Sep 5, 2024 - The CWA AT&T Southeast Picket Line Never Sleeps

This Labor Day weekend, while many workers took a much-needed rest, CWA members were hard at work keeping the pressure on AT&T to come back to the bargaining table ready to hammer out a plan. Over 17,000 AT&T Southeast workers represented by CWA have been on an unfair labor practice strike for nearly three weeks over the company’s failure to bargain in good faith.

Earlier today, AT&T sent a disingenuous message to striking CWA members. The message, which it also shared with the public, claimed that the company had presented its “final” offer and included misleading claims about AT&T’s proposal. In response, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. issued a statement criticizing the company for engaging in “direct dealing” and highlighting areas in which AT&T’s proposal falls short.

“I have personally spoken to AT&T CEO John Stankey multiple times since the strike began. AT&T finally provided a complete proposal after I demanded that he put it on the table. I am extremely disappointed that this proposal does not meet my, or our members’, expectations. However, after weeks of waiting and the sacrifice of our members who have been on strike, holding the line for 20 days, we finally have an economic package that our bargaining committee can respond to,” President Cummings wrote. He continued, “It’s time for AT&T to engage in productive bargaining where it belongs—at the bargaining table—so we can get back to work serving our customers.”

 
CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. kicked off Labor Day weekend by visiting the picket line and speaking directly with workers currently on strike against AT&T.

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Labor Day weekend saw the official start of the college football season. Fans in the Southeast got to see a different kind of team spirit as members of CWA chartered mobile billboard trucks and distributed flyers to spread the news about the strike.

 
CWA members showed their solidarity outside college football stadiums, where mobile billboards helped spread the news about the regional strike against AT&T. Here, members and family of CWA Local 3204 in Atlanta, Ga., showed their union pride.

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Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su met with striking AT&T Southeast members at the Charlotte, N.C., Labor Day parade. Secretary Su led the march along with the striking workers. 

 
Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su speaks with striking CWA members at the Charlotte Labor Day Parade.

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CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt took to the airwaves to further spread the news of the strike and make the case why AT&T should come to the bargaining table ready to bargain.

“If we gotta stay locked up in a room for 24 hours, that's what we’re willing to do. It’s our opinion that we could have a contract within a couple of days. We just have to have someone here who can give the final go-ahead.” When asked about the impact on customers Honeycutt said, “The company says it can meet its customers' needs but we find that kind of doubtful. When you have 17,000 employees out there’s no way you can have a handful of people keeping up with everything.” He stressed that members want to work, but need a fair contract and, for that to happen, AT&T has to send people to the table who have the knowledge and authority to bargain.

You can watch the entire video here.

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On Sunday afternoon, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. participated in the coin toss for the nationally televised 2024 Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic. After the coin toss, he highlighted the AT&T Southeast strike and asked customers to support the striking workers. Earlier in the weekend, President Cummings received the Jerry Kramer NFL Alumni 2024 Man of the Year award for his help distributing National Child ID Program Kits, which enable parents and caregivers to safely store their child’s vital information at home. This information can assist law enforcement if they ever need it to locate a missing child.

You can support your union siblings on strike by visiting a picket line, signing our petition, or contributing to their strike fund.

The results are in! Flight Attendants at United Airlines finalized their strike vote last week with 99.99% of voters in favor of authorizing a strike. Over 90% of the membership participated in the vote, and the results are clear: United Airlines Flight Attendants are fed up.

“We deserve an industry-leading contract. Our strike vote shows we’re ready to do whatever it takes to reach the contract we deserve,” said Ken Diaz, President of the United chapter of AFA-CWA. “We are the face of United Airlines, and planes don’t take off without us.”

Airline employees are governed by the Railway Labor Act, as opposed to the National Labor Relations Act. From here, union officials could request a release from the National Mediation Board, which, if granted, would trigger a 30-day “cooling off” period after which a strike could occur. AFA-CWA has a trademarked strike strategy known as CHAOS™ or Create Havoc Around Our System™. With CHAOS, a strike could affect the entire system or a single flight. The union decides when, where, and how to strike without notice to management or passengers.

Earlier this week, the National Audubon Society, an environmental conservation organization where workers are members of the Bird Union-CWA Local 1180, adopted a radical legal position, claiming that federal worker protections under the National Labor Relations Act are unconstitutional. Audubon joins Elon Musk, billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX, in questioning the constitutionality of legal precedent. While notorious labor law violators like Amazon and Starbucks have copied Musk’s unusual legal defense, the National Audubon Society appears to be the first nonprofit to do so.

