AT&T Legacy T Bargaining Report #16

If the Company thinks this is movement in the right direction, they better think again.  Instead of their original demand of NO paid illness days, their feeble attempt at compromise is to give no paid sick days to any new hire or current employee with under 3 years service.  For those current employees with over 3 years service, they would get paid only AFTER the third consecutive day out sick, with a maximum of 3 paid sick days a year.  This proposal punishes everyone, no matter how good their absence record is.  Their next grand compromise was to change their demand of NO double time to double time only after 16 overtime hours.  That’s another proposal that doesn’t come close to a just solution, especially since so many of our members are on forced overtime.  NO WAY are these proposals we can live with.

The Union proposed to increase Special City Allowances.  These daily allowances, which range from $1.00 to $1.40 a day, have not been changed in over 25 years.  We also proposed a change in the area covered by the Atlanta city allowance to include Buckhead, an area that our members were recently moved to, that is becoming an extremely expensive neighborhood.

The highlight of the day was a proposal to pay a differential for Bi-lingual work.  The Company rejected our first proposal, saying the bi-lingual worker was still just working one job, one language at a time.  CWA Bargainer Larry Ihfe handed the Company our new proposal IN SPANISH to dramatize his point.  In his statement (which he also handed to the Company in Spanish) at the table, he said:

“CWA was offended once again that AT&T chose to reject our proposal for a bilingual differential.  …Here are the facts:

• ‘Bilingual’ by definition, according to the Merriam-Webster (m-w.com) free dictionary definition #2, means ‘using or able to use two languages especially with equal fluency…’
• Training of these workers is done in English
• Additionally, all compliance training and all computer delivered training is done in English
• All computer screens are in English
• All job aids are in English
• Any notes to accounts needing done must be done in English

“So, although an operator or an account representative may be speaking in Spanish or another language, they must always have their other language (English) ready to be able to process information that is job-related or to answer questions.  There isn’t a switch that they just flip; this is a process that occurs every minute of every day.

“While you may believe they are using only one language, CWA believes these dynamic workers brilliantly represent the Company both in English and Spanish or in Syrian or in the appropriate Middle Eastern dialect, each and every day boosting AT&T’s multicultural face in communities around the country…  This is a vital service to our customers.  While many in America may smugly sit by and say everyone should speak English, that is not reality; and for our AT&T consumers who cannot speak English, these workers are a lifeline for them.”

We’d like to thank Local 6733 and our members in the CNSC in El Paso, Texas for their help preparing that presentation.

The Union team is also working hard developing our responses to AT&T Health Care and benefits proposals, and preparing proposals to protect and improve our job security language.

This afternoon we will be joining the Nationwide Day of Action and will join marchers at a Verizon Building and the Verizon Center in DC.

Remember the strike vote.  We need every one of you to VOTE YES and support your bargaining team.