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CWA Workers Protest Nationwide AT&T Job Cuts in Demonstrations: 'AT&T wants the work...as long as it
Washington, D.C. -- Members of the Communications Workers of America will be out in force on Tuesday, October 19, focusing the public's attention on AT&T's determination to abandon customers, communities and workers.
Union workers will be demonstrating in communities nationwide, protesting AT&T's decision to lay off more than 1,500 bargaining unit workers from locations across the country. This layoff announcement comes just a few weeks after AT&T said it will close customer service centers in Charleston, W.Va., Hawaii and Puerto Rico, eliminating nearly 400 jobs, and will cut another 130 jobs at the customer center in Fairhaven, Mass.
In a recent call with reporters and analysts, AT&T executives didn't dispute statements that it was planning to eliminate the jobs of at least 7,000 workers and managers this year.
"This once proud company employed 300,000 workers just ten years ago. Now, AT&T is rapidly getting rid of workers and managers, outsourcing those jobs and sending more work overseas to India, Mexico and other low wage countries," said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
"This continued downsizing, along with AT&T's announcement in July that it will abandon the residential consumer market, is part "of a long line of missteps the company has made," Maly said. AT&T overpaid in acquiring its cable operation, then sold that, along with its wireless operation, without ever effectively providing the bundled service packages that customers clearly preferred, Maly said.
Now, AT&T is jeopardizing the existing network by outsourcing technical work to less experienced contractors. "This is a national security issue, too," Maly said, because currently, "military, federal and state governments, hospitals and other institutions rely on AT&T's network to carry voice and data transmissions that are secure. How safe can AT&T's nationwide network be in the hands of subcontractors, based overseas, with no loyalty to AT&T, or to the United States," he asked.
As AT&T fires longtime workers and managers and replaces them with contractors, customers suffer and communities do too. "We need good jobs in this country," Maly said. "AT&T's actions mean that communities will have fewer resources for schools, fire and police service and the other important needs of our citizens. Those resources will be further strapped when state and local government must provide unemployment benefits and health care for jobless families," he said. "AT&T wants the work as long as it doesn't have to keep any workers," he said.
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Union workers will be demonstrating in communities nationwide, protesting AT&T's decision to lay off more than 1,500 bargaining unit workers from locations across the country. This layoff announcement comes just a few weeks after AT&T said it will close customer service centers in Charleston, W.Va., Hawaii and Puerto Rico, eliminating nearly 400 jobs, and will cut another 130 jobs at the customer center in Fairhaven, Mass.
In a recent call with reporters and analysts, AT&T executives didn't dispute statements that it was planning to eliminate the jobs of at least 7,000 workers and managers this year.
"This once proud company employed 300,000 workers just ten years ago. Now, AT&T is rapidly getting rid of workers and managers, outsourcing those jobs and sending more work overseas to India, Mexico and other low wage countries," said Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for communications and technologies.
"This continued downsizing, along with AT&T's announcement in July that it will abandon the residential consumer market, is part "of a long line of missteps the company has made," Maly said. AT&T overpaid in acquiring its cable operation, then sold that, along with its wireless operation, without ever effectively providing the bundled service packages that customers clearly preferred, Maly said.
Now, AT&T is jeopardizing the existing network by outsourcing technical work to less experienced contractors. "This is a national security issue, too," Maly said, because currently, "military, federal and state governments, hospitals and other institutions rely on AT&T's network to carry voice and data transmissions that are secure. How safe can AT&T's nationwide network be in the hands of subcontractors, based overseas, with no loyalty to AT&T, or to the United States," he asked.
As AT&T fires longtime workers and managers and replaces them with contractors, customers suffer and communities do too. "We need good jobs in this country," Maly said. "AT&T's actions mean that communities will have fewer resources for schools, fire and police service and the other important needs of our citizens. Those resources will be further strapped when state and local government must provide unemployment benefits and health care for jobless families," he said. "AT&T wants the work as long as it doesn't have to keep any workers," he said.
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