Contracts Expire at Major AT&T Operations, For Now, CWA Members Will Report to Work

Contact: Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, cjohnson@cwa-union.org, 202-434-1168

Washington, D.C. – Contracts covering nearly 100,000 AT&T workers represented by the Communications Workers of America expired at midnight, with many important issues – including employment security and health care -- not resolved. The contracts will not be extended.

For now, employees will continue to report to work, although that can change at any time. Workers are keeping their option to strike open. For workers, the terms of the contracts will remain in effect, meaning that wages, working conditions and benefits like health care will continue unchanged, with the exception of arbitration for grievances.

CWA has made it clear to AT&T that it is ready to bargain at any time to resolve the issues and negotiate quality contracts. Unfortunately, AT&T has shown little willingness to move forward and reach settlements. There has been little progress in the areas of health care, retirement security and employment security, among others.

"The CWA bargaining teams are very frustrated by AT&T's slow pace in negotiations. Instead of working toward quality settlements that will benefit workers and the company, AT&T negotiators chose to drag out negotiations without a plan for settlement," said CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill.

Several CWA districts have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, charging that AT&T has refused to provide information necessary to resolve many outstanding issues.

"AT&T is very successful and profitable, even in these bad economic times. That makes it all the more difficult to understand why AT&T is demanding that workers take on even more health care costs than they already pay. This company takes care of executives and investors. It needs to set the right priorities and maintain quality jobs and quality benefits for workers," Hill said.

CWA members at AT&T operations voted by an 88 percent yes vote to authorize a strike if a fair contract isn't reached. CWA represents about 125,000 workers covered by these contracts:

AT&T East, Connecticut, 5,000, and AT&T East Yellow Pages, 300.

AT&T Southeast, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, 37,000. (contract expires Aug. 8)

AT&T Midwest, in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, 20,000 and AT&T DataCom, 500.

AT&T Southwest, in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, 30,200.

AT&T West, in California and Nevada, 23,000.

AT&T Legacy, covering 10,000 workers nationwide.