July Newsletter

Qwest and US WEST agree to $65 billion merger of equals

US WEST and Qwest have agreed in principal to a merger of equals after Global Crossing and US WEST struck an agreement in May.

Qwest boasts it has performed well with record earnings for the second quarter of 1999.

The Communication Workers of America, have taken a let’s see approach since the announcement. District 7 leader John Thompson has met with US WEST to discuss the effects of this merger on employees, as well as how it impacts customers. There is some encouragement of Qwest’s comments to growth and new jobs, Thompson said.

Check out Qwest’s web site and become familiar with who they are and what they do. It also has a link to some of their benefits and job descriptions.

Enhanced Compensation Plan (ECP) For Network Technicians and Customer Data Technicians

ECP, was one of the issues we went out on strike for last summer. It was one of the last items on the table to the very end, management had to have it. It is still around, in the agreement, however it has been weakened, is totally voluntary. It does not have Union Support or is it recommended by the Union.

The ECP will be offered to all Network Technicians and Customer Data Technicians during 1999. The components of the plan are in Addendum 12 of the contract. A Joint- Union-company committee was formed and has had three meetings to date. The topics along with ECP were the Technicians scorecards (TIR) and Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP).

The company is presently covering managers in several states, on the Tech scorecard and CIP. The Company will cover employees as the plan rolls out. Washington is scheduled for October.

Positive aspects of ECP

• Pension enhancement with no downside risk
• Higher wages for new employees in wage progression
• Higher earnings for technicians if they are able to meet the objectives
• Initial 90 day wage guarantee..no loss

Negative aspects of ECP

• Lower earnings for technicians if they are unable to meet the objectives
• Lower pay for entitlement time (vacation, sick time, Union time)
• Overtime may be at lower rate (base rate)
• The ability of the company to unilaterally change the objectives

Long term adverse effect on customer service by

• Discouraging the practice of senior technicians assisting new technicians
• Discouraging the practice of technicians assisting one another
• Emphasizing the quantity of work rather than quality or safety will result in short cuts, quick fixes and risk taking

It is a new plan with historical data to use for comparative study.

Our experience with the loss of Sales Consultants through transfer or discharge as a result of the Leverage Compensation Plan.

Adverse effect on future Contract negotiations.

This is not just a technician issue, we believe that the degradation of quality that may result from ECP will result in customer loss which will affect ALL employees!

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