CWA Members Challenge Business as Usual at AT&T Annual Meeting

More than a dozen activists from CWA Districts 4, 7, 9 and the T&T Sector traveled to Billings, Mont., last week to attend AT&T's annual shareholders meeting. They greeted the 200 attendees with leaflets and a banner declaring, "SHAME ON AT&T!"

Joining the CWA delegation were members from Locals 9408, 9421, 9400, 9423, 9510, 7250, 7050, 7303 and 4252. They're among the 15,000 CWA District 9 members in California and Nevada working without a contract while negotiations with AT&T West continue.

John Adams, Jr., third vice president, CWA Local 9421, said the goal of the trip was to refocus the company's attention on where it should be – on workers. "Our message was quite simple: AT&T needs to reward the workers who make this company the premier integrated communications company in the world and negotiate fairly at the bargaining table. The way that AT&T has approached this round of bargaining in District 9 is shameful," he said.

The CWA activists were disappointed – though not entirely surprised – when they learned that AT&T recently ended the open mic portion of the meeting, silencing the voices of workers and the public who are also shareholders.

But throughout the day, activists engaged with the AT&T's leadership, including CEO Randall Stephenson, Labor Relations Executive Vice President Mark Royse and Labor Relations Vice President Melba Muscarolas. While networking with shareholders, activists put a human face on our bargaining priorities: job security, healthcare and a dignified retirement for our members. LaNell Piercy, a Legacy T retiree from Ohio, shared firsthand how AT&T has broken its commitment to those who helped make the company so successful.

A statement by CWA Bargaining Chair Ellen West that was distributed at the meeting pointed out that treating new hires as second-class citizens with escalating healthcare costs and eliminating retiree healthcare coverage and pensions makes no sense for such a profitable company.

CWAers started early, leafleting AT&T shareholders beginning at 7 a.m., then moving inside for the annual meeting.