PORTLAND — The two unions representing about 2,000 FairPoint Communications workers in Northern New England said company officials are walking away from contract negotiations and seeking to impose the terms of its most recent contract proposals.

Union representatives said in a statement early Thursday morning that company negotiators notified them by email at 12:01 a.m. that management has declared an impasse in negotiations, a necessary step to putting its latest contract offer into effect.

Company representatives said in a statement they would prefer a negotiated agreement, but feel talks are not progressing.

“The company would prefer negotiated agreements but feels the offer being implemented… is fair to its hard-working and valued workforce,” spokeswoman Angelynne Amores Beaudry said in the prepared statement.

The company said the imposed agreement contains no change to wages, a freeze to its defined pension benefit plan, elimination of retiree medical coverage and “substantially the same benefit plans… as are available to management employees.”

That step comes after both unions said they filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board arguing the company is not negotiating in good faith. Union members had planned “informational pickets” across the state Thursday morning in Bangor, Ellsworth and Portland.

Union leaders plan to meet Thursday morning with their attorneys to consider next steps and have instructed members to continue working until further notice. Both unions previously authorized negotiators to declare a strike, and the company has said it has plans in place to continue servicing the state’s telecommunications backbone in that event.

The company and union negotiators have been locked in tense talks over contracts that expired Aug. 2. The company said it needs to “modernize” the benefits and terms of those agreements while union officials oppose provisions that would allow the company to hire outside contractors without consulting the unions.

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