As AT&T Strike Enters Fourth Day, Union Raises Safety Concerns for Public

17,000 Communications Workers Continue Unfair Labor Practice Strike Over AT&T’s Failure to Bargain in Good Faith

Atlanta, GA — As the Communications Workers of America’s unfair labor practice strike against AT&T enters its fourth day, union officials are warning the public about safety concerns.

“AT&T has been sending undertrained managers and contractors to perform highly technical work,” said Richard Honeycutt, Vice President of CWA District 3 in the Southeast. “Our members have seen them at work in their communities and documented unsafe practices, including failure to wear proper safety equipment, failure to secure ladders and other equipment putting the worker and nearby vehicles and pedestrians at risk, and failure to mark work areas with safety cones. We are encouraging members of the public to use extra caution when encountering these worksites.”

The trained, experienced CWA members who are on strike do critical work installing, maintaining, and supporting AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications network. Customers should be aware that these workers will not be available to respond to service calls during the strike and that replacement workers may not have the same level of expertise.

“Our members want to be on the job, providing the quality service that our customers deserve,” Honeycutt said. “AT&T needs to do the right thing and start negotiating with us in good faith.”

AT&T technicians, customer service representatives, and others who install, maintain, and support AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications network in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee walked off the job at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, August 16, in response to AT&T’s failure to bargain in good faith. Negotiators have been at work bargaining a new contract since late June, but AT&T has not sent representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions. The unfair labor practice charges that CWA has filed with the National Labor Relations Board also address the company’s refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining and reneging on agreements made in bargaining.

The current contract between CWA and AT&T Southeast expired on August 3.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion