CWA AT&T Southeast Bargaining Report #44

Today, CWA members notified the District 3 Office of the propaganda that AT&T distributed to employees. This propaganda is unfortunately in lockstep with the company's behavior during negotiations, as it isn't the truth. Similarly, during bargaining AT&T's lead negotiator requested to meet with District 3 leadership, claiming that the company, in an effort to reach an agreement, would be moving our direction on more than half of the twelve (12) priority issues brought to the table by our bargaining team. District 3 leadership accepted the invitation and attended the meeting where AT&T's bargaining representatives stated that they could only bargain over one (1) of the twelve (12) priority issues. One (1) out of twelve (12) is a long way from over half. In CWA's Leadership School, we learn that honesty is very important in negotiations.

The propaganda distributed this morning by AT&T stated that the last bargaining session with CWA was Saturday, August 17th. This is not the truth. The last bargaining session took place on Tuesday, August 20th. During this bargaining session, the company passed proposals, asking employees to agree to the following:

1) To eliminate a joint Union/company council where employee's concerns can be addressed with the company’s leadership

2) To expand the scope of work for Wire Technicians, requiring them to pick up even more job responsibilities without a pay increase

3) To allow the company to eliminate provisions of Article 14 in order to assign construction work, currently performed by our members, to low wage subcontractors

4) To allow the company to lay off employees with no regard for seniority and to instead utilize attendance and performance metrics

5) To eliminate termination payments for employees who cannot comply with the safe load limit

6) To reduce termination pay for employees with permanent medical restrictions

7) To institute a mandatory stand by program, forcing employees to come to work at anytime

8) To cut the pay and eliminate the positions, which employ representatives who assist them with continuing education, college tuition assistance, health insurance, and short-term disability claims

9) To allow the company to eliminate Core Technician jobs, surplus them into Wire Technician positions, and then force them to continue performing the job duties of a Core Technician

10) To decrease the amount of paid illness time for employees

In exchange for employees agreeing to give all of this to AT&T, the company proposed the following for Wire Technicians only:

1) To eliminate the requirement to provide the company a 24-hour notification, before a Wire Technician can use one (1) guaranteed day off per year

2) To provide one (1) extra week of notification before the company lays off Wire Technicians

While AT&T continues to refuse to accommodate CWA's request that they send someone to the bargaining table who has the authority to make a decision, we can expect more and more of this type of misleading propaganda. We at CWA value our word and understand the importance of honesty.

Stay strong brothers and sisters. We are all counting on each other!