEW and the Communications Workers of America.