Local Union Representative Extends Rochester Frontier Contracts for 400 Members

CWA Local 1170, as your local union representative, is always working to identify objectives and achieve solutions that will improve work conditions for all. Below is an example of our commitment to our members and how we addressed big objectives for Frontier Communications’ customers and employees – which lead to a contract extension for Frontier workers in Rochester.

Objectives for Frontier in Rochester

In February 2017, CWA Local 1170 President John Pusloskie sent a letter to meet with Frontier Communications President and CEO Daniel McCarthy. The letter expressed big issues for Frontier customers and employee services in Rochester. Issues included:

• The 3 or 4 competitors running miles of fiber every day
• Missed due dates that cause customers to cancel due to little tolerance for interruption
• Unaddressed transmission facilities verses antiquated plants
• 60+ residential & multi-use housing projects in progress providing opportunities for growth in business

The letter closed with a request to discuss in person how we do things and how we could do them differently; otherwise, business as usual would continue to erode our customer base.

Rochester’s Growing Value

In the letter, Pusloskie also stated how Rochester, for the first time in decades, is growing. He described how Rochester is attracting investments from companies around the world due to:

• affordable housing
• highly educated workforce
• billions in investment from state & federal agencies
• a community-led coalition fund directing millions to reduce poverty.

These points helped to emphasize how improving customer and employee conditions in Rochester is of great value and should be a high priority for Frontier.

Union Representatives Meet with Frontier Leadership

The letter lead to a meeting at company headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut on May 17. CWA local union representatives John Pusloskie, Andy Cimino, Gladis Finnegan, and Deb Hayes met with Frontier decision-makers Dan McCarthy, John Lass, Kathleen Weslock, Angela Christian, and Robert Costagliola.

Improvement Proposals

During the meeting, we pitched an idea of a bureau with repair service clerks, order clerks, testers, dispatchers, and assignors located in the central office to see if we could improve customer service on a trial bases. We also discussed the great opportunities for investments with the over 60 residential or multi-use projects being built (as mentioned above).

Last, we proposed an 18-month contract extension for 400 members with over 8,000 years of experience. We explained that this proposal would provide benefits to both Frontier and its workers: the company would retain an experienced workforce that is fully focused on customers (instead of contract negotiations) because they would have a sense of security knowing their wages, benefits, and working conditions are secure for the next couple of years.

Contract Negotiation

On May 25, Senior Vice President of Labor Robert Costagliola followed up to ask why we were looking for a contract extension and for how long. Pusloskie told him we wanted to remain aligned with Connecticut, who reached a similar deal earlier in the year. At first, Frontier offered 2 years at 1.5%, 1.5%; however, Pusloskie said we would accept 2%, 2%. As a result, every provision of the contract has been extended to June of 2020.

Want to Learn More?

If you want to learn more about how our local union representatives help communications workers improve conditions through union standards that benefit all, contact us.