Windstream Bargaining Report #10

February 17, 2017

The Union and Company met in full session today, February 17, 2017.  The Union rejected the Company’s proposal regarding pension.  We believe any give back on the pension is not in the best interest of our members.  The Company countered the Union’s proposal on vacation which we will be reviewing.  The Union accused the Company of surface bargaining. 

Windstream has refused to sincerely address job security other than to say it’s not in the Company’s best interest.  The Union left the table at that time with no scheduled meetings again until Tuesday, February 21, 2017.  Your Committee will work the weekend getting ready for next week.  The following is what was told to the Company before ending the session:

When we meet again on Tuesday, it will be seven days until expiration.  I believe we have met for nine days in which most of them the Company has had nothing, but merely just going through the motions of meeting with the Union with insincerity and surface bargaining which is a form of bad faith bargaining.

It has taken days for the Company to provide requests for information until this week where miraculously, they were done by the next day.  We will not bargain against ourselves.

It is very disheartening for the two employees to sit here and see the Company wants to take from them.  In fact, Chad has seen it twice when we bargained the less than honorable healthcare change in the middle of the contract.

During bargaining, the morale is not getting low.  Your employees are getting pissed off at your attempts to gut their benefits because of corporate greed.

In my opening statement, job security was critical for us but the Company only seems to explain it as “it’s not in the best interest of the Company”.  The real meaning of that is WE DON’T CARE!  Even more evident by the Company’s opening statement of, “We are here to take things away from the Union.”

I will tell you this; I don’t know how you sleep at night by trying to snatch the dignity and livelihood from your employees.  We will fight and die standing up instead of living a lifetime on our knees!

See you Tuesday…

In Unity,

Your CWA Bargaining Committee