After a month-long strike, a deal has been struck between regional AT&T workers and the company.
It was announced over the weekend that the Communications Workers of America (CWA) reached a tentative agreements with AT&T Southeast and AT&T West for new union contracts, both of which were bargained separately. The news ended a strike that spanned 30 days—the longest telecommunications strike in the history of the region—that put pressure on the company to negotiate in good faith.
Locally, a group of AT&T workers and members of the local CWA chapter had been picketing near the intersection of US25W and US25E, colloquially known as “Malfunction Junction,” to voice their displeasure with the previously-stalled negotiations. Those workers joined roughly 17,000 other workers on strike in numerous states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and more.
Following the weekend’s movement by the two parties, workers resumed to their regularly scheduled shifts as usual Monday.
The CWA sent out a release regarding the tentative agreements, in which CWA President Claude Cummings, Jr., commented on the situation.
“I believe in the power of unity, and the unity our members and retirees have shown during these contract negotiations has been outstanding and gave our bargaining teams the backing they needed to deliver strong contracts,” said Cummings. “I’m not just talking about AT&T members in the Southeast and West, although the determination of our striking AT&T members was remarkable. CWA members and retirees from every region and sector of our union mobilized in support of our bargaining teams, including by distributing flyers with information about the strike at AT&T Wireless stores.”
The new contract with AT&T Southeast includes a host of workers, including technicians, customer service representatives and others who install, maintain and support AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications. Wages and health care costs were the two key issues at the bargaining table for workers, with the new five-year deal expected to see wage increases of 19.33 percent across the board.
