Contracts Expire at AT&T SE-Workers Will Stay on the Job and Continue the Fight for a Fair Contract

For release Aug. 9, 2015, 12:01 a.m.

Contact:               Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, cjohnson@cwa-union.org

 Contracts Expire at AT&T Southeast

Workers Will Stay on the Job and Continue the Fight for a Fair Contract

Atlanta – The 28,000 workers at AT&T Southeast, members of the Communications Workers of America, will work without a contract as their collective bargaining agreement expired at midnight tonight.

 “We’re going to keep our fight for a fair contract going while we stay on the job,” said CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt. “For weeks we have pressed AT&T Southeast to get serious about bargaining and to get off its outrageous demands that will hurt workers, their families and communities. We’re ready to bargain for a fair agreement, but we need AT&T Southeast to be ready to do the same.”

 AT&T Southeast is a very profitable company and earned $6.5 billion in profits in 2014. Yet after weeks of negotiations, the CWA bargaining team reports that AT&T Southeast management continues to demand concessions in job security, health care, and working conditions, including a demand for excessive forced overtime by workers.

 “Our members showed their determination to get a fair contract with 96% voting to authorize a strike if necessary. That remains an option. For now, we’ll be on the job, without our contract, but providing the quality service customers deserve,” Honeycutt said.

 The negotiations cover workers at AT&T Southeast, AT&T Utility Operations and BellSouth Billing. A separate contract that covers workers at YP Holdings has been extended while negotiations continue.