PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The Latest on a tentative agreement reached between Consolidated, unions (all times local):
11:30 a.m.
Unions representing about 1,000 Consolidated Communications workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are going to be voting in a matter of days on tentative contract agreements.
Officials don’t have a precise timeline but say workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers will be casting tallies this week.
The tentative agreement was reached late Saturday.
Union negotiators said the three-year agreements protect jobs, maintain affordable health care and provides enhanced retirement benefits. There also are some incentives for early retirements for some workers. But workers remain concerned about jobs being moving to other states.
Illinois-based Consolidated purchased FairPoint last year. Consolidated provides telephone and broadband internet in northern New England. It also operates in 21 other states.
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9:30 a.m.
Consolidated Communications and unions representing about 1,000 workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have reached tentative agreements on a new three-year contract, averting a strike.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America already authorized a strike but the labor agreement came before the contract expired late Saturday.
Union negotiators said the agreements protect jobs, maintain affordable health care and provide enhanced retirement benefits. They said the agreements responded to their members’ and customers’ needs while also addressing changes in the telecommunications industry. Union members will meet soon.
These were the first negotiations since a four-month strike preceded an agreement with FairPoint Communications.
Illinois-based Consolidated purchased FairPoint last year. Consolidated Communications provides telephone and broadband internet in northern New England. It also operates in 21 other states.
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