More than 20,000 AT&T wireline employees in nine southeastern states have gone on strike, protesting what they say are unfair labor practices. According to the Communications Workers of America union, those include sending representatives to union negotiations who are not authorized to make decisions. One Florida union chapter also reported “threats of discipline and prevention of concerted work activities.”
CWA said that it has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against
AT&T for “not bargaining in good faith.”
The strikes includes more than 20,000 technicians, customer service representatives and other workers who install, maintain and support AT&T’s wireline telecommunications network in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
According to public statements from AT&T, the Southeast contract covers fewer than eight percent of AT&T’s employees.
AT&T spokesperson Jim Kimberly said in a statement to RCR Wireless News: “A strike is in no one’s best interest. We remain ready to sit down with union leaders to negotiate a new, improved contract for our employees. Our bargaining team is negotiating this contract with CWA leaders in the same way we have successfully done with other CWA contracts over the years. We listen, engage in substantive discussions and share proposals back and forth until we reach agreement.
“That’s why we’re surprised and disappointed that union leaders would call for a strike at this point in the negotiations, particularly when we’re offering terms that would help our employees – some of whom average from $121,000 to $134,000 in total compensation – be even better off,” Kimberly said. “We’re prepared for a strike and will continue working hard to serve our customers.”
The carrier recently ratified two contracts with CWA in other areas of the country: two Midwest Wireline agreements which cover 8,000 employees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin; and a second agreement covering about 3,000 wireline employees across the country, including the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company says it has reached 20 union agreements since 2017, covering more than 89,000 employees.
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders visited CWA picket lines over the weekend, and former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted his support of the striking workers.
This story has been updated with comment from AT&T.
