Fairpoint Telecom Update - February 10, 2009

We are really getting into the swing of the contract and being a union office over in South China. For the first time ever, we were able to select our lunches by seniority! We also were given the opportunity to use our vacation time prior to it being earned and held a very successful vacation selection process. Chief Steward elections were held in February and Cathy Coolidge was elected to this position.

In February, Fairpoint met with CWA officials on two separate occasions to hear third level grievances and hold a Common Interest Meeting. As a result of the meetings more of the office procedures were streamlined. It is great to be working together towards a common goal. It not only makes it easier for all parties involved, but the effect of happy employees on customers are an added value to the company.

Recently, we were all notified that the Outbound Sales Team will be relocating from the current location in Winthrop to the South China office. We are really looking forward to welcoming our union brothers and sister to their new location.

Moving ahead, we are looking forward to continuing the open lines of communication between Fairpoint and CWA.

Fairpoint Telecom "Classic" Bargaining Meeting Notes 

Fairpoint Telecom Bargaining Update

May 28, 2009

We are making progress.  Several items
where passed between the company and the union this week.  The
proposals passed where Seniority, Union Activity, Arbitration, Dues
Deduction, Paid Time Off, Technological Change, and  Layoff and
Recall.We reached Tentative Agreements on Seniority and Union Activity and are still awaiting a response from the company on wages.  Things seem to be moving along
at a quicker pace, let's hope we can keep up the momentum! Don't
forget to wear red in support of your bargaining committee on
Thursdays.  Wearing red shows solidarity and shows the strength we
can have as a group organized together.  Just because we wear red on
Thursdays doesn't mean you are limited to Thursdays to show your
support for CWA Local 1400 and your bargaining committee.  Show your
support everyday!

April 29, 2009

Today we have agreed on Bereavement, Discipline and Discharge and Offline Time. We have finally started getting to the hard parts and are beginning to deal with…..WAGES! Wages and benefits are a big deal when it comes to setting the course for the next three years, so please understand that this may take some time to come to an agreement on. We are not willing to settle for less then what you guys deserve and if it takes another round or two to get that, then that is what we will do! We are not going to settle for less then what we have already, and please know that Fairpoint isn’t asking us to…..they just don’t want to put up a raise this year and of course we demand that they do!

Fairpoint has passed us a proposal a severance package that we are taking under advisement. Keep checking back for more information on this.

If anyone wants to know what we are doing and how this sort of thing works….Lance, Michele and Cathy will have their books available for you to view with them during breaks and lunches, also before and after work if your breaks and lunches don’t match with ours.

We really need to have your support to get the best wages and benefits possible! Wear RED on THURSDAY to show support for your bargaining team!

Thank You
 


Bargaining resumed today, April 7, at the Maple Hill Farm.  We have had continued conversations on the articles for Layoff and Recall, Union Activity During Work Hours and Offline Time.  We passed proposals on Wages and Arbitration.  There are now three additional TA's and they are Personal Leaves of Absence, Strikes and Lockouts, and Meeting with New Employees.  We are close to agreeing on 3-4 more different proposals.  Wages, however, will probably be a little sticky but we are working on it!

We have gotten a verbal agreement that they will post openings, in NNE or anywhere else in Fairpoint throughout the country and you will get preferential hiring rights.  We are just tweaking it so that we can make sure it fits in the other collective bargaining agreements.   

We are scheduled a full session again tomorrow please keep an eye out for an update.

 

Bargaining resumed on 3/2/09 at the Senator Inn in Augusta, Me.  We are working toward tentative agreements on a grievance procedure, discipline and discharge, seniority, inclement weather, and union activity during working hours.  Fairpoint is still actively working on a wage proposal. 

We will be planning a meet and great, to answer questions you may have, in the near future.  Also if you would like updates on union activities it would be helpful to have your personal email addresses.  There will be a sign up sheet on the union bulletin board please put your personal email on it if you would like to receive updates.  Remember to wear red to show support for your CWA bargaining committee.

 

 

Bargaining update 1/19/09

Hello Everyone!
We were getting closer to having a interim grievance procedure in place and had planned on having all the kinks worked out next week. However, Fairpoint had to cancel all bargaining sessions due to the NNE Cutover. The Bargaining team will be back in the office for the rest of January and all of February as NNE plans on cutover taking them through the end of February. We have a tentative meeting date for the first of March.
This is pretty disappointing news as we thought we might be getting a Wage Package from Fairpoint next week. They had promised us a time line for when we might expect it, but didnʼt deliver. So at this point we are still nowhere with wages and benefits.
On a more positive note, we all enjoyed the time we spent in both the Winthrop and South China call centers this week. Don and Keri were able to meet the members and we were able to hand out some updated information. If you didnʼt get a chance to get your questions in, please hand them to a bargaining team member, even though we will not be meeting next week, we will still be getting a FAQ sheet made up and put on the CWA website.
As always, we appreciate the support, seeing all that RED on Thursday in South China as amazing. Wear your buttons everyday!

Thank you


CWA Bargaining Team

Bargaining update 1/14/09

We are back in session!!  On Tuesday the bargaining team met.  We were very disappointed to discover that Fairpoint was unable to provide us with the financial package.  We have expressed to Fairpoint how important it is for them to provide this information to us so that we can move forward.  With the financial package we can complete several other proposals.  Fairpoint stated that they understood our position and are going to try to get us a timeline as to when we can expect the informaton.

 

On a more positive note, we are working on , and close to wrapping up, an interim grievance process.  This is a huge step forward for us as we will now have the opportunity to grieve unfair treatment, discipline, etc.  This process will be in effect until our new contract is signed.  See your bargaining team members for more information during your lunch and break periods, or before and after work.

 

Lastly, we are pleased to welcome Don and Keri our new local 1400 president and vice president to the team!