President’s Report – September 2018

Frontier Updates:

Membership Counts by Title as of 09/30/18

Resignation

Retirement

Voluntary Severance:

Terminations

LTD Absences

Frontier 2nd Step Grievance Meetings:

April 24^th, 2018 Grievance Committee in attendance: John Pusloskie, Andy Cimino, Rich Winter, D. Ostrander, D. Holloway, L. Robertson, R. Roll

Grievance 2-2589-18 The Union grieved the written warning issued to James Wojtarowicz.  The Company position was they weren’t moving off the warning.  They had agreed not to address other issues if their were no future instances and they can’t overlook this one.  June 13^th, 2018 the Company denied the grievance.

Grievance 2-2591-18- The Union grieved that Connecticut supervisors were performing bargaining unit work of Desk Techs.  Marian Wyand stated that they’ve addressed the issue with Management and management will cease and desist from performing bargaining unit work.  June 13^th, 2018 the Company responded that they agree the closing of tickets it CPE Desk tech work and dispatch would no longer close them out.

Grievance 3-4162-18 – Beginning on March 5^th management and contractors were taking status calls and entering new tickets, this is bargaining unit work.  Management agreed that they had changed the titles of some employees to perform hourly work and they have contractors who enter tickets for small business.  The Union has requested a cease and desist and everyone be offered an overtime make up.  June 13, 2018 the Company denied the Union adjustment to the grievance, stated there was no violation of the contract, therefore denying the grievance.

May 22^nd, 2018 Grievance committee in attendance: John Pusloskie, Andy Cimino, Rich Winter, Demiah Smith, Sue Phillips, Bruce Cotton, Mike Sutphen, Carl Ellis.

Grievance 5-327-18 and 5-328-18 – On February 20^th and 27^th respectively the Company violated the lead man language and practice of the contract as the job was reschedule and the lowlist should’ve been followed.  June 13^th, 2018 the Company denied the grievance.

Grievance 7-1481-18 – Beginning on July 6, 2017 the Company has failed to have paychecks delivered on time to certain locations.  June 13^th, 2018.  The Company agreed that payroll will get checks in mailbox at earlier pick up to help eliminate the delay.

Grievance 7-1482-18 – Unjust termination of Marnye Knight.  June 13, 2018 the Company denied the grievance due to an extended unapproved absence and failure to communicate with management on the matter. 

June 26^th, 2018 – Grievance committee in attendance: John Pusloskie, Andy Cimino, Rich Winter, Mark Semrau, and Claude Livergood.

Grievance 7-1782-18 – The Company is having other employees of the Corporation perform work that has been agreed to be done by the bargaining unit.  Employees in Paul Chaplain’s group in Florida are doing the work.

The Company has failed as of August 2nd to answer the grievance.

July 24^th, 2018 No second steps scheduled for this month.

August 28.2018 Grievance committee in attendance: John Pusloskie, Sue Phillips, Rich Winter and Kevin Blazey. 

Gr: 7-1483-18 The Company has violated the contract by changing the method of payment from cash to Visa card on employee sales.  As of September 19^th we haven’t’ received a response.

Gr: 7-1484-17 The Company violated the contract when it hired a contractor to repair the central office ladder.  As of September 19^th we haven’t received a response.

Closed Out:

Grievance 2-2589-18 Unjust written warning James Wojotarowicz without precedent and prejudice.

Grievance 2-2584-18 Disparity of treatment emergency vacation days.

Grievance 2-2587-18 Unjust verbal warning Tim Gross.

Grievance 2-2588-18 Unjust verbal warning Charlie Rudat.

Arbitration Update Frontier:

• Transfer of bargaining unit work due to M6 Conversion.

 The arbitrator has offered September 21st to hear the case.

• The National Labor Relations board has issued a complaint in regards to the Unfair Labor charge failure to provide information M6. The Company provided the final information as of March 21^st.  The charge has been settled and the Union is moving forward with the arbitration
• Grievance 7-1476-17 Unjust termination James Everts request arbitration 2/2/18.
  • The arbitration has been approved by our CWA Staff Rep and the CWA District 1 office. The case is moving forward to arbitration
• Grievance 7-1477-17 Unjust termination Peter Loss request arbitration 2/2/18.
  • The arbitration has been approved by our CWA Staff Rep and the CWA District 1 office. The case is moving forward to arbitration
• Grievance 7-1479-18 Unilateral change to Long term disability income capping it at $3,000 per month. The grievance was protected for arbitration on May 15, 2018 and is now in the CWA review process.
• Grievance 2-2585-18 Unjust Layoff of Network tech Ernie Magar NCS 8/15/2016. The Local requested arbitration on June 21st, 2018.  Sue Phillips has taken the lead on investigating and presenting this case.
• Grievance 7-1482-18 Unjust termination of Desk Tech Marnye Knight on April 19^th, 2018. The Local requested arbitration on August 15^th, 2018 protecting time limits.
• Grievance 7-1481-18 On September 5^th the Union requested arbitration on the Company failing to provide paychecks on time.
• Grievance 3-4162-18 On August 31^st the Union requested arbitration on Frontier contractors, management and other employees performing clerical work.
• Grievance 7-327-18 and 7-328-18 On August 31^st the Union requested arbitration on Overtime administration violations involving Lead Man status.

