NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) announced that it has reached tentative agreements with the Communications Workers of America or CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers or IBEW on new contracts for about 36,000 employees who work primarily for the company's network operations and consumer and mass business units. The company said it will achieve cost savings and cost avoidance through healthcare plan design changes, adopting Medicare Advantage plans for our retirees, maintaining limits on post-retirement healthcare costs, and freezing the mortality table for lump sum pensions using the GATT rate.
In addition, the agreements allow for greater flexibility in call sharing to better serve customers and give the company the ability to offer special buyout incentives to employees.
Employees covered by these contracts will receive a wage increase of 10.5% over the term of the contract, which would expire on August 3, 2019. The first increase would come after ratification.
In addition, as part of the company's goal to accelerate growth in wireline broadband, Verizon announced that it will hire additional associates over the term of the contract.
The unions will submit the agreements to their members for a ratification vote. If approved, the agreements will run through August 3, 2019.
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