Elon Musk joked with presidential candidate Donald Trump last month about firing striking workers during a live conversation on Musk’s media platform. You can listen to the audio clip here.

The NLRB has determined that, in contract negotiations with the Bird Union-CWA Local 1180 that have dragged on for more than two years, Audubon has violated federal labor laws, including refusing to bargain over minimum salaries, making unilateral changes to healthcare benefits, and denying union members benefits that were given to non-represented staff.

The Bird Union-CWA Local 1180 has announced a three-day unfair labor practice strike to start on Tuesday, September 10, in response to the nonprofit’s continued violation of workers’ rights under federal labor laws.

Click here to read more about the National Audubon Society’s unfair labor practices. You can also join one of the nearly 20 picket lines across the country. Click here to find a picket near you.

Send a quick message to the National Audubon Society telling them you've got the workers’ backs.

Last week, Washington-Baltimore News Guild members at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (TNG-CWA Local 32035) ratified a bargaining agreement that included large raises, increased telework, and vacation time increases. This win came after a one-day strike in May and a planned unfair labor practice (ULP) strike. An agreement was reached without the need for the longer ULP strike.

Click here to read more details about the new contract.

 
Chief of Staff Sylvia J. Ramos (third from left) and members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union (TNG-CWA Local 32035) showed their solidarity after a membership meeting in June.

 
Over 80 CWA-represented workers and other labor allies held an informational picket outside the Penn Square Mall Apple Store location in Oklahoma City, Okla., to draw attention to Apple’s ongoing delays at the bargaining table.

As reported by AppleWorld.Today this week, Apple Retail Union-CWA Local 6016 members have urged tech giant Apple to return to contract negotiations after two years of delays. Bargaining for Apple workers’ first union contract is scheduled to continue now through Friday, September 6th, just days before Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event on September 9th.

In 2022, Apple Retail Union-CWA workers in Oklahoma City became the second Apple store to secure union representation, including Apple salespeople, Genius admins, technicians, creatives, and operations specialists. With a unified voice on the job, Apple workers would be able to establish a fair say in creating an equitable workplace. However, workers have faced an onslaught of labor violations and anti-union attacks from Apple, including involving union-busting firm Jackson Lewis in bargaining sessions.

When contract negotiations stalled earlier last month, a majority of Apple Store workers voted to authorize a strike.

“We have waited long enough for the fair pay and benefits we deserve, and we are calling on Apple to get this deal done without further delays. The iPhone 16 will soon reach our store, and we are asking for our fair share as we prepare to once again act as the indispensable point of contact between a trillion-dollar corporation and its eager customer base,” said Apple Retail Union-CWA Local 6016 member Michael Forsythe.

Read more here.

 
Former President of CWA Local 3907 Ken Worthen (center, in the gray hat) showed up to support striking AT&T workers. He posed with (left to right) Steve Canode, a retired office technician; Pat Rabbeitt, a former service representative with Bell South and recipient of the 2011 Alabama AFL-CIO Labor Person of the Year Award; and current CWA Local 3907 President Ra-Amon Ta-Neter.

In 1983, Ken Worthen was a Junior Technician with AT&T in Shreveport, La., and the company was on the verge of being broken up into regional companies as a result of an antitrust lawsuit. The country was dealing with multiple gas crises and inflation at 8%. AT&T workers, worried about increased cost of living and feeling “pain at the pump,” engaged in a nation-wide strike, primarily over wages and healthcare costs.

The 1983 strike lasted for 22 days before AT&T came to the bargaining table ready to make a deal. Ken remembers the wisdom of older technicians, some with 20 to 30 years on the job. “You’re not fighting just for today. You’re fighting for the next generation. What you do today will affect future generations of workers. We’ll be gone, but you’re gonna be here, and you need to hold the line for the people who come after you, not just for yourself or your fellow workers right now.”

When asked, “What advice would you give workers on the picket line today?” Ken simply referenced those who came before him. “That’s the bottom line. It isn’t about you alone. It’s about the people who will come after you. Just remember that.”

Ahead of Labor Day, CWA unveiled new banners outside of the headquarters building in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of the benefits of union membership.