CWA-AT&T MOBILITY BARGAINING REPORT # 2

Bargaining resumed today with the Company and Union asking clarifying questions on the proposals that were passed yesterday.

The Company presented yet another retrogressive proposal on Pensions, and a proposal on Article 22-Vacation outlining a change from “entitled” vacation to “earned” vacation.

The Union proposed changes to improve Article 16-Safety and Article 18-Union Activities specific to establishing an electronic bulletin board using the company network.

The Union made it clear we were not interested in any of the retrogressive proposals presented by the Company. The Union reminded the Company that we, their employees, are looking for careers and not just jobs and that their proposals fall short in moving towards that concept.

These company proposals do not deserve to be taken seriously. You should understand that management often starts bargaining by wasting our time like this. Why, you ask? Because they want to see if we are going to stick together or not. They have their managers’ ears to the ground. They want to know if employees trust the bargaining team to use good judgment and represent the priorities determined in our bargaining survey, or will the employees begin to mistrust their union? This is the time that solidarity is most important. The majority of these retrogressive proposals will disappear when management knows we are brothers and sisters that will never turn on each other. When they hear the majority of their employees say every day that they know what is happening at negotiations and will take whatever action is needed to win a fair contract we will begin to see these retrogressive proposals replaced with reasonable proposals.

Tomorrow, when you see your supervisor, tell he/she that you expect the company to get serious in bargaining and take the retrogressive proposals off the table.

STAY INFORMED. BE PREPARED. EXPECT THE BEST.

UNITY AT MOBILITY.

MOBILIZE!
MOBILIZE!
MOBILIZE!

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