Employment Security - ATT SE

Employment Security

In our most recent round of bargaining, employment security was the key area of concern we had for our members.  Our goal was to protect the work and to ensure our members are part of the future growth of this business.  We feel we were able to make great strides on both fronts.

First and foremost, there were no changes made in Article 14.  As you know, the work inside the customer’s premises is not protected under Article 14, and in the past the Company has often utilized contractors to perform this work.  With Premises Technicians moving to Wire Technician, much of this work will be done by bargaining unit employees.  And by keeping Article 14 intact, this means that if the Company utilizes contractors to do any work on the customer side of the NID to perform U-verse work, it would result in the two truck roll that the Company bargained so hard to eliminate.  The Company now has more incentive than ever before to use CWA technicians inside the customer premises.

Here are more key changes in employment security that will benefit all our members:

• Increased the opportunities for movement through the National Transfer Plan to now also include Mobility.  In the past it required a break in service before a BST employee could move into the wireless side of the business. 
• Renewed Job Offer Guarantee (JOG) agreement that provides qualified surplus employees further opportunities for existing vacancies with AT&T in the Southeast.  This option was only available to employees that were on the payroll as of December 29, 2006, but we were able to expand this provision to now include employees on the payroll prior to August 5, 2012.
• Prior to announcing a surplus, we established a voluntary upfront SIPP offer that can be made independent from a force adjustment process.  This allows more flexibility for employees that want to exit the company and receive a SIPP payment.
• Eliminated the requirement of first bumping essentially the same type work within 35 miles and replaced it with title. 
• Any surplus employee that is offered a Wire Technician vacancy will retain their wages, benefits, pensions and economic work protections.
• Renewed Safe Load Limit MOA and the MOA for the state of Florida employees affected by the Jessica Lunsford Act (JLA). 

Since the Service Technicians stand to be most impacted by our gaining access to the U-verse work, we took many steps to make sure the Company would think twice before surplusing any Services Technicians.  These include:

• Guarantee of NO lay off of Services Technicians for one year. 
• Services Technicians will all be upgraded to wage scale 32.  This would greatly impact the Company’s cost structure if they surplused Services Technicians and they ended up in Wire Technician jobs with core wages, benefits and economic work rules.
• Secured agreement to use available represented employees on work currently performed on customer premises such as DSL installation and repair.
• In the past, many Services Technicians that have been surplus have gone off the payroll without access to U-verse jobs.  We fixed that.  They now have access to the Wire Technician jobs with protections.  Plus they will retain their 7.01K rights.  Access to this growth part of the business was critical as evidenced by the fact that the Company has over 250 open vacancies in the Southeast.
• Any Services Technician in the PARTNERSHIP Job Bank on the date of ratification will be offered available Wire Technician vacancies.

Much has been said about how the Outside Plant Technicians will be impacted, and while it is true that Outside Plant Technicians will not be able to bump Services Technicians, we took many steps to enhance their security as well:

• NO lay off of Outside Plant Technicians for one year.
• Expanded bumping rights for Outside Plant Technicians to include ALL TITLES in their wage scale and below.
• Surplus Outside Plant Technicians will be able to claim a Wire Technician position and will retain their economic protections which include wages, benefits and economic work rules protections.  Although this is subject to a 12% cap, the Company can consider exceeding that cap.  Will retain their 7.01K rights.
• Expanded Outside Plant Technicians Optional ESIPP choices beyond just their wage scale to include ALL TITLES in wage scales below.
• Increased reassignment pay protection for the Outside Plant Technicians that accept a lower wage scale position. Their pay will be protected for a full 36 months, regardless of seniority or the type of surplus declared.

The clear facts are that our members have better employment security than ever before and we gained access to the growth areas of the business.