FairPoint Communications and the unions representing roughly 1,800 of its striking employees remained in federal mediation for a third day on Tuesday.
The North Carolina-based company, which owns the largest telecommunications network in Maine, entered mediation on Sunday with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America at the request of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The parties met Monday for a second day. Tuesday also passed without an announcement.
Federal mediators have asked the parties not to make public comments about the mediation process.
Angelynne Beaudry, a spokeswoman for FairPoint, confirmed that the mediation continued on Tuesday but would not comment on what was being discussed, citing the request by federal mediators.
Amy Masciola, a union spokeswoman, also confirmed the mediation was ongoing.
“The mediation is continuing and as long as it’s continuing we will not have any comment,” Masciola said Tuesday.
This is the second attempt by federal mediators to bring the months-long labor dispute to a conclusion. The first effort failed on Nov. 18.
The IBEW and CWA represent roughly 1,800 FairPoint employees in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont who have been on strike since Oct. 17. Approximately 800 of those workers are in Maine.
The company and unions began negotiating new contracts in April, but the talks broke down in August over a disagreement over the extent of cuts to employee benefits.
The company has sought $700 million in concessions from the unions, mostly by freezing pensions, eliminating health coverage for retirees and asking employees to contribute roughly 20 percent to their health care costs. The unions offered to absorb $200 million in cuts, but no more. Neither side budged, leading FairPoint to declare in late August that the parties had reached an “impasse,” a technical term in labor law that allows the company to impose the terms of its final contract offer.
The union employees walked off the job at midnight Oct. 16. Tuesday marked the 82nd day of the strike.
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