There are a lot of issues that we’ve been bargaining concessions over the past several contracts. Verizon is attacking our medical, our pensions, disability, overtime — all of our compensation is under attack.

What’s different about this contract is that they’re attempting to destroy Article 8, which protects our right to show up to work in the same place, every day, a reasonable distance from where we live.

They’re pushing to change transfer rights to favor the company to the point that they will be able to transfer us anywhere in the company footprint for up two months at a time, during which we’d live in hotels away from our families and communities.

There’s also been an erosion of call center work and an increase in contracting out, and this contract would allow for closing more call centers and transferring members up to eighty miles from their current job sites, as well as opening the door to increased international outsourcing.