NEW YORK (N.Y. Times) — Verizon Communications and the remainder of its striking workers settled a walkout late Wednesday after an 18-day strike. It will take the company almost twice that long to work through its backlog of repairs and orders.
Although about two-thirds of the strikers reached an agreement with the company and returned to work in New York and New England earlier in the week, 35,000 members of the Communications Workers of America in several mid-Atlantic states remained on strike and returned to work only Thursday.
An agreement in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington was reached after Verizon, which was created by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, agreed to lower mandatory overtime to a maximum of 7.5 hours a week for customer service representatives, down from 15 hours previously. Other union members agreed to a maximum of eight hours.
Otherwise, the settlements for the unions that went on strike, the Communications Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are basically the same in the two regions. They include wage and benefit increases, stock options, greater job security and more flexibility to organize in Verizon's fast-growing wireless division.
Other provisions of the settlements include coverage for obesity treatment, discounted laser eye surgery, coverage for reproductive and fertility treatment, adoption reimbursement, increased reimbursement for dental care and a bilingual pay differential of 3.5 percent for workers in jobs that require more than one language.
The agreement is subject to ratification by union members through the mail, in a process expected to take two to three weeks.
Verizon is now turning to the demands of its customers. It will take about a month for the company to work through roughly 50,000 delayed repairs and more than 200,000 orders for new service as a result of the strike. But many customers are already frustrated.
"I will never give Verizon another cent in my life," said Chiwoniso Kaitano, 25, a Columbia University graduate student from Zimbabwe. "During the strike they told me it would take 48 hours to get a phone in my new apartment, and now they're telling me it will be another month. This reminds me of the telecom services of an underdeveloped country."
Customers who need new phone service have few alternatives aside from acquiring a wireless phone, as Kaitano said she planned to do — from a carrier other than Verizon. Even if customers try to get local dial tone service from one of Verizon's competitors, like AT&T or MCI Worldcom, there could be delays because those companies use parts of Verizon's network.
"The main thing people can do is be patient," said Eric Rabe, Verizon's spokesman.
Verizon customers in the 12 Eastern states and Washington, where the strike took place, can call customer service numbers printed on their bills. Or they can use the Verizon Web site, www.verizon.com, to order new service or request repairs.
Verizon also sought to reassure investors and press forward with its corporate strategies. The company said the settlement would not affect its earnings in coming quarters, and investors on Thursday bid up the company's shares $1.13, to $41.63.
The company's wireless division, which operates as a venture with Vodafone AirTouch of Britain, filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell as much as $5 billion in shares in what would be one of the largest initial public offerings ever. The share sale, which is being managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co., is expected before the end of this year.
Despite the settlement, Verizon and the Communications Workers of America showed some evidence of lingering bad feelings. According to Verizon, negotiators for the union in the mid-Atlantic states submitted several demands after their colleagues in New York and New England returned to work on Monday.