AT&T Meetings in Dallas Will Set Stage for Winter Bargaining

Gearing up for nationwide bargaining in 2009, local leaders representing members at AT&T will meet in Dallas with CWA officers and staff next week for several days of intense preparation.

About 300 participants in all will attend the bargaining council meetings, being held for both the 125,000-member Core group at AT&T and the 20,000 members at AT&T Mobility "Orange."

The theme of the council meetings and the subsequent mobilization campaign and bargaining is, "One Union, One Fight, One Future."

On Tuesday, the first full day of the meetings, AT&T members across the country are being asked to wear red shirts to work as a sign of solidarity and support for their bargaining team.

The agenda includes discussion of the future at AT&T as the company moves ever further into wireless and other new generation technology. Participants will also take a hard look at economics and what other CWA units have accomplished in bargaining at Verizon and Qwest, as well as in other industries.

Both Core and Mobility meetings will include discussions about mobilizing members for local and national activities that support the critical talks.

AT&T Mobility bargaining will begin first, on Jan. 21, 2009, in Richmond, Va., The current Mobility "Orange" contract expires Feb. 7.

The Core talks will take place at six tables around the country beginning Feb. 24 to negotiate contracts for AT&T Legacy (formerly Legacy-T), AT&T East (formerly SNET), AT&T West (formerly PacBell), AT&T Midwest (formerly Ameritech) AT&T South (formerly Southwestern Bell) and AT&T Southeast (formerly BellSouth). Five of the current contracts expire April 4, 2009. The AT&T Southeast contract expires next August, but bargaining will be held in unison with the other companies.