FairPoint has ended contract negotiations with the two unions representing about 2,000 telecommunications workers in Northern New England and is imposing a contract that unions have repeatedly rejected, according to a news release issued Thursday morning.
The company says it’s taking the unilateral action because negotiations have deadlocked, but the unions are crying foul. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America filed charges Thursday morning with the National Labor Relations Board. They say FairPoint violated federal labor law by not negotiating in good faith.
Employees have been working without a contract since Aug. 2, when the previous contract expired.
Union leaders have directed workers to stay on the job, for now. Workers authorized a strike in July. As of Thursday afternoon, the unions still were preparing a formal response to management’s latest move.
Mike Spillane, business manager of the IBEW Local 2326 in Vermont, did not rule out the possibility of a walkout under certain conditions.
FairPoint intends to freeze the fixed-benefit pension plans previously negotiated, reduce health insurance contributions and eliminate medical benefits in retirement for current employees, the company said. FairPoint also has said it needs more hiring flexibility to draw contracted labor from outside the region. A spokesperson from the company could not be reached by publication time for comment.
Spillane has expressed strong opposition to the freezing of pensions and the suggestion of turning to non-union labor.
“We are not going to work alongside unqualified people,” Spillane said. “I am not going to jeopardize public safety or our safety.”
FairPoint has said the company needs to lower labor costs and gain flexibility to keep pace with the highly competitive and fast-moving telecommunications industry.
“It is regrettable that the issues could not be resolved through bargaining,” FairPoint spokesperson Angelynne Amores Beaudry said in the news release. “FairPoint is proud to be a part of the fabric of the northern New England community and our highest priority is our service commitment to our residential and business customers.”
Spillane said employees are more than willing to help make the company strong, but he thinks the cost savings are more about shareholder profits than operational sustainability.
“FairPoint doesn’t need these cuts. FairPoint wants them,” Spillane said.
Among the union’s complaints about the bargaining process with FairPoint is that the company has not provided certain financial information that would allow the union to better understand and respond to financial constraints.
The charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board allege that FairPoint never intended to bargain. The company violated federal labor law by not negotiating in good faith, the unions say. They have asked the NLRB for an injunction against any changes to their employment terms.
An investigator has been assigned to assess the merits of the charges. Scott Burson, deputy regional attorney for the NLRB, said that process usually takes at least five weeks. Only in extraordinary circumstances would an injunction be sought earlier by the NLRB, Burson said.
Any immediate changes made to the employment terms are initiated at the company’s own risk, Burson said. If the union’s charges are found to have merit — a determination made by the NLRB regional redirector — then FairPoint would be ordered to make employees whole for any compensation they lost in the interim.
