CWA sues AT&T Mobility over employee benefits

The Communications Workers of America has sued AT&T Mobility and other subsidiaries of the telecom giant over what it calls corporate shell games to avoid providing benefits to employees.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, alleges that AT&T is manipulating consolidations and reorganizations to reassign workers throughout its various entities in a manner that puts at risk union members’ contractual wages, benefits, seniority and working conditions, according to Executive VP Annie Hill, who heads CWA’s telecom office.
The union said the lawsuit is seeking injunctions to stop alleged contract violations and to force AT&T “to recognize that it is a party to every subsidiary’s collective bargaining agreement and that it be required to negotiate with CWA on all issues that fall under these agreements.”
AT&T called some CWA claims outlandish.
“The company will mount an aggressive defense of the lawsuit. We expect to show it has no merit,” said Walt Sharp, an AT&T spokesman. “Many of the allegations are inaccurate. Some are simply preposterous . AT&T and its subsidiaries respect all of our union contracts and adhere to their terms. We deny any of the agreements we have with our unions have been violated through any of our consolidation and integration announcements.”
About 40,000 AT&T Mobility employees are represented by CWA. No other national cellular operator is even close to that level of union affiliation.