By Darren Fishell
BDN Staff Writer
PORTLAND — Two unions representing workers at FairPoint Communications called a strike starting early Friday morning.
Leaders of the Northern New England chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America announced Thursday that 2,000 employees will begin picketing at job sites in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont Friday to raise public awareness about their negotiations for a new contract and to deter service providers and replacement workers from crossing the picket lines.
Contributed photo
Leaders of the northern New England chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America began picketing last Friday, as an estimated 2,000 Fairpoint employees began their protests at job sites in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The goal of the picketing is to raise public awareness about their negotiations for a new contract and to deter service providers and replacement workers from crossing the picket lines.
“They will ask customers and service providers not to cross the line to do business or make deliveries to FairPoint locations,” the statement indicated.
Peter McLaughlin, business manager for the IBEW Local 2327 and a lead negotiator, said the company’s dismissal of concessions from the union led to the strike declaration. The two unions represent about 800 workers in Maine.
“We’ve offered significant concessions to this company that would save them hundreds of millions of dollars,” McLaughlin said. “But they absolutely refuse to compromise on any significant issue.”
McLaughlin said in a phone interview Thursday night that the decision to strike was difficult but “almost a relief” because union members had been preparing since September 2013 for tough negotiations to renew a contract that expired in August.
“The membership is ready and so are we. It’s almost a relief now that we have pulled the trigger,” McLaughlin said. “Time to go.”
The North Carolina-based company on Aug. 28 declared an impasse in negotiations, a move that allowed it to impose the terms of its last offer on workers.
Some of those provisions, like freezing pensions, opening enrollment for a new health plan and instating a two-tier wage system paying new workers less, started to take effect this week.
A key issue in the negotiations was the company’s desire to bring in contract workers for certain jobs without first seeking union approval.
A company spokeswoman said that provision would have prevented it from bringing in contractors that resulted in layoffs for union workers and that it was part of the company’s efforts to “modernize” the contract and accommodate rapidly changing telecommunications technologies.
A FairPoint spokeswoman did not immediately confirm whether replacement workers were at-the-ready.
“We are aware of their announcement and are monitoring the situation,” wrote spokeswoman Angelynne Amores Beaudry in an email late Thursday night.
The company’s declaration of an impasse prompted a complaint from the union to the National Labor Relations Board that the company prematurely declared the impasse and the unions continued to bargain in good faith. The union recently lost two other cases against the company before the labor board and has one other complaint pending.
McLaughlin said again Thursday that the company had not been receptive to an offer of about $218 million in concessions from workers, putting forward a proposal the unions said would cost them more than $700 million.
McLaughlin said union negotiators hope to get the company back to the table to iron out a compromise on some of those key issues.
“We’ll continue to reach out to bargain and we’re certainly willing to go to the table at any time,” McLaughlin said. “But you know we’re not going to go begging.”
The company said after declaring an impasse in negotiations that it had hired replacement workers should the union members decide to strike. The state’s utilities watchdog has expressed concern about the possibility of a strike and its impact on service quality because FairPoint manages the backbone of the state’s telecommunications infrastructure and the emergency 9-1-1 system.
McLaughlin said he feels that any prolonged work stoppage will lead to degraded service quality on FairPoint’s network.
“That’s one of the things that we’ve tried to impress upon the company but they think they have a contingency workforce that can keep everything going,” McLaughlin said. “And with the substandard systems that our members have to work with every day, it’s going to be
difficult.”