Take the Lead Sales Monthly Reports

                        Referrals         Sales               Total Revenue            Annualized Revenue

YTD 7/31         396                  212                  $311,493                     $153,533

June                49                    26                    $50,319                       $23,439

July                 39                    25                    $52,806                       $23,702

Managerial Changes

Julie Murtagh has been announced as the new Sr. VP of Operations for the East Region.

Lyle Fell CNOC manager resigned effective April 30^th.

Chris Levandos Sr. VP operations has resigned effective 5/31/18

Farrah Mollo Lead Corporate attorney has resigned effective 6/6/18

George Madison has been named Manager replacing Lyle Fell effective July 2018

Commercial NOC Center:

Monthly Collaboration Meeting June 12^th 2018. John Pusloskie, Rich Winter, Dan Brown, Demiah Smith, and Diane Ostrander were present for the Union.  For the Company Alex Levy, Nadine Justice, Willie Gladney, George Madison, James Gresham.  The Following items were addressed.

• Movement of TDM T-1 testing from Premier customers back to W. Virginia.
• Raised issue on Clerical work going to desk now going to W. Virginia.
• Rochester CPE Tech issues.
  • Going to support Frontier Anyware product nationwide, what level of support and access to servers will we have? At this point it has been determined that we will have portal level access and if we can’t fix it, it will go to the Voip team.
• Training- We have gaps in training and certain certifications. We also expressed the need to have more technicians trained to have more knowledge of the different platforms.

Frontier Updates:

• September 10^th Tracy Owen from Human resources notified the Union via email that Frontier was going to announce a voluntary severance offering for up to 5 desk techs and 3 Communications Coordinators 1 working at the Commercial support Center in Rochester. The Union immediately notified her that we have no offering for a voluntary severance in the contract under article 11.  Subsequent to this notification, the Union sent a letter on September 14^th, that it wasn’t going to challenge any members who volunteer to leave, and we were reserving our rights to grieve any improper action and transfer of bargaining unit work and that this sets no precedent for any future force reduction.
• Communications Coordinator 1 Laurie Robertson has transferred to Communications Coordinator 3, engineering clerk to backfill for Mavis Lockett
• The arbitration concerning the transfer of bargaining unit work due to the M6 conversion is being arbitrated on September 21^st at West Henrietta Rd. CWA attorney Atul Atwar is representing the Local on the case and has spent many hours with members Ron Eygabroad, Carl Ellis and Mike Miceli prepping the case.
• The Union sent notification to Human Resource manager Tracy Owen on September 7^th that we have not been receiving the information on contracting according to the contract and we will be moving forward to enforce the contract. On September 17^th we received part of the information that we were requesting.  We will be reviewing to see if the information is adequate according to the contract.
• Call out Settlement agreement update: As of September 10^th 50 techs have received opportunities for overtime makeups, 92 techs in total are to receive opportunities of 12 hours each.  The Company has until December 12^th to offer them or payout the techs.
• The Company declared a force reduction on September 10^th in the Desk tech title and Communications Coordinator 1 classification. Only two Desk techs submitted to take the severance.  The Company will not be moving forward to an involuntary situation.

Safety Committee

No report

Affiliate Report:

AT&T Mobility:

ATT declared a force reduction in August eliminating 2200 positions nationwide, which compromised the Sales Support position.  Under the provisions of the job security negotiated in the last CBA, the impacted members were offered jobs in the Stores that they worked in.  We had three members impacted, One Jim Dupre decided to retire, Rob DeRosa and Sherri Borelli have decided to take jobs as Retail Sales Consultants in the stores that they worked in.  They will be afforded New Hire ramp up in regards to sales quotas.

A nationwide investigation is going on in regards to charge backs.  We’ve had several members disciplined and a charge was filed by 1170 officer Rich Winter with the NLRB over AT&T’s failure to provide information that had been requested and the Company considered non-relevant.

ATT-219-18    The Company unjustly terminated Patti Ross’s health insurance benefits.

  The grievance is still pending as we wait for the Company’s response to Ms. Ross’s employment status.

ATT-221-18    Kelli Pilaroscia was unfairly denied Paid Family Leave and unjust disciplined in the attendance program.  A first step meeting was held and AT&T has denied the Grievance.    The Union has requested a second step grievance meeting on the matter.  Kelli was approved for Paid Family leave by Prudential who paid AT&T who has refused to pay Kelli Pilaroscia and pointed her in the attendance program for the days she took off.  The Union is considering a lawsuit if we cannot get the grievance adjusted satisfactorily for violating the Law.  A second Step meeting was held with Stephen Papageorge Director of Human Relations AT&T and Ben Marcello, Director of Sales on June 29^th, 2018.  The Company committed if there were points administered they would be removed.  The grievance was held in abeyance while AT&T works this out.  A follow up was sent August 2^nd requesting the status of the issue.  As of September 17^th the grievance is still acting and the Union is still working to get resolved.

