CWA Suit Seeks to Halt AT&T 'Shell Game' Over Contracts

CWA has filed a lawsuit against AT&T Inc. and 29 of its major subsidiaries "in an attempt to halt the company's use of corporate shell games to avoid contractual obligations to CWA and its members," the union stated.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court in San Antonio, Texas, charges that company is using consolidations and reorganizations to reassign workers throughout its various entities in ways that threaten members' contractual wages, benefits, seniority and working conditions, said Executive Vice President Annie Hill, who heads CWA's Telecom Office.

As the "New AT&T" has reassembled much of the old Bell System – Southwestern Bell (SBC), Ameritech, Pacific Telesis, and Bell South, along with AT&T Mobility, Southern New England Telephone, AT&T Internet Services and "Legacy AT&T" – it uses a "corporate fiction of 'separate companies' to avoid accountability for contractual obligations," Hill stated.

CWA's lawsuit argues that AT&T Inc. is the real decision-maker and that every major subsidiary is an "alter ego of AT&T." The company "should not be permitted to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid accountability for collective bargaining obligations," CWA contends.

The lawsuit asks the court for injunctions to halt contract violations and that AT&T be ordered to recognize that it is a party to every subsidiary's collective bargaining agreement and that it be required to negotiate with CWA on all issues that fall under these agreements.