MSYoung

According to the CWA web site a strike was authorized by 96% of the members. The contract expires on May 27, a strike may or may not start that day. It will depend on how negotiations are going. The biggest issues seem to be jobs and health care.

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Marty

rixride

What specifically about jobs? Layoff's?

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MSYoung

The web site does not go into specifics because it is a public web site. If I were still a CWA member I would know more, but having been through a few strikes (or threatened strikes) I can make an educated guess.

Avaya is creating new jobs and excluding those from union representation, the union wants the chance to convert them. As these new jobs come on line, the older union jobs are going away. Avaya has already had some layoffs and I am sure this concerns the union.

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Marty

Rhonda

I've been trying to dig up info on the strike as well. Lets just say they go out on strike Friday night. Then lets say I have a major outage on my switch shortly after. I have maintenance and my equipment is leased. Am I (S.O.L.) until they pull a non-union member in to try to help? I always call into Denver on 1-800-242-2121 with a sold to number. I assume some unknowing soul will be answering during a strike giving me an estimate DATE not hour for repair. That sure could wreak havoc on a company!

MSYoung

I am sure they will handle trouble calls the same way it has always been handled during a strike before. There will be people to answer your call in Denver. They will, however, be managers. Lucent/Avaya has generally staffed Denver with more knowledgeable managers during a strike, but they are managers and have been away from the day-to-day customer support. Especially on the new products. Tier 3 and tier 4 are managers but they are going to be very busy helping all the new "technicians". You will get an answer, but it could take a while, be patient. You will NOT be told to go away until the strike is over, once your call is answered you will get help. If you call to find out how to program a Call Pickup Group, your call may be short. But if you call because the switch crashed, you will get help.

If, on the other hand, you were going to start an upgrade or install, those will usually be put on hold so existing customers can be supported.

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Marty

Nosaj-Industries

Avaya has lined up subcontractors, many of whom are former Avaya like myself to cover any possible strike.

The big beef seems to be the unions want a no layoff clause. Other issues are having to pay $25 a week toward insurance and higher co-pays.

MSYoung

The higher co-pays can be significant. In the 2004 Lucent contract health care was adjusted a lot for retirees. If I had kept Pacific Care, my monthly premium would have gone from $70 a month to $380 a month. This out of a retiree pension.

I had to change to their default provider Aetna which does not cover as much but my premium only went up to $75 a month. Now I have a copay of $30 (up from $15) and roughly 10 to 20% of the charges.

Do not discount this as a serious issue.

As far as layoffs, Avaya seems to have adopted the pattern that AT&T had, a layoff every year in December just before Christmas.

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Marty

Sprinter

Any word yet? Did they go on strike?

rixride

I am curious as well.

Let us know!

-Rick

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