Open Letter to CWA Members

Another letter from AT&T VP Mark Royce

An Open Letter to CWA Members – the CWA!

In August, Mark Royce, vice president of labor relations at AT&T, sent out his first e-mail to AT&T employees on our upcoming bargaining.

Verizon had just signed a new contract with the CWA which had very minor cost shifting in health care. Royce was quick to assert that AT&T is not Verizon and we should not expect to get the same treatment asVerizon employees.

He's at it again ⎯ trying to soften up our members to take concessions before we even pass the first demand across the bargaining table. He wants us to accept "similar changes" to what the managers have had to take (because they don't have the right to bargain). He says it's

"progress" that there was some additional cost shifting for our brothers and sisters in AT&T Mobility.

We have this to say to Mr. Royce: Bargain with our bargaining teams! Don't try to tell us that bargaining is just "part of the regular course of business between the Company and the Unions." It is more than that to us. We only get a chance once every four years to address key issues

with AT&T and, if the Company makes unreasonable demands, it definitely will be a "distraction" from serving our customers.

If Mr. Royce wants to write letter, let him write to Congress supporting health care reform. If he wants a level playing field with non-Union cable, let him spend his time working for the Employee Free Choice Act which will make it easier for cable workers to organize into a Union.

Let AT&T know you will support your bargaining teams. If Mr. Royce keeps sending these messages to our members, they will end up in the SPAM folder where they belong. We'll get our bargaining advice from our Union, not AT&T.