BREAKING: AT&T Strike Ends.
AT&T and union members in southeast district hammer out details of a tentative agreement after one month stand-off.
Sunday night at midnight AT&T reached a new tentative agreement with their workers in 9 southeastern states. On Monday, September 16th, the 17,000 AT&T workers returned to their jobs. Furthermore, AT&T reached a second tentative agreement with the 8,500 Communication Workers Association (CWA) in their West District. Both agreements are currently being finalized and drawn up for the two districts of CWA workers to vote on in the coming days.
In a letter to their employees, AT&T said, “We are pleased to announce that we’ve reached 2 tentative agreements with the Communications Workers of America (CWA),” adding, “We understand that this has been a challenging time for everyone impacted, and we’re glad that we collectively found a mutual path forward to reach these agreements. We value our union-represented employees, and we’re excited to welcome our Southeast employees back to work so they can continue doing what they do best — serving our customers.”
Customer service has been a major concern during the work stoppage. During the strike, Seminole County had lost emergency 911 services which some attributed to failures at AT&T. Last week, Okeechobee cell phone users lost the ability to connect with 911 after a report of damaged underground fiber cables according to WPBF.
District 3 CWA Vice President, Richard Honeycutt released a statement following the completion of the longest strike in the Southeast region’s history. “We are incredibly proud of our members and thank CWA members, retirees and allies across the country for the solidarity that has sustained us through these difficult negotiations. Their willingness to make sacrifices in order to win major improvements in their contract not just for themselves, but for future members is truly inspiring.”
On the Treasure Coast, the union chapter is Local 3111 which includes Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties. During the 30 day strike which was precipitated by the union filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge against AT&T, the CWA maintained 95% of their membership across the Southeast in solidarity. Local 3111 president, Peggy Ward said, “The toughest challenge was keeping our members engaged on the issues and keeping their spirits up. They responded very well. Over 94% remained committed. Four weeks on the picket line was a little rough, but it was well worth it.”
The new 5-year tentative agreement includes a 19% - 22% wage increase for workers depending on their areas of expertise. During the southeast district strike, AT&T West negotiators had reached a tentative agreement which AT&T described as “providing competitive wages and benefits that are among the best in the nation.”
District 9 union members voted against it. CWA District 9 V.P., Franck Arce, states, “This new agreement builds on what we achieved in the first round of bargaining. In addition to maintaining gains on employment security, overtime, and scheduling, we improved the compensation package.”
Last week talks broke-off with the southeast district representatives under mediation. Ms. Ward noted that the strike was not a walkout over economics but rather the result of the Unfair Labor Practice tactics AT&T employed in the beginning of negotiations. At the onset of the strike, the union stated, “CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against AT&T for not bargaining in good faith, engaging in surface bargaining, and not sending representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions.”
The 17,000 workers in 9 states went on strike August 16th. At the time Mr. Honeycutt said, “Our union entered into negotiations in a good faith effort to reach a fair contract, but we have been met at the table by company representatives who were unable to explain their own bargaining proposals and did not seem to have the actual bargaining authority required by the legal obligation to bargain in good faith.”
Even in mediation, the union claimed AT&T sent unqualified negotiators to the meetings. Over the weekend, that all changed when AT&T sent a new team to the bargaining table. Those negotiations began Friday evening and turned into an around the clock sessions that finally ended just before midnight on September 15th.
Ms. Word said, “Our workers wanted to be at work. It bothered them when they heard customer complaints and even stories of customers leaving AT&T.”
Ms. Ward began her career with AT&T two days after graduating high school in 1973 when she was hired by Southern Bell. In 1983, the union went on strike for three weeks. She retired in 2003 but has been the Local 3111 president since 1999 getting elected on multiple occasions. She has spent 61 years with AT&T in some capacity. “My heart is in this job. We have a mixture of career employees and the younger generation. Probably 60% have been with AT&T for more than 20 years. They were all appreciative of customers who wrote letter and made phone calls on their behalf.”
Over the coming weeks, the agreements will be put to a vote by union membership in each district for ratification.