Brothers and Sisters,
This will be the final email you receive before you start to vote on the ratification of the tentative agreement. As you know, the CWA Local 1103 Executive Board supports a YES VOTE.
One question that keeps coming up as we visit different locations is: why accept the first deal?
It’s a fair question, but it is misleading.
So, let’s use this opportunity to clarify something important. This is not the first deal.
The tentative agreement before you is the result of a ten-month process, long hours, and tough negotiations that evolved over time into what is now on the table. In fact, the union rejected at least twelve early company “deals” because they simply were not good enough.
The company’s initial proposals included drastically higher premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums that would cost members and their families thousands more per year than what exists in the current tentative agreement. The company’s initial proposals also included very low wage increases, no COLA, no CPS awards, no pension band increases, no new jobs, and no additional bargaining unit work.
So, to be clear, the union did not simply accept the first offer. We bargained hard and pushed back repeatedly for months until we reached a deal that reflects real improvements for our members.
By now, many of you are aware that there is a coordinated effort by some urging members to vote NO on this tentative agreement.
Let’s be clear about something.
A NO vote is not symbolic.
It is not a protest vote.
It is a decision that makes a strike far more likely.
That is not rhetoric. That is reality.
Let’s also be clear about something else.
We are not afraid of going on strike. We have done it before. Many times. But a strike must be for the right reasons.
In 2015, the company came to the table with aggressive and openly hostile demands. They sought retrogressive changes that would have taken us far backward. After more than a year of mobilizing, bargaining, and pushing the company to move off those positions — without success — we reached a point where there were no real alternatives left.
At that time, standing up and going on strike was necessary. It was a response to serious concessions and an unwillingness by the company to bargain fairly.
A strike is a powerful tool. But it should be used when there is no other viable path forward — not when progress has been made and no concessions are being demanded.
If this tentative agreement is not ratified, that will change.
Concessions will be demanded — making a strike far more likely.
Some of those urging a NO vote know this full well.
So, let’s look at what is in front of us:
• No concessions. No givebacks.
• Work From Home agreements continue
• Real wage growth
• Wages that outpace medical premium increases by overwhelming margins
• Pension band increases every year
• Guaranteed CPS minimums
• Additional retirement contributions for newer members
• 1,180 hiring commitments
• Contracted work brought back in-house
• Tearing down the wall at Wireless
• Jurisdiction strengthened — not weakened
Is it perfect? No contract is.
But it protects what we have.
It grows our wages.
It brings work back.
It strengthens retirement security.
And it does so without a single concession.
Let’s talk about jobs.
As you know, Verizon has a new CEO, and there have been 16,000 layoffs across the company.
You know who didn’t get laid off?
Us.
You know who got new jobs?
Us.
In 2016, when we came back from the strike, we hugged each other, gave high-fives, and celebrated. We were shouting Victory at Verizon.
Yet today, in a kind of bizarro world, we are being forced to defend a tentative agreement that is better in every measurable metric than the 2016 contract.
If someone believes we can win more, that is their right, but they also have a responsibility to be honest about the risks of walking away from what is already on the table.
There is another critical factor that cannot be ignored.
District 2/13 of the CWA and the IBEW locals across New York and New England are expected to ratify their tentative agreements.
If that happens, and we alone reject ours, the reality is that we would be returning to the bargaining table from scratch and without the same coordinated timing and leverage that existed during this round of negotiations.
Without this framework in place, the conversation will look very different. We won’t be debating improvements. We will be fighting to claw back what we already have today.
Members deserve to understand that reality before making a decision.
Union democracy requires informed decisions — not emotional ones.
At the end of the day, this vote belongs to YOU.
Not to outside voices.
Not to social media campaigns.
Not to anyone trying to shape the outcome for their own positioning.
It belongs to the members who work under this contract every day.
Study the agreement.
Ask questions.
Look at the math.
Consider the risks.
Consider the gains.
Then vote based on facts — not noise.
We urge you to Vote Yes.
In solidarity,
CWA’s Local 1103 Executive Board
