Job Security Gained in Tentative Agreement at AT&T Legacy

Bargaining continues for 65,000 members at AT&T including these CWA Local 1298 members who demonstrated for a fair contract last weekend at the AT&T-sponsored Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, Conn.

The tentative three-year agreement CWA reached with AT&T Legacy on Aug. 28 achieves strong employment security protections, maintains workers' standard of living and preserves quality health care. Some 8,000 CWA-represented workers nationwide are covered by the pact.

"This agreement achieves our members' key goal, which was to improve employment security and safeguard jobs," said CWA Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly, adding, "It also maintains workers' standard of living and safeguards quality health care. In such extremely difficult economic times, these are tremendous achievements," he stated.

In the area of employment security, the settlement sets a "watermark" below which the number of bargaining unit jobs cannot fall, and bars any layoffs until after April 1, 2010. After that date, approximately 80 percent of the Legacy T workforce is protected from involuntary layoffs.

The settlement increases pay about 9 percent over term, including cost of living adjustments, and provides pension band increases of 2 percent in each year. The health care plan now provides for fully-funded preventive care and it establishes new company-funded health reimbursement accounts that can be used toward eligible health care expenses. Both of these gains, along with wage increases and other improvements, will serve to offset some cost changes in the health plan.

The CWA bargaining team unanimously supports the agreement and is recommending ratification by the membership. A contract explanation meeting was held for local presidents on Sept. 2, to kick off the ratification process.

Bargaining continues for about 65,000 CWA-represented members at AT&T. These include AT&T East (CWA Local 1298), Southeast (District 3) and Southwest (District 6). CWA members at AT&T Midwest (CWA District 4) and AT&T West (CWA District 9) overwhelmingly ratified new three-year agreements on Aug. 7 and Sept. 1 respectively.