Proposed 4-year contract focused on benefits, health care for more than 40,000 CWA workers at AT&T Mobility
AT&T reported a stalemate in its attempt to forge a new employment agreement with more than 40,000 workers represented by the Communications Workers of America.
In a statement, AT&T said CWA leadership voted down a proposed four-year contract covering AT&T Mobility workers. The carrier said the offer focused on “benefits, including health care.”
Despite the failure, AT&T said both parties have “agreed to meet in a continuing effort to reach an agreement.” The proposal had initially gained tentative approval from CWA before being submitted to union leadership.
In late May, CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers struck a new four-year labor agreement with Verizon Communications, which ended a contentious strike. That agreement involved approximately 40,000 employees across both union groups, but was mostly focused on wireline employees.
Amongst details of the contract, workers received a 10.5% wage increase over the four-year term of the deal, with Verizon Communications committed to hiring approximately 1,300 new workers. Verizon said it gained the ability to offer special buyout incentives to employees and health care cost savings for current and retired workers under its pension plan.
While initially downplaying any impact from the strike, Verizon management acknowledged it would see a second-quarter earning impact of between 5 cents and 7 cents, with that financial impact set to also hit full-year results. Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo explained the costs were associated with overtime paid to management employees, hiring contract workers to cover for striking workers and a decrease in new business installations. The decrease is expected to result in Verizon posting net losses across its FiOS broadband business for the quarter.
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