With Elliott Management's AT&T Exit, It's Time for a New Path

This week, Elliott Management disclosed that it had sold its shares of AT&T stock just one year after it began its destructive campaign to make a quick buck by forcing AT&T's management to drastically cut costs.

Unlike the hedge fund managers at Elliott, CWA members who work at AT&T have a long-term interest in the success of the company and the customers they serve. Instead of catering to the whims of Wall Street, AT&T's leadership now has an opportunity to pursue a new path that increases prosperity and connectedness for all Americans, which is especially critical as our country struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic.

We must continue to mobilize and put pressure on AT&T to provide its workers with the support necessary to protect their health and prevent the spread of the virus. AT&T must stop cutting jobs so long as work is contracted out or delegated to authorized dealers. Additionally, AT&T should extend its suspension of stock buybacks in order to invest in building desperately needed next generation networks across its entire footprint, including rural areas. It should work with CWA leaders to include frontline workers in retraining programs for jobs of the future. And it should once again be an anchor for the middle class by allowing all of its workers to choose union representation without management opposition or interference.

Hedge fund managers with deep pockets and big ideas will come and go, but CWA members are the foundation upon which AT&T has built its success, and we are here for the long haul.