CBS and a union representing about 2,800 electrical workers reached a tentative accord on a contract that would run through 2015, they said Tuesday. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has a contract with the broadcaster set to expire Jan. 31. The new contract sets up a 2.5 percent pay increase effective July 31, they said. IBEW members are set to vote on the proposed contract by July 29.

Four Best Buy board members, including CEO Brian Dunn and Chairman Richard Schulze, made “illegal insider trades,” generating $29 million in proceeds, despite being “in possession of adverse information” regarding the chain’s financial performance, a shareholder suit claimed.

The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable should take action regarding Verizon service quality in the state’s western district, including more attention to infrastructure and a mandate for more stringent reporting, to improve service there, Attorney General Martha Coakley said Monday. The company disputes the need for the efforts Coakley requested. Her request resulted from a 2009 department investigation into service quality in the 413 area code. Coakley wants several steps taken to ensure reliable local phone service, she said. Coakley said: “While Verizon has begun to address the service quality problems in Western Massachusetts, we urge the department to require a concrete plan for addressing infrastructure deficiencies and stronger measurements and penalties to ensure continued improvement.” At hearings in 2009-2010, complaints were registered about non-functioning dial tone, excessive static, phones being chronically out-of-service, problems that affected service, and laggard restoration of dial tone, Coakley said. Her office found a higher-than-average number of trouble reports in wire centers in western Massachusetts and instances of infrastructure being exposed to the elements, she said. “Evidence presented in the case also showed that Verizon is slow to respond to `trouble reports,'” Coakley’s office said. During 2009-2010, Verizon took longer to install lines than it had four years before, the office said, citing evidence presented by IBEW Local 2324 showing the increased challenge of maintaining thousands of miles of wirelines with fewer resources. “While the evidence in the case also demonstrated that Verizon has taken several steps to improve service quality in Western Massachusetts over the past year, the AG’s Office recommended several specific proposals to ensure that this progress continues and consumers throughout Western Massachusetts have reliable local telephone service,” Coakley said. Those include requiring Verizon to improve its network’s condition, particularly related to 31 wire centers that have the most problems, by Oct. 31; requiring Verizon to report annually to ensure continued focus on network maintenance and improvement; requiring an independent audit of the condition of the network and resources that Verizon MA allocates; and a mandate that Verizon provide more detailed service quality reporting, including specific reporting on the western Massachusetts region. “Verizon strongly disagrees with the attorney general’s characterization of service quality in western Massachusetts and the need for remediation,” a spokesman told us by e-mail. “The evidence that we have presented in the DTC’s proceeding clearly demonstrates that Verizon provides excellent service quality throughout the region, exceeding the DTC’s requirements. And neither the Attorney General nor any other party to this case has presented any evidence that proves otherwise.”

Telecom unions attacked the Illinois Commerce Commission decision to approve sale of Verizon’s landline operations in Illinois to Frontier Communications. The approval, announced Wednesday (CD April 23 p11), “could fail to protect the public interest and may jeopardize future access to high speed services,” the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America said Thursday. “The decision flies in the face of a very strong recommendation to deny the sale made by Illinois Administrative Law Judge Lisa M. Tapia,” the unions said in a release. Tapia recommended March 9 against approval. “We have been concerned from the beginning about the impact of this proposed merger on Frontier’s financial stability given the enormous debt that it would incur,” said Ron Kastner, business manager of Local 21, the largest IBEW telecom unit in Illinois. Only the West Virginia Public Service Commission and the FCC could still bar the deal, the unions said. Ron Collins, vice president of CWA District Two, a leader in the campaign against the sale in West Virginia, said: “We are not stopping our fight against this deal. … Because of Frontier’s financial weakness, the entire state of West Virginia would be affected if this deal were to close."

Massachusetts would continue to regulate VoIP under an amendment to an economic development bill that originally would have deregulated the service. Union and constituent pressure persuaded the state Senate to rewrite section 62 of SB-2345, killing the deregulatory language, said the sponsor of the change. “Hundreds of concerned citizens and telephone workers made calls to their elected representatives to resist the attempt to de-regulate this new industry,” said Steven Tolman, assistant Senate majority whip. Deregulating VoIP as promoted by Verizon and Comcast would leave customers “without recourse to ensure quality services while threatening the jobs of thousands of telecom workers throughout Massachusetts,” the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said. IBEW Local 2222 Business Manager Myles Calvey, the chairman of the phone workers T6 Council, which covers Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said, “Verizon must understand that the installation and maintenance of VoIP services is union work from start to finish.” Verizon has been doing the VoIP work with non-union contractors while laying off union workers, the IBEW said.

Ohio’s Public Utility Commission rejected telecom union demands to rescind an order approving Frontier’s proposed acquisition of Verizon landlines and convene a new set of hearings on the matter. Ruling Tuesday, the commission said it found no merit in arguments for a rehearing advanced by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The unions claimed the commission wrongly and unlawfully approved the proposed transactions.

A Thursday rally by CWA members at FCC headquarters in Washington protesting Frontier’s proposed acquisition of landlines from Verizon drew sharp words from a Frontier spokesman. The CWA said about 200 members, accompanied by supporters affiliated with the IBEW and the AFL-CIO, demonstrated. “This deal will pad the pockets of Wall Street executives while only deepening the digital divide,” CWA District 2 Vice President Ron Collins told rally participants. Afterwards, the union said, CWA President Larry Cohen, Collins and others met with Commissioner Michael Copps, FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus and other agency officials. Responding to the event, a Frontier spokesman evoked Ronald Reagan’s retort to Jimmy Carter during a 1980 presidential campaign debate.

Disparate reactions greeted an order proposed Monday by an administrative law judge with the Illinois Commerce Commission opposing the proposed acquisition by Frontier Communications of Verizon landlines in that state. The companies questioned the order’s logic. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America, foes of the deal in Illinois and elsewhere, lauded the proposed order.

AT&T posted a 15 percent year-over-year drop in Q2 net income and isn’t anticipating an economic recovery this year, Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner said on the company’s earnings call Thursday. The iPhone helped the carrier add 1.4 million subscribers.

AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) agreed to continue bargaining beyond the expiration of the contract covering some 10,000 workers, an AT&T spokesman said. Negotiations continued to make progress, he said. The contract expired last weekend. Healthcare for active employees and retirees and job security are still the main focus of the negotiations, IBEW said. On June 24, IBEW approved a resolution authorizing a strike.