NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc., the second-biggest US phone company, will resume labor contract negotiations next week, one of the two unions involved in the talks said yesterday.
The discussions will get underway Wednesday, said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America. The CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are representing about 45,000 employees in the talks.
The workers were on strike for two weeks before returning to their posts Monday under the terms of their previous contract. Verizon has been seeking concessions including changes in health care benefits and greater flexibility in rules for deploying workers on service calls.
The unions have said their members shouldn’t have to make substantial concessions as earnings rise and executive pay remains healthy. The negotiations mostly involve workers in Verizon’s land-line phone business. The company has about 196,000 employees.
