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 Loses First Round in Bid to End Toll-Free Directory Assistance
Responding to the objections of CWA members and consumers, the Federal Communications Commission denied an automatic grant of AT&T's bid to eliminate toll-free directory assistance service and called for further investigation.
CWA members won this first round, said Jim Irvine, vice president for communications and technologies, who pointed out that in most cases, the FCC automatically grants such applications to discontinue service.
AT&T is seeking to shift its toll-free directory assistance service to the Internet, making listings accessible to an extremely limited number of consumers. This move could eliminate as many as 800 jobs, and it also would mean that millions of Americans who aren't online won't have access to the services and businesses they need to contact, or will be forced to spend extra dollars to pay for commercial directory assistance to get the numbers they need, CWA told the FCC.
A study by the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that just 42 percent of U.S. households own a computer, and just 26 percent are online and thus able to access AT&T listings. For the poor, senior citizens and minorities, the numbers for online access drop to around 10 percent, the report noted.
"There is no reasonable substitute for toll-free directory assistance," CWA told regulators, citing the results of an internal survey of online and local directory assistance. That survey showed a failure rate of as high as 80 percent among alternative listing providers.
Joining CWA in protesting AT&T's petition were several consumer and public interest groups, including those representing blind and hearing-impaired persons who would be harmed if the service were transferred to the Internet, as well as labor groups and some corporations.
Telecom employers talk about providing good customer service but increasingly are relying on automated menus and services that don't really meet customers' needs. Non-union companies are hiring operators but in low-wage, high-turnover, no-benefit jobs, a move that shows these employers don't care about customers or quality, said Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to the CWA president.
Fighting Downsizing
CWA members are fighting back in other ways at AT&T to protest the company's attempt to downsize in core areas while it blocks the movement of union members into new and growing job areas of the business.
Earlier this year, some 3,000 AT&T network technicians - about half the force responsible for maintaining and operating AT&T's nationwide network - were slated for downsizing.
CWA wants the public to know that quality service depends on keeping quality employees, and that AT&T's actions have put network reliability at great risk, Irvine said. At AT&T's December meeting with Wall Street analysts, members of CWA Locals 1150, 1110 and 1153 made certain that financial analysts and reporters got the message.
"AT&T is moving in completely the wrong direction, cutting the jobs of workers who are critical to making the network run and meeting customers' needs," Irvine said. Further, AT&T is breaching the contract terms it agreed to last year that require it to stop interfering with workers' efforts to gain union representation, he said, stressing that managers in local service, cable, wireless, broadband and Internet and other areas of the company are actively violating this agreement every day.
"This is a 180-degree turn-around from the company that once showed respect for employees and their contribution to growing the business. Now, union members face hiring freezes and job cuts while work reappears within newly acquired areas of the company, areas considered 'off limits' to union members," Irvine said.
AT&T locals nationwide are mobilizing against the company's anti-union tactics in organizing campaigns at new units and its delay in bargaining for those units where workers have chosen CWA representation. "CWA is determined to raise the bar for everyone, by bringing non-union employees the opportunity to enjoy the quality wages, working conditions and job standards that come with CWA representation," Irvine said.
CWA members won this first round, said Jim Irvine, vice president for communications and technologies, who pointed out that in most cases, the FCC automatically grants such applications to discontinue service.
AT&T is seeking to shift its toll-free directory assistance service to the Internet, making listings accessible to an extremely limited number of consumers. This move could eliminate as many as 800 jobs, and it also would mean that millions of Americans who aren't online won't have access to the services and businesses they need to contact, or will be forced to spend extra dollars to pay for commercial directory assistance to get the numbers they need, CWA told the FCC.
A study by the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that just 42 percent of U.S. households own a computer, and just 26 percent are online and thus able to access AT&T listings. For the poor, senior citizens and minorities, the numbers for online access drop to around 10 percent, the report noted.
"There is no reasonable substitute for toll-free directory assistance," CWA told regulators, citing the results of an internal survey of online and local directory assistance. That survey showed a failure rate of as high as 80 percent among alternative listing providers.
Joining CWA in protesting AT&T's petition were several consumer and public interest groups, including those representing blind and hearing-impaired persons who would be harmed if the service were transferred to the Internet, as well as labor groups and some corporations.
Telecom employers talk about providing good customer service but increasingly are relying on automated menus and services that don't really meet customers' needs. Non-union companies are hiring operators but in low-wage, high-turnover, no-benefit jobs, a move that shows these employers don't care about customers or quality, said Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to the CWA president.
Fighting Downsizing
CWA members are fighting back in other ways at AT&T to protest the company's attempt to downsize in core areas while it blocks the movement of union members into new and growing job areas of the business.
Earlier this year, some 3,000 AT&T network technicians - about half the force responsible for maintaining and operating AT&T's nationwide network - were slated for downsizing.
CWA wants the public to know that quality service depends on keeping quality employees, and that AT&T's actions have put network reliability at great risk, Irvine said. At AT&T's December meeting with Wall Street analysts, members of CWA Locals 1150, 1110 and 1153 made certain that financial analysts and reporters got the message.
"AT&T is moving in completely the wrong direction, cutting the jobs of workers who are critical to making the network run and meeting customers' needs," Irvine said. Further, AT&T is breaching the contract terms it agreed to last year that require it to stop interfering with workers' efforts to gain union representation, he said, stressing that managers in local service, cable, wireless, broadband and Internet and other areas of the company are actively violating this agreement every day.
"This is a 180-degree turn-around from the company that once showed respect for employees and their contribution to growing the business. Now, union members face hiring freezes and job cuts while work reappears within newly acquired areas of the company, areas considered 'off limits' to union members," Irvine said.
AT&T locals nationwide are mobilizing against the company's anti-union tactics in organizing campaigns at new units and its delay in bargaining for those units where workers have chosen CWA representation. "CWA is determined to raise the bar for everyone, by bringing non-union employees the opportunity to enjoy the quality wages, working conditions and job standards that come with CWA representation," Irvine said.