CWA union members authorize strike against AT&T Mobility: More than 20,000 members could be involved

Communications Workers of America members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike on behalf of more than 20,000 unionized AT&T Mobility employees if concerns about compensation, employment and working conditions are not adequately addressed in upcoming negotiations over a new contract.
“For AT&T Mobility members, a critical bargaining goal is to build a career path and opportunity for jobs within the industry, and to stabilize incomes,” said CWA Executive VP Annie Hill.
The CWA said its bargaining team “reports very little progress and stressed that many issues need to be resolved” in ongoing negotiations. The union’s current contract, covering 20,000-plus AT&T Mobility workers around the country, expires Feb. 7 at midnight.
The CWA executive board must still ratify the strike vote. The final step is approval by the CWA president, who would set a strike date.
Walt Sharp, a spokesman for AT&T Inc. (the parent company of the nation’s No. 2 wireless provider), said the strike authorization vote is not a surprise since it is a typical part of the collective bargaining process.
“AT&T has a good relationship with our unions. Bargaining is continuing and the parties remain hopeful that a new agreement will be negotiated by the expiration of the contract tomorrow,” Sharp said. “Of course, I would point out that AT&T is a customer-oriented company and we take every step to prepare for all contingencies, be it a natural disaster or a work stoppage.”
AT&T Mobility is by far the most unionized of all the national wireless providers, with organized labor having made more positive statements about the No. 2 carrier than about other national wireless operators in the past.
The CWA is a major force in politics, having accounted for more than $2 million in campaign donations to mostly Democratic candidates in the 2008 elections that gave the party control of the White House and strengthened its hold of the House and Senate.