This week, 1,800 CWA and IBEW members will entering their ninth week on strike at FairPoint Communications locations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
But why are they on strike?
“FairPoint, New England’s largest telecommunications company, unilaterally imposed a contract that ended restrictions on subcontracting and outsourcing, froze pensions, increased health care costs for active workers and cut retiree health care, added a two-tier wage plan with big pay cuts for new hires and other cuts that forced workers to walk out.” Source.
While CWA is able to provide a strike fund for its members, IBEW does not have that capacity for its 1,500 members on strike.