Friday Verizon’s two main unions, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Communications Workers of America had a strike deadline for today, postponed from the original strike date of August 3rd. However on Sunday the unions reached a tentative three year agreement.

This new accord has averted an announced eight day strike of some 65,000 Verizon workers from Virginia to Maine.

The new tentative agreement calls for a 3.25 percent raise in year one, 3.2 percent year two, and 3.75 percent in year three which will yield a compounded 10.9 percent across the three years.

Both unions called it an important breakthrough as the settlement calls for unionising of 600 technicians within Verizon business who previously were non-union. Company officials call it a breakthrough as Verizon will no longer be required to pay all the health insurance premiums for newly employed workers once they retire.

The president of the communications workers, Larry Cohen, said: “Over all we see this as an agreement where we can move forward together to work with Verizon, rather than just being a contract for three years. That’s the most important thing about this.”

Source — New York Times