The Communications Workers of America announced tonight that in light of progress that has been made in bargaining for a new contract with Verizon, it has agreed to "stop the clock" on the expiration of the current contract and postpone strike action while negotiations continue. The current contract will remain in effect.

The current contract, which covers 65,000 members of CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) who work for Verizon from Massachusetts to Virginia, was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, August 3rd.

Rand Wilson is Communications Coordinator for the AFL-CIO Organizing Department's Center for Strategic Research