Update: Mobility GNFO (Switch) Performance Management

In July of this year, AT&T Mobility notified CWA of their intent to implement a new performance management plan in the GNFO (Switch) Organization. CWA was told this plan would have disciplinary measures attached to it for technicians who fall into the bottom 20 percent of a nationwide ranking report.

CWA requested bargaining, and the rollout date was subsequently pushed from August 1 to September 1. After reviewing the new policy and getting details on how AT&T planned to administer the policy and discipline—based on a metric on a ranking report—CWA asked the company not to roll out the plan with discipline attached. The implementation of this new plan without agreement and with disciplinary measures attached would constitute a change in working conditions, and therefore be a violation of Article 26. We also believe the policy is unjust on its face, and grievances should be filed for all technicians who are disciplined under this new policy.

The entire scorecard is an uneven playing field due to market variations, the status of repair tickets for technicians, and other factors not in the technician’s control. Sometimes there are tickets to work, and sometimes there are not. Sometimes technicians are just working routine maintenance. This is not an appropriate measure of “production” work the techs perform. The ranking report and the measurements used to reach the index numbers to rank the technicians are standard across the country, however the work done varies greatly from one market to the next. The flow of work is unpredictable.

While the plan is designed to provide for coaching, training and development, the company is not truly providing the same support for all techs. For example, it is the company’s intention to allow supervisors who are responsible for unmanned switches to observe and coach their techs remotely via their laptops and view tickets and work in the system.

If a tech falls into E quintile but meets all objectives, the supervisor will process a waiver (for additional information, see the “Waiver Reasons Guide” that lists available waiver reasons). The company said they would not be giving an automatic waiver for issues like defective equipment, no access, or lack of training on a particular skill. If a tech runs into an obstacle beyond his or her control in trying to complete a job, the tech should push for a waiver.

If discipline is being delivered in a Monthly Discussion Plus or in any meeting with the supervisor where questions are asked that could lead to discipline, every technician needs to ask for a CWA Steward to be present at the meeting. It is a violation for the supervisor to go forward without a Steward if the employee requests one.