AT&T Legacy T Bargaining Report #28

The bargaining teams met earlier today and will meet again tonight, but we are no closer to an agreement than we were on day one.

The Union rejected the Company’s vacation proposal, which we described before.  For payment in lieu of vacation when someone retires, is terminated (for anything but misconduct), resigns for any reason, or is laid off, the Company would pay only a portion of the vacation “accrued”, depending on what month the person leaves.  We also rejected their proposal to only pay double time only for overtime over 16 hours.

We also submitted a new proposal in response to the rejection yesterday of our proposal to bring back some of the Construction Technician work the Company has contracted out.  We gave the Company another example of shoddy contractor work that took thousands of lines out of service.

The Company was clearly ready for our rejection of their first vacation proposal.  This time they decided to propose the same thing with one exception.  In their first proposal, the only exception to the accrual rule was paying out the full amount to the families of members who died; they will now also pay out to those who are involuntarily laid off.  That means someone who takes up the company offer of VTP, since it is “voluntary,” will forfeit some of their unused vacation, depending on what month they leave.

Then things got even worse.  They turned down our proposal to improve the Cash Balance Accounts (CBAs.)  They then reiterated their original pension proposal.  In case you don’t remember, it included no increase in pensions AND, for everyone hired or rehired after Jan. 1, 2003, a plan to stop any new CBA pension accruals into the current CBA and start them in BCB2, an even lower pension plan. 

They rejected our proposal to increase the match in the 401K and again reiterated their original proposal to move those hired after Jan. 1, 2003 to a different savings plan.

In response to our rejection of their proposal to make future retirees pay the same as actives, they reintroduced it again.

Then they proposed a slight change in their Medical Proposal.  Instead of a cost share of 28% the first year and 32% the second and third, today’s proposal was for us to pay 28% in year one,  30% in year two and 32% in the final year.  Again we demanded to know what that would save the Company, and again they repeated they did not have that crucial information to provide to us.

They made some small changes to the Success Share Plan which do not change the payout, just eliminate the ability to put them into HRAs.

Finally, they offered a totally insulting wage proposal of 1.25% in year one; no percentage raise, just a $500 lump sum in year two; and 1.5% in year three of the agreement.  This would not even begin to make a dent in the increases they are looking for us to pay for our benefits.

The session ended with the Union rejecting their pension proposal and reintroducing our plan to improve CBAs.  We also rejected their plan to gut our short term disability plan, which was part of their first proposal.

As you can see, no progress was made today at all.  We will bargain tonight and as long as it takes tomorrow.  No decision has been made at this point about what will happen at 11:59, Saturday night - we could strike; we could stop the clock and keep bargaining; we could extend the current agreement; or we could work without a contract.  All those possibilities will be assessed and will be decided based on many factors, including the amount of movement there is at the table and an assessment of what tactic will get us the best contract at the end.

We will do our best to keep you informed; but be aware that as we get closer to explanation, we may not be able to provide as much detail in these bargaining reports.  Information will go out to your Local leadership and be posted as close to midnight as possible.

If you are at work, let the Company know you are pissed off at their disrespect for your bargaining team and every one of our members at AT&T.

Your Bargaining Team