As AT&T Prepares to Release Q4 Earnings, AT&T Workers Raise Concerns about Offshoring of Good Jobs and Customer Frustration

AT&T has posted profits of more than $1 billion a month over the previous 12 months. Preliminary reports indicate that the company’s financial success is likely to continue. The DIRECTV merger is exceeding expectations according to AT&T officials, and the new DirecTV Now service saw 200,000 signups in its first month.

Despite these strong results, the company is squeezing its workforce and sacrificing the quality of its customer service. AT&T members of the Communications Workers of America nationwide, who are bargaining with AT&T for new contracts, have serious concerns about the direction this company seems to be taking.

New Jersey-based AT&T Mobility Customer Service Representative Sarrah Nasser is one of more than 21,000 wireless workers nationwide whose contract expires Feb. 11.

“We do a lot to make AT&T successful, but the company wants us to do even more, for less. This company is making a profit of more than $1 billion a month, but is closing our call centers and shutting down retail stores. AT&T wireless workers like me are taking action, and standing up for our jobs and our customers.”

San Francisco-based AT&T technician Orange Richardson has been with the company for nearly 20 years and is one of 17,000 landline workers in California and Nevada who have been working without a contract since April 2016.

“Across California and Nevada, AT&T is eliminating good, middle-class jobs in our communities and is undercutting technicians who customers depend on for quality service. AT&T has cut 7,000 call center jobs, closing some centers altogether, in California and across the country. More jobs have been shipped to Mexico, the Philippines, India and other countries. More jobs have been shipped overseas. What kind of future will our kids have if a company that makes a billion dollars a month eliminates good jobs in California?”

Background:

One of America’s largest companies, AT&T is making more than $1 billion in profits every month. Meanwhile, the company is offshoring and outsourcing work yet asking the workers who earn its profits to do more with less. At the same time, customers face frustration and poor service because of the company’s lack of investment in its call centers, retail stores and its wireline infrastructure.

Bargaining began today covering 21,000 Mobility workers – wireless technicians, retail store and customer service workers nationwide. That agreement expires in three weeks. In California and Nevada, 17,000 customer service workers and technicians have been working without a contract for nearly a year. And a third contract covering 21,000 workers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas expires in April.

In California and Nevada, 17,000 workers are standing up for working families and their communities, and have told AT&T they’re ready to bargain when the company gets serious about protecting good, middle-class jobs and reaching a fair contract. Their contract expired in April 2016.

AT&T wireless workers have put AT&T on notice that “we’re ready to do whatever it takes for good jobs, fair wages and real job security.”

Last year, CWA members at Verizon were on strike for 49 days, finally gaining a strong contract that created and protected good jobs. During the strike, Verizon’s approval ratings were at a three-year low while analysts and media regularly remarked on the reputational damage facing Verizon.