Grievance strike started Wednesday; some union members have returned to work.
Nearly a month after contracts for some 17,000 AT&T employees expired on April 14, a threatened strike began to materialize in some locales on Wednesday.
The 17,500 employees who work for AT&T Midwest and Legacy-T are represented by the Communication Workers of America.
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In Dayton, Ohio, some 300 workers walked off the job on Wednesday in a grievance strike, prompting meetings between AT&T officials and local union leadership, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The employees apparently returned to work by Thursday afternoon.
“We have resolved the issue with the union and employees will return to work tomorrow,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said. “We look forward to working with the union toward an agreement in our ongoing contract negotiations.”
In Evansville, Ind., about 40 CWA employees held signs and marched outside of the local AT&T facility, according to a local NBC affiliate.
Richter, in an e-mail update, described that the negotiation goal “is to continue to provide our employees with high-quality middle-class careers with wages and benefits that are among the best in the country.”
“We are not proposing to reduce the wages of any employees in these contracts, and we remain committed to providing great benefits.”
AT&T is the largest employer of full-time union labor in the country.
Regarding a strike, Richter said, “We have systematically and thoroughly planned for a potential work stoppage and have a substantial contingency workforce of well-trained replacements ready.”
