Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
AT&T Breakup Raises Concerns For Workers and Consumers
CWA officials expressed serious concerns about AT&T’s plans to split the company into four separate operations — broadband, wireless, business and consumer services — and stressed that the company has operational problems which cannot be fixed by financial restructuring.
In a discusion with AT&T's chief executive officer Michael Armstrong, CWA President Morton Bahr explained why CWA members and their union leaders were angry and frustrated with AT&T’s latest announcement. Bahr outlined for Armstrong the company’s pattern of failing to bargain fair contracts for workers in Broadband and local business service and its pattern of contracting out the work of customer service representatives and building and construction technicians.
“At the time of this enormous restructure, the last thing I believe the company needs is opposition from its employees and the union. All of us would much rather be supportive, if you give us the reason to be so,” Bahr said.
In scheduled meetings and a follow-up to Bahr’s conversation with Armstrong, CWA Vice President Jim Irvine met with top AT&T management on these issues and the union’s concerns about the impact the breakup would have on workers, consumers, long-term investors and the future of the company.
Irvine also noted that AT&T is jeopardizing network reliability with its plan to cut some 1,000 jobs — the technicians and support workers who maintain the network for business and consumer services — quietly announced by the company last month. This could result in reduced service to key business customers, according to union officials.
“Customers will lose out because, increasingly, they will not be able to rely on the quality of the network. But AT&T also loses because the skilled technicians it needs to keep the network secure will be let go to work for the company’s competitors,” said Irvine.
“By cutting up the company, AT&T is going in exactly the opposite direction of every major telecom company. This plan doesn’t make good business sense, particularly if the company’s intent is to provide the integrated service that customers want,” he noted.
The decision to break up the company indicates that AT&T is moving away from its strategy of bundling communications services, the “one-stop shopping” that both business and residential consumers want.
AT&T never really put its bundling strategy in place, Irvine said, because it failed to integrate operations in business services. The company kept marketing and customer service operations separate and made cutbacks in customer service that resulted in the loss of key accounts, the union noted. On the consumer side, AT&T has scaled back efforts to gain new customers, reducing the number of skilled employees while relying on low wage telemarketing contract workers instead. AT&T hasn’t tried to grow the consumer business, the union said.
CWA also expressed concern that AT&T Broadband has not stepped up to AT&T quality standards, relying for the most part on a low wage, high turnover workforce. For example, AT&T Broadband has announced that it is relocating its California customer call centers to Utah, where low paid, contract workers will be hired. This kind of contentious labor relations at AT&T Broadband is not conducive to the kind of teamwork necessary to make AT&T a successful company, CWA said.
In a discusion with AT&T's chief executive officer Michael Armstrong, CWA President Morton Bahr explained why CWA members and their union leaders were angry and frustrated with AT&T’s latest announcement. Bahr outlined for Armstrong the company’s pattern of failing to bargain fair contracts for workers in Broadband and local business service and its pattern of contracting out the work of customer service representatives and building and construction technicians.
“At the time of this enormous restructure, the last thing I believe the company needs is opposition from its employees and the union. All of us would much rather be supportive, if you give us the reason to be so,” Bahr said.
In scheduled meetings and a follow-up to Bahr’s conversation with Armstrong, CWA Vice President Jim Irvine met with top AT&T management on these issues and the union’s concerns about the impact the breakup would have on workers, consumers, long-term investors and the future of the company.
Irvine also noted that AT&T is jeopardizing network reliability with its plan to cut some 1,000 jobs — the technicians and support workers who maintain the network for business and consumer services — quietly announced by the company last month. This could result in reduced service to key business customers, according to union officials.
“Customers will lose out because, increasingly, they will not be able to rely on the quality of the network. But AT&T also loses because the skilled technicians it needs to keep the network secure will be let go to work for the company’s competitors,” said Irvine.
“By cutting up the company, AT&T is going in exactly the opposite direction of every major telecom company. This plan doesn’t make good business sense, particularly if the company’s intent is to provide the integrated service that customers want,” he noted.
The decision to break up the company indicates that AT&T is moving away from its strategy of bundling communications services, the “one-stop shopping” that both business and residential consumers want.
AT&T never really put its bundling strategy in place, Irvine said, because it failed to integrate operations in business services. The company kept marketing and customer service operations separate and made cutbacks in customer service that resulted in the loss of key accounts, the union noted. On the consumer side, AT&T has scaled back efforts to gain new customers, reducing the number of skilled employees while relying on low wage telemarketing contract workers instead. AT&T hasn’t tried to grow the consumer business, the union said.
CWA also expressed concern that AT&T Broadband has not stepped up to AT&T quality standards, relying for the most part on a low wage, high turnover workforce. For example, AT&T Broadband has announced that it is relocating its California customer call centers to Utah, where low paid, contract workers will be hired. This kind of contentious labor relations at AT&T Broadband is not conducive to the kind of teamwork necessary to make AT&T a successful company, CWA said.