Telecom and media industry money is flowing to incumbents in the competitive Senate Commerce Committee member re-election races, according to the latest Federal Election Commission records. Money favors the incumbents generally, whether the seats are safe or not, especially benefiting the coffers of Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Telecom-affiliated unions are backing Democratic challengers.

Telecom and media industry money is flowing to incumbents in the competitive Senate Commerce Committee member re-election races, according to the latest Federal Election Commission records. Money favors the incumbents generally, whether the seats are safe or not, especially benefiting the coffers of Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Telecom-affiliated unions are backing Democratic challengers.

AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers reached a pair of tentative agreements covering nearly 3,000 IBEW-represented workers in 14 states picked up when AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015, the telco said in a news release Tuesday. One agreement covers more than 1,600 workers in AT&T's field services group, and the other 1,300 call center workers in Boise, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana, the company said. The tentative contracts cover such issues as wages, healthcare, pensions and work rules and will go to the union's membership for a vote in coming days, it said.

Siding with Verizon, a court overturned a National Labor Relations Board pro-union ruling in a picketing dispute. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the NLRB didn't giving proper deference to an arbitration panel decision in favor of Verizon (Verizon New England v. NLRB, No. 15-1062). "The Board misapplied its highly deferential standard for reviewing arbitration decisions," wrote Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the controlling opinion. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 2324, waived its right to picket under a collective bargaining agreement with Verizon, but in a subsequent dispute, employees displayed pro-union signs in cars parked on company property that could be seen by passers-by, Kavanaugh wrote. After Verizon ordered the employees to stop and the union resisted, the telco invoked a clause of the agreement and won an arbitration panel decision. The union took the matter to the NLRB, where an administrative law judge also ruled in favor of the telco. On appeal, the board ruled 2-1 to overturn the decision. The NLRB may review arbitration decisions "in certain circumstances when the losing party says it has been deprived of a right otherwise guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act," wrote Kavanaugh, but such reviews are conducted under the "highly deferential" Spielberg-Olin standard. "Under that standard, the Board should have upheld the arbitration decision in this case. The Board acted unreasonably by overturning the arbitration decision. Therefore, we grant Verizon’s petition for review and deny the Board’s cross-application for enforcement," said Kavanaugh's opinion, which was accompanied by two other opinions. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson joined with Kavanaugh on most of the opinion while concurring on two parts. She said she doubted Kavanaugh's description of the arbitration deferral standard. Judge Sri Srinivasan joined, concurred and dissented in part. He said he concurred with the court's explanation of the legal standards. "My sole (and narrow) disagreement with the court concerns the application of that deferential standard in the specific circumstances of this case. In my respectful view, the Board’s decision was not unreasonable in setting aside the arbitration decision," he wrote. Verizon emailed that it's "pleased not just because its position has been vindicated after 8 years of litigation, but also because the Court's decision emphasizes the obligation of the NLRB to defer to collective bargaining agreements and the use of the arbitration process to resolve disputes that arise from time to time under those agreements." The NLRB and IBEW didn't comment.

Verizon reached a tentative agreement with union workers to end their six-week-long East Coast strike, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said Friday. The telco and the workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, agreed in principle to a four-year contract that resolves issues that led to the strike that began April 13. The parties entered federal mediation in mid-May (see 1605180015), and experts had said the talks might result in a settlement (see 1605020044), especially while the company's bottom line was, by some accounts, starting to suffer (see 1605200060).

Verizon reached a tentative agreement with union workers to end their six-week-long East Coast strike, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said Friday. The telco and the workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, agreed in principle to a four-year contract that resolves issues that led to the strike that began April 13. The parties entered federal mediation in mid-May (see 1605180015), and experts had said the talks might result in a settlement (see 1605020044), especially while the company's bottom line was, by some accounts, starting to suffer (see 1605200060).

In a federal effort to resolve the ongoing Verizon strike, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez gathered Verizon, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for a weekend meeting in Washington, the Labor Department said in a news release Sunday. Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam, CWA President Chris Shelton and IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson discussed ways to resolve the dispute and agreed to meet again Tuesday, the department said. “The best way to resolve this labor dispute is at the bargaining table, and I am heartened by the parties’ mutual commitment to get back to immediate discussions and work toward a new contract,” Perez said in a statement. “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.” Before the strike began April 13, Verizon said it sought mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, but CWA disputed that ever happened (see 1605020044).

In a federal effort to resolve the ongoing Verizon strike, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez gathered Verizon, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for a weekend meeting in Washington, the Labor Department said in a news release Sunday. Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam, CWA President Chris Shelton and IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson discussed ways to resolve the dispute and agreed to meet again Tuesday, the department said. “The best way to resolve this labor dispute is at the bargaining table, and I am heartened by the parties’ mutual commitment to get back to immediate discussions and work toward a new contract,” Perez said in a statement. “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.” Before the strike began April 13, Verizon said it sought mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, but CWA disputed that ever happened (see 1605020044).

Union strikes against Verizon haven't caused service problems but states are monitoring the situation, state telecom regulators reported Friday. Nor have the strikes resulted in a deal with Verizon, said the Communications Workers of America, as the East Coast strike continued into its third day (see 1604130031). There is no end in sight, said one Verizon call center worker.

Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), launched a strike Wednesday. CWA said workers are picketing in New York City, and across that state, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and across Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. Verizon said the company tried to avoid a strike, which was expected (see 1604110029).