With Deadline Looming, Contract With AT&T Extended by One Week in Southeast

ATLANTA – In the final hours before the current contract was set to expire on Saturday night, negotiators for CWA and AT&T agreed to extend the contract in the Southeast region for one week, until midnight on Saturday, August 10. During this extension, CWA will continue negotiations with AT&T to reach a fair and just contract that includes quality healthcare coverage, higher wages, job security and investment in local communities.

Ahead of the contract expiration, CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt, CWA members and retirees, Georgia House Representative Bob Trammell and Atlanta community members rallied outside AT&T’s offices in Atlanta to demand a fair and just contract in the Southeast region.

“Extending the current contract in the Southeast allows CWA members to work without interruption and with their bargained for protections in place while negotiations continue,” said Richard Honeycutt, Vice President of Communications Workers of America District 3. “AT&T received over $21 billion in tax cuts and then proceeded to cut jobs and upend workers’ lives. We remain focused on reaching an agreement with AT&T that raises wages, creates jobs and puts a priority on using our experienced workforce to build next-generation fiber networks to serve rural and urban communities.”

Negotiators in the Southeast remain focused on the fact that AT&T recently reported second quarter profits of $3.7 billion and is projecting a free cash flow of $8.8 billion. Yet amid these earnings, the telecom company continues to cut jobs in the Southeast, devastating workers and upending lives. The recent earnings report shows that AT&T has eliminated 27,828 jobs since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, cutting 4,500 jobs in Q2 of 2019.

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