CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia Verizon employees will stay on the job, as Verizon, the Communication Workers of America and another union reached a tentative agreement Sunday.

"We have a contract in principle; however, nothing signed off on," CWA Local 2001 executive vice president Debby Prince said in a voice message on the union's bargaining update phone number Sunday. "We are looking at the agreement and tweaking it up... It is business as usual."

Additional information about the contract will be released to members when it is available, she said.

State CWA representative Elaine Harris said district presidents would meet on Wednesday to discuss a timeline for the agreement's approval.

"We are pleased," she said. "You never get everything you want, but it goes a long way to address our members' needs of now and the future."

Verizon West Virginia spokesman Harry Mitchell agreed.

"From our point of view, our employees are some of best compensated in the industry," he said. "And, at the end of the day, this is good agreement."

Nationally, Verizon reached tentative three-year contracts with employees represented by the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the company said in a news release today.

The two unions represent approximately 65,000 employees in the company's Telecom business group in 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C. CWA represents nearly 2,000 Verizon employees in West Virginia, Harris said.

The contracts include wage increases that total 10.5 percent over three years, according to the release.

Wages will increase 3.25 percent in 2008, 3.5 percent in August 2009 and 3.75 percent in August 2010, according to the tentative agreement.

Also, the company and the unions agreed to shift from a defined benefit to a defined contribution retiree medical approach.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia Verizon employees will stay on the job, as Verizon, the Communication Workers of America and another union reached a tentative agreement Sunday.

"We have a contract in principle; however, nothing signed off on," CWA Local 2001 executive vice president Debby Prince said in a voice message on the union's bargaining update phone number Sunday. "We are looking at the agreement and tweaking it up... It is business as usual."

Additional information about the contract will be released to members when it is available, she said.

State CWA representative Elaine Harris said district presidents would meet on Wednesday to discuss a timeline for the agreement's approval.

"We are pleased," she said. "You never get everything you want, but it goes a long way to address our members' needs of now and the future."

Verizon West Virginia spokesman Harry Mitchell agreed.

"From our point of view, our employees are some of best compensated in the industry," he said. "And, at the end of the day, this is good agreement."

Nationally, Verizon reached tentative three-year contracts with employees represented by the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the company said in a news release today.

The two unions represent approximately 65,000 employees in the company's Telecom business group in 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C. CWA represents nearly 2,000 Verizon employees in West Virginia, Harris said.

The contracts include wage increases that total 10.5 percent over three years, according to the release.

Wages will increase 3.25 percent in 2008, 3.5 percent in August 2009 and 3.75 percent in August 2010, according to the tentative agreement.

Also, the company and the unions agreed to shift from a defined benefit to a defined contribution retiree medical approach.

This means for employees covered under the agreement and hired after Aug. 2, Verizon will pay a fixed dollar amount per year of service toward the employees' future annual retiree health care premium cost.

The unions and the company also agreed to work together on a national labor and management partnership for health care reform to help ensure quality, affordable health care, according to the release.

The company will also transfer more than 600 positions from its business group to the company's telecom group and approximately 900 temporary workers will be made regular employees, according to the news release.

The previous five-year bargaining agreement between CWA and Verizon expired Aug. 2. The bargaining deadline had been extended until midnight Sunday, Elaine Harris said.

The new three-year agreement takes into account the ever-changing telecommunications industry, Verizon and CWA said.

"It better aligns ... with [changes in] the marketplace," Mitchell said.

Now that contract negotiations are done, local CWA members will continue to work to change what they call persistent customer service issues, Harris said.

In July, the state Public Service Commission opened a general investigation into the quality of telephone service provided by Verizon West Virginia. CWA has yet to officially intervene in the case, but has considered it, Harris said.

Mitchell said Verizon has always "focused on the customers."

Overall, Harris said she was pleased with the ease of contract negotiations when compared to the Verizon employees' strike in 2000.

"It wasn't nasty this time," she said.

Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.