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Verizon reaches tentative agreements with unions representing wireline employees

It includes 1,300 new call center jobs, almost 11 percent in raises over four years and the first contract for Verizon wireless store workers.

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The plan also proposes health care plan changes to save the company money.

After one of the biggest labor strikes in recent U.S. history, almost 40,000 Verizon employees may finally return to work.

The telecommunications company and unions representing almost 40,000 workers had reached a deal in principle on May 27.

The possible deal with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was first announced on Friday, though no details were given at the time.

The raises will be structured as a 3% boost upon ratification by the membership, with 2.5% on each of the next three anniversaries of the contract ratification. “Workers took back their power by going on strike”.

Striking workers will be back on the job on Wednesday.

-Several major contracting initiatives will be reversed, sustaining work for union members in their communities and returning a significant amount of pole maintenance work to the unionized workforce in New York State. Employees are expected to return to work in the short-term, and then choose whether or not to approve the deal.

Verizon, which claims a high-quality cell network, is locked in a battle for subscribers with AT&T Inc T.N , Sprint Corp S.N and T-Mobile US Inc TMUS.N in a saturated USA wireless market.

Joshua B. Freeman, labor historian and CUNY professor at Queens College in NY said he would call the contract a win for the union, while noting the increasing rarity of a strike of that size and length. The previous contracts included a provision requiring that a certain percentage of customer calls originating in a state be answered by workers in that state – ranging from just over 50 percent for some types of calls in some states to more than 80 percent in others. “Minutes add up to hours; hours add up to jobs”. Since the strike started the workers picketed outside Verizon stores and a handful of conferences attended by company executives.

The Verizon strike 2016 may be nearing its conclusion.

The new contract “gives Verizon four years basically to get rid of the unit”.

The agreements also ensure Verizon’s mid-Atlantic call centers will remain open, as will three of the five “threatened” call centers in Upstate New York.

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The company said it will also hire additional associates during the term of the contract as part of its effort to accelerate the growth of its wireline broadband.

A'Now Hiring sign is posted on a Verizon store in Manhattan in New York