Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez will meet Tuesday with leaders from the Verizon corporation and union groups in an effort to end the weeks-long strike that has seen 40,000 Fios workers walk off the job.
Perez said he was “heartened” after a meeting last week with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, CWA President Chris Shelton and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Lonnie Stephenson.
“I was singularly impressed by the parties’ appreciation that time is of the essence, and their strong commitment to use the collective bargaining process to reach a mutually beneficial resolution,” Perez said in a statement released Sunday.
Network technicians and customer service agents walked off the job in mid-April in what has become the largest strike in recent U.S. history. Workers have called for improved health coverage and pension plans, as well as a stop to the company’s outsourcing jobs.
Perez will facilitate the Tuesday meeting at the Labor Department’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. He did not indicate when he expects the groups to broker a deal, but has remained hopeful about the groups’ willingness to meet again.
