AT&T Strike Update: CWA walks away from the table?

By on Feb 8, 2009 at 8:01 PM
Exclusive February 8, 2009

We just got a heads up that even though both parties agreed to an extension, the CWA just walked away from the bargaining table. Here’s a copy of an email sent out to AT&T employees, and also AT&T’s final offer to the CWA:

CWA walks away from Mobility Orange bargaining

Feb. 8, 2008 — Bargainers for the Communications Workers of America left the Mobility Orange bargaining table about 2:30 p.m. ET today, despite having requested and agreed to an extension of negotiations through 11:59 p.m. tonight, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2008.

The AT&T bargaining team remains available for discussions through the agreed-upon extension.

AT&T agreed to the extension based on assurances from the union that the parties were “close” to agreement.

AT&T is proud of this fair and reasonable offer during these difficult economic times when companies are cutting off 401(k)s, freezing salaries, and sometimes failing entirely, throwing employees out of work. Layoffs have surged — more than 600,000 last month alone — and unemployment levels are soaring. Many workers are voluntarily making sacrifices to help keep troubled companies afloat.

AT&T regrets that the union has chosen to walk away from the table.

Here is AT&T final offer to the CWA:

AT&T Mobility and Communications Workers of America – 2009 Orange Labor Negotiations
Highlights of the Company’s Last, Best and Final Offer
___________________________________________________________

Wages
•    Year 1         $850 Lump Sum Payment upon ratification by 2/27/09.
•    Year 2        Increases to bottom and top of wage tables of  2.25%.
•    Year 3        Increases to bottom and top of wage tables of  2.0%.
•    Year 4        Increases to bottom and top of wage tables of  2.0%.

•    Examples of the cumulative effect of these increases when combined with wage progressions are shown below:
o    The average Customer Service Representative I currently earning $24,440 per a year, and currently on step 8 of the wage progression table, will be earning $34,346 per year at the end of the contract.  This represents a total increase of approximately 40.5% over the life of the contract.
o    The average Retail Sales Consultant currently earning $26,364 (excluding commissions) per year, on Step 12, will be earning $31,902 (excluding commissions) at the end of the contract.  This represents a total increase of  approximately  21.0% over the life of the contract.

Pension/401k Plans

•    Current employees will maintain a 5% cash balance pension plan and continue eligibility under the existing 401k plan which includes an 80% match up to 6% of basic deferrals.
•    New hires after 1/1/10 will be eligible for a 100% match in the 401k up to 6% of basic deferrals.

New Titles
•    A new title, Client Service Specialist, will be created for use in call centers.  Employees currently in the Office of the President role will be moved into the new title.  The title will have a new table with a top wage rate equivalent to the current Customer Service Representative II and a new, improved start rate.  This breakthrough creates additional career opportunities in call centers.  Employees currently in the CSR I title moving to the new title will have the opportunity to move from a wage table with a current top of $621 per week to a new wage table with a top of $726 per week or approximately $5500 per year.
•    A new title, Workforce Administrator, will be created for use in consumer call centers.  Current employees in the workforce operations group holding the title of Clerk, CSR I or Administrative Assistant will be placed in the new title.  The title will use the same wage table as the current Administrative Assistant.  This will also create additional career opportunities in call centers.  Employees currently in the CSR I title moving to the new title will have the opportunity to move from a wage table with a current top of $621 per week to a new wage table with a top of $726 per week or approximately $5500 per year.  Employees currently in the Clerk title moving to the new title will have the opportunity to move from a wage table with a current top of $602 per week to a new wage table with a top of $726 per week or $6450 per year.
•    A new title, Wireless Technician, will be created.  Current Wireless Technician I and Wireless Technician II titles will be merged into the new title.  The current Wireless Technician II wage table will be used for this new title.  Employees currently in the Wireless Technician I title moving to the new title will have the opportunity to move from a wage table with a current top of approximately $1117 per week to a new wage table with a top of approximately $1304 per week or approximately $9700 per year.
•    Additionally, the Company committed to evaluate Customer Service Representative functions to determine if additional titles should be created in call centers.

JOB SECURITY

•    Surplus notifications for large groups will now be made 60 days in advance of a surplus, rather than 30 days.
•    Surplus employees will be given priority consideration for one year from the date of their surplus over external and internal candidates for vacancies they are qualified to fill.
•    A Joint Committee will be established when 40% of full time Retail Sales employees in a market fail to meet minimum sales performance requirements for the purpose of discussing possible causes and potential solutions.
•    Strengthened non-discrimination language in Article 15.
•    Net Credited Service (NCS) seniority tie breaker language added to determine who is most senior when two or more employees share the same NCS date.
•    The Union and the Company have agreed to jointly investigate the possibility of including AT&T Mobility employees in the Alliance.

Union-Management Relationship

•    Three Strategic Alliance Committees will be created to foster cooperation between the CWA and the Company.  Committees will address issues of interest to both parties on a scheduled basis.  One committee will be created for each of the following current CWA districts:
o    Districts 1/2/13
o    District 4
o    Districts 7 & 9
•    Renewed commitment regarding the collection of COPE deductions for the Union by the Company.

Scheduling-Retail

•    A new Retail scheduling tool will be piloted in ten locations during 1Q09 in an effort to provide realistic and usable schedules for employees

Safety

•    National Occupational Health and Safety Committee input may be used to develop employee training.

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  • mel

    I seriously doubt this.

  • ATT Sucks Dog Balls

    ATT is a BIG PIECE OF SH**!!!
    Friggin Union has been bleeding this country dry for the last 50 years. F*** all unions!!
    And that dueschbag above “ATT Rep” is a bigger friggin moron if he thinks its gonna get better. And BTW asswipe you dont make more money then Verizon reps…..its documented….your another dumbass getting led around like a dumb dog….the union doesnt do sh** for you except take your money….

