[SatNews] Employees have returned to their jobs under the terms of the contract that ended in early August...

Verizon Communications has announced that its 45,000 wireline employees in nine Northeastern states and the District of Columbia who are represented by the CWA and IBEW will return to work beginning Monday night, Aug. 22, without new collective bargaining agreements. Verizon and the unions have made headway in negotiating a number of local and regional issues, and the parties have agreed on a process for moving forward to negotiate the major issues regarding benefits, cost structure, work flexibility and job security.

Verizon said the wireline employees now on strike would be working under the terms of the contracts that expired on Saturday, Aug. 6. The contracts will be extended with no specific deadline for achieving new collective bargaining agreements so that the parties can take the time required to resolve the critical issues. With its union-represented employees back at work, Verizon plans to quickly address any backlog in repairs and unfulfilled requests for service.