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CWA Fights for Jobs, Health Care at AT&T
CWA bargainers are taking a tough stand in negotiations with AT&T, putting the company on notice that workers and retirees are not going to be stuck with the tab for more than a decade of incompetent management, reported Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
CWA is pressing to maintain quality jobs for workers and to keep quality health care coverage for active and retired members, among other goals.
While bargainers met at CWA headquarters, they were greeted with shouts of "Jobs Now" and "Hands off our Health Benefits" as AT&T local presidents from around the country - Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri - let the company know that they were serious about fighting for jobs and quality benefits.
Maly said it was obvious that the "AT&T of past bargaining is still rearing its ugly head with demands for concessions and givebacks and its anti-union approach. We have to fight every step of the way; there's no positive partnership."
He said the unit hopes that once SBC takes over, "that some of this negative sentiment goes away."
But our bargaining team and our members are prepared and focused on maintaining health care for active and retired workers and maintaining jobs for our members, Maly stressed. "Our resolve will not shift. On these issues, it doesn't matter who owns the company or who is at the bargaining table," he said.
AT&T has made extreme demands on retiree health care. Company bargainers outlined several "options" that all ended at the same result - shifting an ever-increasing burden of health care costs to retirees, Maly said.
Among the company's retiree health care proposals: deductibles as high as $2,400 for in-network family coverage and $5,000 for out of network coverage, monthly premiums tied to an increasing percent of pension, a reduction in basic life insurance, increased co-pays for doctors' visits and prescriptions and the elimination of retiree benefits for anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2006.
For an under-age 65 retiree with a family, these costs would consume 46 percent of his or her yearly pension, Maly pointed out.
CWA is pressing to maintain quality jobs for workers and to keep quality health care coverage for active and retired members, among other goals.
While bargainers met at CWA headquarters, they were greeted with shouts of "Jobs Now" and "Hands off our Health Benefits" as AT&T local presidents from around the country - Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri - let the company know that they were serious about fighting for jobs and quality benefits.
Maly said it was obvious that the "AT&T of past bargaining is still rearing its ugly head with demands for concessions and givebacks and its anti-union approach. We have to fight every step of the way; there's no positive partnership."
He said the unit hopes that once SBC takes over, "that some of this negative sentiment goes away."
But our bargaining team and our members are prepared and focused on maintaining health care for active and retired workers and maintaining jobs for our members, Maly stressed. "Our resolve will not shift. On these issues, it doesn't matter who owns the company or who is at the bargaining table," he said.
AT&T has made extreme demands on retiree health care. Company bargainers outlined several "options" that all ended at the same result - shifting an ever-increasing burden of health care costs to retirees, Maly said.
Among the company's retiree health care proposals: deductibles as high as $2,400 for in-network family coverage and $5,000 for out of network coverage, monthly premiums tied to an increasing percent of pension, a reduction in basic life insurance, increased co-pays for doctors' visits and prescriptions and the elimination of retiree benefits for anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2006.
For an under-age 65 retiree with a family, these costs would consume 46 percent of his or her yearly pension, Maly pointed out.