    I worked for Lucent for 13 years and they screwed me in the end…..and Im a VOIP Design Engineer/ CO Level III tech, not some dildo rep doing customer service. But whats funny now is I do contract work for ATT and make more $$$ than when I ever worked for the REAL ATT (which tells you something)…..not this bullsh** conglomeration of baby Bells slapped together…. Believe me when I bust through that bullshit picket line in front of the CO’s I maintain and scab all over those dumbasses. Let one ATT pussy try and stop me…..You morons that a memebers the CWA better wake the fu** up!

    Whats really funny is that ATT is already calling me to take on work when this occurs. Believe me CWA it was a wrong move to walk away from the table cause you gonna be left holding your “short and curlies” while I take all your money your fu**in idiots……cause guess what ATT is going to sub-contractors to maintain alot of there infrastructure already…..I’m living proof…..have fun on the unemployment line and keep bitchin cause your going no where………

  • http://cwa.net prem tech WI

    I think working every weekend and every holiday for the past 8 years has been enough to deserve a little more than what they are offering. Its not we are asking for a million dollar salary like most upper levels make and what could they possibly have done to earn that kind of salary except screwing the little guy

  • mel

    Dog Balls…you are a REAL class act, let me tell you.

  • BlueCollar

    Wow, rest assured America! If at&t workers go on strike you’ll have competent, respectful contractors like the poster “AT&T Sucks Dogballs” coming into your homes and around your children to repair your telephones! I am sure the general public would much rather have someone like that taking care of them then respectful hardworking people who are just asking to keep the same benefits/pay they already have.

  • Jane

    just go on strike or shut the hell up, The union is bluffing and if thier not, all you union peons will be walking the unemployment line, not a picket line.

    WAKE UP!

  • char

    cry, cry!

    You think the union is bad.
    Go to work for mcdonalds! They make billions
    and pay what? Oh Yeah! Thats right minimum wage.

    AT&T pays what it does because of the union!
    You think ppl don’t need unions anymore.
    Bull dunkie!

    Thats why so many companies took their business
    out of country. They did it for cheaper labor
    you idiots. Go live there where their is
    no union to protect ppl from being used.

    You would have absolutely no benefits if it
    were not for the union.

    No eyeglasses, no mental health, no dental
    and most of all no health care of any kind
    for you and your children. I ask you
    what is that worth?

    And you talk of your children depending on you!
    How about when you need to take them to the
    hospital with life threating illnesses.
    You can thank your union that you have all that
    coverage.

    So think this union stuff through one more
    time fellas, and sign me a happy AT&T person
    with a great union!

    char

  • mel

    I personally believe in the American dream. And the American dream does NOT consist of me working my A$$ off 11 hours a day for wages that would not allow me to own a home, have health benefits, buy a car and be able to support my child! I suppose you all would have us work for just enough to be able to live under a bridge!

  • mel

    I personally believe in the American dream. And the American dream does NOT consist of me working my A$$ off 11 hours a day for wages that would not allow me to own a home, have health benefits, buy a car and be able to support my child! I suppose you all would have us work for just enough to be able to live under a bridge! I fine it interesting how educated us ‘union’ people sound in our posts versus the non-union folks.

  • CrazyPants

    Not all contractors are as eloquent as Mr. ‘Dog Balls’ However there are a lot of us that are educated hard working people with respect for society and it laws. Much like the folks who currently man the shifts for Ma-Bell and the like. I am sure that there are just as many ‘dog balls’ working for ATT as there is in any trade. (people are assholes no matter where you go in life) Anyway, I hope the strike goes well for the picketers and scabs alike. All of us are just trying to cloth and feed ourselves and our families. That being said, ATT is going to phase a large part of their outside plant maintanince to the contracting world. I don’t say this to be beligerant but simply because it is fact. They are more than happy to allow thier employees to work without a contract because it enables them to justify more and more chipping off the labor and sending it to the cheaper contractors (who by the way are subjected to far more inspection and oversight than ‘in-house’ employees). This is the inevitable truth which leaves the union with two choices: 1. Burn it down right now and strike or 2. Take what you can while you still can and delay the inevitable for as long as possible which might be only one more contract. Please don’t hate on me because of this it is just the way I see things going down in the future. Good luck to all and please don’t throw shit at me or vandalize my car when I pick up my truck at the yard to clear some trouble tickets or replace a damaged ped. I am just trying to make a living like everone else. God Bless the unions and scabs alike!

  • I.B.E.W Local 21 Member

    On May 8, 2009 @ 7:28 pm, fiberman Said:

    b oohooboohoo if you dont like your job so much then quit!!! thiers 9.8% unemployment right now .i’ll be happy to take one of your jobs im sure thiers alot of fokes that would like one too were do i apply?

    You got to know how to spell, moron to get a job at AT&T

  • splicer913

    Dog balls i have been contracting for 23 years and your the kind of person that gives all of us good hard working contractors a bad name. To the company men, i hope this all works out and you both come to an agreement, because they are still going to be using us contractors, there just want be any friction between company men and the contractors. so god bless and good luck to all.

  • CrazyPants

    Right on brother! It’s good to hear from balanced, intelligent people on my side of the picket-line! If you look at the CWA website, they say that the strike has been averted (at least in district 9; California Nevada and Hawaii, and the final details are soon forthcoming. I am extremly happy for this, as I was not looking forward to crossing that line. Also, this means that ATT can focus on getting the projects F2 conditioning and the like back on track and into the contractors hands again. God bless and take care!!!

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