AT&T MOBILITY STRIKE FAQ

What is a scab?
A scab is someone who crosses a picket line and decides not to fight alongside their brothers and sisters. Scabs make it easier for AT&T to lower wages and benefits. Anyone who scabs should think about how they are selling out their coworkers for some short term crumbs from the company. 

But I have a family to support. I can’t afford to strike. 
Striking is hard for everyone. There will be 21 thousand members across the country, many single moms and dads with kids, who will be doing the right thing and striking if and when the time comes.  Everyone is in the same boat. CWA has a multi-million dollar Strike Fund. We are a family, and we will take care of each other.

Did anyone lose their home or car during last year’s Verizon strike?
No. In addition to the normal strike checks members will receive if the strike lasts longer than 14 days, CWA has special funds available to pay for members who face financial emergencies during any strike. CWA paid mortgage and rent and car payments for many members who could prove that they could not afford to cover such bills during the strike. 

During the 49 day Verizon strike, not a single member lost his home, or car. Not a single member was denied necessary medical care for themselves or families. 

Can I get absence points or get fired during the strike?
No. Striking is a legally protected activity, and anyone on strike will not get any points or be disciplined or terminated for striking.

Is it legal for managers to ask me if I will strike?
No. This is an Unfair Labor Practice, and a violation of Federal Law.  

What did we learn during the Verizon strike?
We learned that customers are enormously sympathetic to labor issues these days. During the Verizon strike last year, most customers honored our picket lines. This caused the company to lose millions in revenue, which ultimately helped the union win the strike. 

We also learned that Verizon retail workers especially hardly made any money in empty stores. 

More on scabs.
We encourage people to ask their grandparents why they shouldn’t scab. The union movement and indeed the middle class was built by workers in previous generations rising to the challenge during past labor disputes. Do you have what it takes to follow in your grandparent’s steps and fight back? 

Here is a quote from Jack London, in 1904 which is as true today as it was then: 

“After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab.

 A scab is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the Devil shuts the gates of Hell to keep him out. No man has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not.

 Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British Army. The modern strikebreaker sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children and his fellow men for an unfulfilled promise from his employer, trust or corporation.

Esau was a traitor to himself: Judas Iscariot was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a strikebreaker is a traitor to his God, his country, his wife, his family and his class.”