Commission Caps

On August 3rd, AT&T put out a statement on myCSP regarding commission caps. They announced that caps will be lifted for non-Orange workers.

Some background information is useful. In July, the company unilaterally placed caps across the country on commissions, including in the "Orange" footprint. The company made these changes in Orange despite warnings by the union not to make unilateral changes to commissions. Since we were in the midst of bargaining with the company in the Orange footprint, this unilateral and negative change without bargaining was a violation of federal labor law. The union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board as a result.  The Board is actively investigating this issue. Under labor law, it is illegal for a company to change any "term or condition" of employment unilaterally without bargaining with the union.

While it was unfortunate we had to go to the Labor Board over their refusal to bargain on commissions, we are pleased to see that the company now seems to understand that they must bargain with the union over such changes.

We will be bargaining on August 14th, which will give us plenty of time to negotiate with the company over these commission changes, so our members can benefit from the cap removal as well.

We are still moving ahead with our planned conference calls with all the District VPs, staffs in the Districts, Local Presidents and a Town Hall call with all members to outline our plan to mobilize our members for the contract that will protect our members in the future.

In solidarity,
Dennis G. Trainor
CWA District 1 Vice President