AT&T Bargaining Breakdown: Get the Facts
| Company Proposed Package | Union Facts |
New Titles | Three new titles : Client Service Specialist with top wage same as CSA II table | This proposal came as a response to a Union proposal and is a good start. But it only provides upgrades for 100-150 employees and the company is unable to provide us a total list of who will receive the upgrades. It also does not address one of our significant concerns which is to address the inequities in the care centers and provide a career path for our hard working center members. |
Company commits to evaluate Customer Service Representative functions to determine if additional titles should be created in call centers | This commitment would only be to “evaluate” and does explain any criteria the company would use. Often committees or study groups are created to address issues that are raised in bargaining. Unfortunately we have not had good success with AT&T through these committees and are therefore seeking clear cut solutions at the bargaining table. | |
Job Security
| Surplus notifications for large groups will be 60 days in advance | Federal law already requires a 60-day surplus notification for large groups, so this doesn’t offer any improvement by the Company. Under the company’s proposal, it could still give only 30 days’ notice to smaller groups. |
Surplus employees have priority consideration for 1 year | This proposal adds “priority,” but the current contract language allows 2 years. | |
Joint Committee will be established when 40% of full time Retail Sales employees in a market fail to meet minimum sales performance requirements for the purpose of discussing possible causes and potential solutions. | Joint union-management committees can be very productive. Unfortunately, Mobility’s track record isn’t good in this area. The Union presented a comprehensive proposal that we believed would spark much needed conversation and solutions about the retail stores compensation plan. This proposal was presented even though there remain many questions about the results data that the company has provided. | |
Quota Relief | AT&T did verbally indicate (no paper proposal) a willingness to add additional time | While this was a move in the right direction, without a written proposal it is difficult to evaluate |
Net Credited Service | Net Credited Service (NCS) seniority tie breaker language added to determine who is most senior when two or more employees share the same NCS date. | We have reached a tentative agreement on this proposal |
Non-Discrimination | AT&T will not discriminate against someone based on their position in the union | We have reached a tentative agreement on this proposal |
Training | Joint investigation to consider including AT&T Mobility employees in the Alliance | AT&T committed only to listening to a presentation from the Alliance. Again this is a good first step, but our experience with these types of commitments is that they don’t produce any real results. |
Wages | Year 1: $850 Lump Sum Payment Year 2: 2.25% increases to bottom and top of wage tables only Year 3: 2.0% increases to bottom and top of wage tables only Year 4: 2.0% increases to bottom and top of wage tables only | These proposed wage increases would not offset increased health care costs for most employees |
Retirement Security | Current employees will maintain a 5% cash balance pension plan and continue eligibility under the 401k plan which includes an 80% match up to 6% of basic deferrals. New hires after 1/1/10 will be eligible for a 100% match in the 401k up to 6% of basic deferrals | This is the existing benefit that current employees have. This is not a new change This is actually a negative change as new hires would not be eligible for the defined pension plan benefit. They would be eligible for a higher match 100% for their 401K, but the 401k would be their only retirement plan. |
Scheduling-Retail | A new Retail scheduling tool will be piloted in ten locations during 1Q09 in an effort to provide realistic and usable schedules for employees | This was the company’s response to our request to schedule by seniority. We think a trial is not a good solution to the problem we attempted to address. |
Safety | National Occupational Health and Safety Committee input may be used to develop employee training. | This would be a positive step. |
Union-Management Relationship | Three Strategic Alliance Committees will be created to foster cooperation between the CWA and the Company. Committees will address issues of interest to both parties on a scheduled basis. One committee will be created for each of the following current CWA districts: Districts 1/2/13; District 4; Districts 7 & 9 | While some of the committees we have agreed to have not been successful, we are aware that this type of committee has had some degree of success in other Mobility areas. |
Article 26 | Company has shown no interest | Union proposes to revise this article so that issues related to bargaining cannot be unilaterally changed by the company |