Verizon: talks with strikers progressing

Verizon Communications Inc and striking workers are making progress in their negotiations, CEO Lowell McAdam said on Friday in a video message to employees who remain on the job. The unions are offering "meaningful give and take", McAdam said in the three-minute video viewed by Bloomberg News. About 45,000 workers represented by the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers walked out on August 7 after their contract with the second-largest US phone carrier expired. The CWA on Friday filed unfair labour practice charges against Verizon with the National Labour Relations Board in New York and Baltimore, saying the company "has refused to bargain in good faith". CWA spokesman Bob Master didn't immediately have a comment about the video. Dealing firmly Article continues below McAdam, who said he spent "a lot of time" last week with striking employees, said the company will "deal firmly" with illegal activity by strikers. New York-based Verizon obtained injunctions to prohibit striking workers from disrupting business in New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania, according to court papers made public on Thursday. "We're doing everything we can to address the harassment and vandalism taking place in a few locations and by a few bad actors," McAdam said. Facing a decline in its traditional landline phone business, Verizon is seeking work-rule changes and employee contributions to health-insurance premiums. Workers say they shouldn't have to make substantial concessions as profits rise and executive pay remains healthy.