CWA Strike in West Virginia: The Facts

Since negotiations started nearly ten months ago, Frontier Communications and members of the Communications Workers of America have been unable to reach an agreement on a fair contract. 1,400 CWA members throughout West Virginia and Ashburn, Virginia went on strike in early March after their contract expired.

What drove the workers to strike were concerns about Frontier layoffs and outsourcing that work to contractors instead. According to CWA, the decisions made by the Company have resulted in many CWA members losing their jobs and reduced service quality from Frontier customers.

Since May of 2012, there has been a 27.5% decline in Frontier jobs across the state, with half of that decline occurring after January 2017. As Frontier continues to shed 500+ middle-class jobs, it has been outsourcing that same work to low wage, third party contractors. Direct customer service jobs, internal company communication jobs, and tech work have all been outsourced to contractors.

Unsurprisingly, customer complaints have been on the rise over the past few years. Frontier reported 639 customer complaints in 2014 and 1,072 complaints in 2017, a 69% increase. Quality customer service depends on quality jobs.

Vice President of CWA District 2-13 had this to say about the strike.

“Going on strike is never easy. It’s a hardship for our members and the customers who we are proud to serve. But the job cuts at Frontier have gone too far—we know it, and Frontier’s customers know it. It’s time for Frontier to start investing in maintaining and rebuilding its network in West Virginia.”

Frontier has stated that it will work with CWA to find common ground and deliver a contract agreement with competitive union wages.

“When bargaining can’t get you a contract, unions have the ability to strike,” said CWA Local 1170 President John Pusloskie. “Once employees are out on strike, the community chips in to help the cause. Next time the Company and the employees come together for bargaining, the employees have built support. It makes the company think twice about not getting a negotiated settlement.”