CWA Fights for Fairness at SNET

As picket lines went up at Southern New England Telephone facilities throughout Connecticut, CWA stepped up its media and mobilization campaign aimed at winning a fair settlement for some 6,300 SNET workers.

Members of CWA Local 1298, the Connecticut Union of Telephone Workers, walked off the job just after midnight on Aug. 23, as the union bargaining team determined that the company was not serious about resolving workers' concerns and ending the dispute.

Among the key issues is the disparity and inequity in pay and benefits that affects workers in all job categories - operators, technicians, customer service representatives, engineers and clerical and administrative employees. Health-care cost-shifting is another major issue, with SNET employees now required to pay a significant portion of their premium costs, another position that is out of step with the rest of the industry. SNET is set to merge with SBC Communications on Sept. 2.

At a meeting with the Local 1298 executive board, CWA President Morton Bahr and District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino stressed that the union was committed to winning a contract that addresses workers' concerns about wage and benefit inequities, as well as the company's current wage structure that pays some operators around $7 an hour.

In print and radio ads, CWA is contrasting SNET's billion-dollar earnings with an unfair wage system and extremely low wages paid to operators, many of whom cannot afford health insurance coverage. The campaign also reminds consumers that SNET workers are fighting to ensure and maintain quality service as well, Bahr said. The ads were previewed for reporters at a news conference in North Haven Aug. 18. Bahr told reporters that "all of the resources of this union" will be put into the effort to gain a fair contract for SNET workers.

Local 1298 President Dan Keating said the pay system at SNET has resulted in some long-term employees falling far behind. As bargaining broke off, Vice President Paul Hongo said the local was ready "to take a stand for fair and equal treatment of all our members - and for greater parity with the pay and benefits of telephone workers around the country."

As part of the overall campaign, CWA is documenting service-quality concerns and supplying that information to the Public Utility Commission. Members also took their message to the Pilot Pen International tennis tournament, held in New Haven Aug. 22, a major sports event sponsored by SNET. Leaflets distributed by hundreds of SNET employees told customers that "SNET prevents its workers from delivering the quality of service you deserve - and pay for" and urged them to contact the state Department of Public Utility Control to voice their concerns about service quality.

CUTW members voted to join CWA in July, and negotiations got underway to replace a contract that expired Aug. 8. Members were not satisifed with a tentative agreement negotiatied just prior to contract expiration, and pressed for additional gains to eliminate some of the disparity in wages and benefits between SNET workers and the rest of the industry. Bargaining resumed under the direction of a federal mediator, but a settlement wasn't reached prior to the Aug. 22 strike deadline.