News

At a meeting of CWA's new Customer Service Activist Network, local union leaders across CWA sectors came together to talk about the critical problems facing customer service reps: unreasonable sales quotas, monitoring, health problems tied to stress, repetitive motion and headsets, and a general lack of respect.

Just like 40,000 other CWA members at AT&T Mobility, 315 workers from the former Centennial Wireless in Indiana and Michigan have a union voice, joining CWA through majority sign up. In Indiana, some 290 customer care representatives at the Ft. Wayne call center and a 10-person statewide unit of technicians now are represented by CWA Local 4900.

CWA's District 3 bargaining team reached a tentative four-year agreement at AT&T Mobility that provides wage increases of 10 percent, upgrades job titles and includes other improvements. The tentative agreement, reached just before the April 16 contract expiration, covers more than 11,200 workers. The bargaining committee unanimously recommended ratification; members will be voting on the proposed agreement.

Kevin James, an AT&T splicing technician and member of CWA Local 4100, was fatally electrocuted April 15 while working on a telephone pole in Detroit. The accident is under investigation by Michigan OSHA.