AUGUSTA, Maine - Striking FairPoint workers picketed outside an inn in Augusta this morning, while inside, a conference on health care reform was underway, sponsored, in part, by FairPoint Communications.
FairPoint declared an impasse in late August and imposed a contract that froze the old pension plan and required workers to contribute to health care costs for the first time. Other provisions allow the company to hire contractors and eliminate retiree health care benefits for current workers.
IBEW Treasurer Peter Keefe says he has been with the company for 17 years. "The unions proposed that we would share in the premiums, you know the cost of the premiums for the first time ever, and FairPoint rejected it to impose a health care plan which was more expensive to them but would have us pay more money."
The company says the old contract was out of sync with the industry.
