CWA AT&T Legacy, Puerto Rico and Midwest Members Ratify New Contracts

Legacy T members ratified their contract with AT&T Corp., which affects approximately 4,500 members throughout the U.S., by a wide margin. In Puerto Rico, members also ratified a separate contract with AT&T.

The margin of approval for AT&T Midwest contract, which affects about 13,000 workers, was narrower.

It was a difficult round of bargaining with demands from AT&T that would have frozen the pensions of future retirees, eliminated pensions for new hires and greatly increased the amount members pay for medical care, CWA Telecommunications and Technologies Vice President Lisa Bolton said.

“The bargaining team made it clear to AT&T that it was ‘our turn’ for fairness,” Bolton said. "We are thankful for the hard work of the elected bargainers, then-Vice President Bill Bates, the staff and all Locals who stepped up to support the team and build our mobilization activities. Because of them we were able to achieve an agreement that preserves our benefits, maintains good wages and gives us a path to the jobs that AT&T is promising by 2020.”   

CWA District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton, speaking of the AT&T Midwest contract, said: "Although it was a close vote, it shows the continued appreciation our members have for the work of our bargaining committee. In these tough times, our committee was able to get a contract that enhanced both our employment security and our standard of living."