After launching a strike less than a week ago, an estimated 2,000 Frontier Communications workers are back on the job after the telecom firm agreed to limit its practice of subcontracting work.
The employees — which announced their return late Wednesday — said the company’s continued use of “inexperienced” subcontractors has been threatening their jobs and undermining customer service.
The Southern California employees, represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA), walked off the job Friday, Aug. 19, claiming Frontier exceeded the level of subcontracting allowed under their collective bargaining agreement.
Under the workers’ labor agreement, no more than 5% of Frontier’s workforce can be subcontractors, the union said.
“This is a huge victory for CWA members at Frontier who stayed one day longer, one day stronger on the picket line and refused to settle for the company’s excuses and empty promises,” CWA Local 9510 Executive Vice President Kenny Williams said in a statement. “It’s proof that we can successfully fight back when we come together, mobilize and build solidarity.”
Although the issues relating to subcontracting are resolved, the employees are still fighting for a new contract. They’ve been working without one since April 16. That’s when the extension of their previous labor agreement (which expired in September 2021) ran out.
The union said “low-road subcontracting” has become increasingly common in the telecommunications industry. Carriers rely on “a vast network” of contracting companies to build out their networks and connect customers to broadband, CWA said, often cutting their own union employees out of much of the work.
In a statement released the day the strike began, Frontier said the issue had been “wholly mischaracterized.”
“Like most companies, we’re using contractors to fill a gap as we actively recruit new talent in a tight labor market,” the company said. “Other factors have also pushed us to engage more contractors than normal, like weather-related repair issues, meeting PUC service requirements and employees not willing to meet overtime requirements.”
Frontier said it had been bargaining in good faith to reach a fair contract for both sides.
Andi Balentine, a local business support specialist with Frontier and executive vice president of CWA Local 9575, said problems have been occurring in Southern California that are directly related to subcontractors.
“When subcontractors lay fiber cable, sometimes it fails to work so we have to send out one of our technicians to fix it,” the 49-year-old Camarillo resident said. “When you’re not trained by the company but are dealing with company-specific systems … that makes it hard.”
Frank Arce, CWA District 9’s vice president, said he was grateful for the community support workers received during the walkout.
“I have no doubt in my mind that our members are ready, able and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that Frontier provides quality service and good jobs for Californians,” he said.
Frontier filed for bankruptcy in April 2020 after telling investors its financial troubles and customer losses were caused by a “significant under-investment in fiber deployment and limited enterprise product offerings.”
The filing marked “the end of an era during which Frontier Communications racked up roughly $17.5 billion in debt as part of an aggressive expansion campaign that turned it into one of the nation’s largest telecom companies,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
The company expanded over the years, in part, by buying former Verizon and AT&T wireline operations.
Frontier emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with plans to double its fiber cabling to an additional 3 million homes and businesses.
