CWA Campaigns Forestall AT&T Shutdowns

CWAers in Pennsylvania, working with allies throughout the labor movement, put together a successful political/community action campaign to forestall the closing of two AT&T call centers employing 260 workers.

Subsequently, AT&T announced today that it would keep the Fairhaven, Mass., center open an additional 60 days, and CWA is continuing to fight for a similar extension at the Mesa, Ariz., center, said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies.

CWA Local 13500 President Sandy Kmetyk said "hard work by so many people" won an agreement by AT&T to keep 45 jobs at the New Castle, Pa., location, where IBEW members provide help for hearing- and speech-impaired customers, and won a reprieve for another 225 members of her local at the Pittsburgh call center.

AT&T originally announced in February that it would close the Pittsburgh operations on April 21. "We got the actual transcripts of the public utility commission hearing where AT&T said that Pennsylvania would not lose jobs as a result of the merger with SBC. Then, we started to mobilize," Kmetyk said.

After CWA elevated the issue, the PUC announced that it would investigate whether the layoffs would hurt quality service. CWA members and officers began contacting elected officials from Governor Ed Rendell to Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor and many others in their fight to keep hometown jobs.

Rendell, who also had received assurances from AT&T that there would be no loss of jobs in the state, urged the company to reconsider its decision, Kmetyk said. AT&T agreed to keep the center open, at least for the near future. Rendell has also pledged additional job retraining funds for the "jobs of the future," she added. 

Kmetyk stressed that the victory was a team effort and credited IUE-CWAer Jack Shea, who heads the Allegheny County Labor Council, District 13 Vice President Jim Short and Marge Krueger, Short's administrative assistant, for their help.

Meanwhile, in Arizona and Massachusetts, CWAers also are mounting public campaigns to keep their AT&T call center jobs in the face of announced closings. Working with CWA Vice Presidents Annie Hill, District 7, and Chris Shelton, District 1, members are working to build support for their hometown jobs.

In Mesa, Ariz., members of CWA Local 7050 are contacting state elected officials and regulators to build support for keeping the 57 call center jobs. Working with other CWA locals and the state AFL-CIO, the local has brought CWA's concerns about the closing to Gov. Janet Napolitano and the state corporation commission - which regulates state utilities, said local president David Blackburn.

In Fairhaven, Mass., Local 1051 President Linda Teoli said CWA members had pressed elected officials, urging them to support the local's effort to keep the call center open. U.S. Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry, along with five members of the Massachusetts delegation, contacted AT&T chief executive officer Ed Whitacre, urging AT&T to keep the center open.