The unions representing nearly 2,000 employees at FairPoint Communications say they'll move forward with a vote to authorize a strike this weekend. Contract negotiations between the unions and the company continue, but the two sides remain far apart on key issues, like the outsourcing of work and cuts to pension contributions and health care benefits.
A vote to authorize a strike would set the stage for a possible walkout when the unions contracts expire on Aug. 2.
Peter Keefe works for FairPoint out of Lewiston. Keefe, who's 43, helps maintain some of the state's 911 systems, and installs and services basic land lines and high-speed T1 and Ethernet circuits.
He's been working as a lineman for 17 years, starting with NYNEX, and hanging on, as the company became Bell Atlantic, Verizon, and now, FairPoint. "Pretty much my entire world is at stake," he says.
Keefe says his existing contract provides him with good wages and benefits. But he says all of that is now at risk, as FairPoint looks to cut costs in its next deal with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
"They want to freeze our pensions where they're at. They want to eliminate retiree health care. They want to drastically reduce and slash our current medical coverage to a different plan, which we would pay more premiums and receive less benefits for," Keefe says.
A spokesperson for FairPoint did not return a call for comment on this story by air time. Negotiations between the company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America began on April 25. And though the talks are ongoing, the sides remain far apart.
Peter McLaughlin is business manager for IBEW Local 2327. He says the company intitally said there was room to negotiate back when the talks began.
"When we have counter-proposed, we're getting no movement at all," McLaughlin says. "They've drawn a line in the sand and they've made it clear to us, subsequent to their opening statement, that they're not going to move off their core issues."
McLaughlin says FairPoint wants the retain the right to continue outsourcing work to less expensive contract employees - something the unions strongly object to. He says the lack of progress in the talks leaves the unions no choice but to hold a strike authorization vote this coming weekend.
A walkout means FairPoint would need to find a way to replace the nearly 2,000 workers who oversee its operations in Northern New England. McLaughlin says there's still time to avoid that scenario.
"As late as this may seem it is, there's still quite a bit of time," he says. ?There's going to be a lot of movement, if there's going to be any, I would suspect."
The unions current bargaining agreement with FairPoint expires Aug. 2.