Just weeks after billionaire CEO Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corporation announced that it had acquired about 1% of AT&T and laid out plans to extract profits from the company by cutting jobs and selling off critical assets, AT&T announced its intention to sell off wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America, a company with a history of union-busting and job cuts.

It is my pleasure to announce that the AT&T SE bargaining unit has voted to ratify their Contracts. I would like to thank all of our members for taking the time to vote on these TA’s and all of you who participated in the mobilization efforts. Special thanks to the Bargaining Team for your dedication to our CWA Members and your hard work.

Members across District 3 have submitted several questions to their Locals regarding the tentative agreements for the BST and Utility Operations bargaining units. In an effort to ensure that members questions are answered, we have attached two (2) different documents listing the answers to the questions that were submitted.

The ratification date for the BST & Utility Operations tentative agreements is Tuesday, 10/01/2019. Each Local across District 3 will be conducting their own ratification vote and will report their Local results to the District 3 Office. The District 3 Office will announce the final results on Tuesday, 10/01/2019 by 5:00P.M. Eastern.

I am pleased to announce that we have reached tentative agreements with AT&T Southeast, Utility Operations, & AT&T Billing.

We have spent the last two days tediously combing through every single word, figure, and calculation that will ultimately be put together to make up an agreement. 

It has been a slow day today at the bargaining table. Throughout the bargaining process, many issues have been discussed. Yesterday we bargained through the night and concluded this morning around 4:00 A.M. After a few hours of sleep, our bargaining team has spent the day reviewing the various sections of the benefits package. We understand the importance of distributing the details as soon as possible but we need to ensure that all of the issues discussed are properly documented.

CWA has notified AT&T management that we are ending the unfair labor practice strike and have agreed to return to work. The strike is over, effective immediately. Bargaining unit employees at AT&T Southeast, Utility Operations, and AT&T Billing are expected to return to work at 1:00 P.M. ET/12:00 P.M CT today, Wednesday August 28. Even if in the middle of their tour, employees should return to work at 1:00 P.M. ET/12:00 P.M. CT today.

Thanks to the dedication of CWA members across District 3, our bargaining team was able to make significant progress over the last few days. This was all made possible by the strength of each and every one of us joining together in solidarity. Our bargaining team was able to come to terms with the company and have reached a handshake deal to settle negotiations.

Today we were able to have some constructive dialogue with AT&T. Yesterday we all worked late into the night and we are prepared to settle negotiations. We plan to meet with the company again this evening. If the company is serious, we could settle the contract tonight. We will find out later tonight if they are able to make a deal or not. We cannot express how much we appreciate all that has taken place across the District.