ATT – 222-18. Unjust final warning Tim Spaker.  The Union filed a grievance concerning the discipline and unfair investigation. We have also filed a charge with the National Labor Relations board in regards to the Company’s failure to provide information concerning the investigation as of September 13^th.  A second step grievance meeting is scheduled for September 19^th, 2018.

City of Canandaigua PBA:

The Canandaigua PBA filed a demand to bargain with Chief Hedworth on June 14^th over the implementation of body cameras.  The Union has requested the assistance of Cathy Creighton for representation purposes on the matter.  If the City refuses to bargain we intend to file an improper practice charge vs. the City.

As a result of our demand to bargain and subsequent negotiations we reached a signed agreement on August 23^rd, 2018.  We were able to get General Order 254 Body warn cameras modified after several negotiation sessions with the Chief and City.  Both sides have reserved their positions in regards to any future changes to the General Order by the Chief.  The Union’s position being that it is a subject mandatory for bargaining.  I would like to commend officers Liberatore and Gregorio for their help in getting to a final settlement.

Town of Greece:

Gold Badge Club:

A vacancy has been posted by the Chief as of August 31^st, 2018 for a detective assigned to task force officer assigned to the United States Drug enforcement agency.  Discussion has come up with regards to who is eligible to fill vacancy.

Greece Part Time Unit:

We have received an offer from the Towns attorney in regards to the contract that expired December 31^st 2013 and are in the process of making a counter offer.

Town of Greece Crossing Guards:

Sharon DeLucia termination: Jonathan Johnsen attorney argued the case on September 10^th at the appellate division of the State Supreme court.  We are expecting a decision within 30 days on whether the Arbitrators decision to bring Sharon back to work with full back pay will be enforced.

Greece Lighthouse:

The Union has grieved that member Susan Duggan was improperly laid off.  The Town has denied the grievance at second step. The Grievance has been closed by the Union as of September 17, 2018 without precedent or prejudice.

A meet and greet of the full timers and part timers was held on May 10^th at the Ridgemont country club.  The following was addressed.

• The Janus Supreme Court Decision impact on Public Sector employees
• The Locals Dental plan and new network
• Town of Greece contracts
• Good and Welfare

The Union got involved in the administration of a Last Chance Agreement with one of the employees.  We had counsel review and provide guidance on the agreement

City of Canandaigua DPW:

Nothing new to report

Town of Canandaigua Employees Highway Association:

The Union has had three bargaining sessions with the Town and believes it is close on reaching a 4-year agreement.

Town of Henrietta:

The Union and the Town negotiated an agreement flexing the hours of those employees in the Recreation center in August.  This was initiated by the Town in order to bring a new Rec Leader on board to run the Gymnastics program.

The Union and the Town have negotiated a new wage schedule as of 8/3/18 to place Maintenance Mechanic 1 job title in the CBA.  It will be listed as group 8.5.

The Union and the Town have discussed the issue of funding the HSA accounts for new hires as it was silent in the contract.  Once an agreement has been reached, it will be posted.

The Union and the town have been discussion for some time the creation of another dispatcher position to work 3pm-11pm to allow Joe LaRocca to transfer to the highway department.  The position was filled as of September 17^th and after a year of discussions was able to bring the issue to a conclusion.

The Town has hired 3 new employees since August 1^st which the Union has met with and provided an orientation of the contract they are the following:

Catherine Dubrek – Engineering department

Jackie Kitto – Recreation Leader

Suzanne Reitschky – Night dispatcher

Village of Waterloo PBA:

• A tentative agreement has been reached as of February 20th. The agreement is retroactive back to June 1st 2017 expiring May 31st, 20121. The agreement provides for the following.
• Wages: June 1, 2017 – $.80 per hour, June 1, 2018 – $.70per hour, June 1, 2019 – $.75 per hour, June 1, 2020 – $.80 per hour.
• Vacation: increase of two days after 20 years.
• Health insurance: Increase employee contributions to the following amounts.
  • 2017- 15%, 2018 – 17%, 2019 – 19%, 2020- 20%

Town of Gates:

March 1^st met with the full time Librarians to discuss Union Officers, Stewards, next contract as well as Janus Supreme Court case impacting public sector Unions.

Political Action Committee:

March 2018 is CWA Lobby day. See Demiah Smith report

Other:

CWA National President Chris Shelton is proposing to dissolve the Printing sector and fold it into the existing units.  The successful impact is bargaining and arbitration would fall under district one vs the current staff of the Printing Sector.  The Printing sector is adamantly opposed to the change and is challenging the Authority of President Shelton to do so.

ByLaw committee – Changes proposed still in committee for review.

On May 2^nd training for ten officers from CWA Local 1170 affiliates took place.  CWA Staff Rep Erin Bowie and Attorney Jonathan Johnsen spent the better part of the day teaching the basics.  Union Representatives from the Town of Gates, Henrietta, Greece, and City of Canandaigua participated.