Frontier Employees in CWA

FIGHTING FOR GOOD JOBS AT FRONTIER

Why CWA is on Strike at Frontier West Virginia & Ashburn, VA? ● ABOUT 1400 CWA MEMBERS ARE ON STRIKE IN WEST VIRGINIA AND ASHBURN, VA. Our key issue is quality service for Frontier’s West Virginia customers. But quality service depends on quality jobs. CWA has been negotiating with Frontier for almost a year to try to get a commitment to secure the good, unionjobs that will deliver quality service. ● FRONTIER HAS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CUSTOMERS OF WEST VIRGINIA. When Frontier purchased Verizon's lines in West Virginia in 2010, the company promised to continue to provide high quality service to families and businesses across the state. In commitments to the state Public Service Commission, Frontier made two pledges:

"FRONTIER WILL ADEQUATELY FUND ADDITIONS AND MAINTENANCE OF THE FACILITIES OF VERIZON WV IN ORDER TO ASSURE THE PROVISION OF RELIABLE, ECONOMIC AND ADEQUATE SERVICES THROUGHOUT THE STATE." "SHALL PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE AND JUSTIFICATION TO THE COMMISSION AT LEAST 30 DAYS PRIOR TO ANY PLANNED WORKFORCE REDUCTION GREATER THAN 5% OF THE THEN EXISTING WEST VIRGINIA WORKFORCE."

● Frontier has not lived up to this commitment. Instead, we have seen A 27.5% DECLINE IN FRONTIER JOBS ACROSS THE STATE SINCE MAY OF 2012, WITH HALF OF THAT DECLINE COMING SINCE JANUARY OF 2017. All told, Frontier has shed more than 500 good, middle-class jobs throughout the state since 2012. ● At the same time, FRONTIER HAS BEEN FARMING OUT WORK TO LOW-WAGE, THIRD-PARTY CONTRACTORS. CWA has identified at least 3 contractors that are handling call center work that had been performed by Frontier employees, all CWA members. Some of this work is direct customer service work and some is internal company communications. Frontier is also outsourcing tech work to several contractors. ● The result of this downsizing and shifting of work to contractors has been AN INCREASE IN CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS. Customer complaints have increased steadily over the past three years, rising 69% from 639 complaints in 2014 to 1,072 complaints in 2017. ● CWA members who work at Frontier should KEEP ALERT FOR INSTRUCTIONS FROM YOUR LOCAL UNION leaders about developments related to the West Virginia strike.  Get the Leaflet here:   Keep track of developments, check out the following CWA website for West Viginia & Ashburn, VA:  https://district2-13.cwa-union.org/bargaining/company/c/frontier_communications-d213.