AT&T Coordinated Bargaining Disintegrates

Once again, we at Communications Workers Local 1298 are left holding the short end of the stick.

We represent 4,200 AT&T inside and outside technicians, service reps, and operators in Connecticut. We had made an agreement to stick together with the seven other CWA districts nationally, and bargain with AT&T as one.

We had this same agreement in 2009, but it fell apart, as one by one the other districts took subpar agreements. CWA 1298 was left standing alone for 18 months before we settled on a contract that was better than most districts’, but not up to the standards we wanted.

We were left with hard feelings towards our national and the districts that folded early and abandoned us.

To stop what happened in 2009 from happening again, at the next CWA convention the delegates agreed that a committee of eight would be established. All districts would stick together at AT&T and not accept a tentative agreement until everyone was happy.

The main issues were health care; keeping new technology work in the bargaining unit; preventing the company from moving jobs to other states; and improving conditions for premises technicians, who install AT&T U-verse television service. These second-tier workers are paid less for doing more work, with inferior work rules.

These issues would be bargained as a group, and everyone would stand strong.

In theory this should have worked great. We would have more than 100,000 AT&T members ready to strike. We could have had AT&T, Verizon, and the wireless division AT&T Mobility, too, all threatening to go out across the whole country, if need be. It would have been a huge bargaining chip.

We might have been able to reverse the way bargaining has been done between CWA and the telecoms.

KEEP WHAT WE HAVE

Our goals were not extreme. We wanted to change work rules for the better and protect longstanding agreements, like two members working together in high-crime areas, and two in a manhole. Some of these practices had been in place since the 1940s.

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We also wanted to do away with two-tier pay and work rules for premises technicians, who are not allowed to leave at the end of day until all work is done. Their days on and off are scheduled by “performance” rather than seniority.

But once again districts started to fold and take subpar agreements. It started with District 4, in Ohio and Michigan. Soon every other district had folded, with the exception of Connecticut. At the time of this writing, members in California’s District 9 have voted down a tentative agreement, and bargainers are on the second round to get another one.

The regressive givebacks in these contracts include higher medical costs; in some cases workers are paying as much as 27 percent of the costs, and any raises are eaten up. More work was given to the prem techs, for only 60 cents an hour more in wages, which takes work away from the traditional higher-paying jobs.

“Movement of work” language was given up, making it harder to keep management from moving work out of state. Two-tier wages were instituted in more job titles, for inside jobs as well as outside. It will now be harder to use your sick time.

The company is now telling us at CWA 1298 that we will get only what the other districts have gotten. And they are threatening that the longer we wait, the less chance of getting retroactive pay and keeping our agreement for no layoffs.

WHY?

We asked CWA President Larry Cohen to come talk to us, to help us understand the breakdown of coordinated bargaining. We told him we needed to explain to our members why the big plan to bargain with the committee of eight had failed, after we had told them 2009 would not be repeated. We asked why he did not force the other districts to wait and bargain as one.

Brother Cohen’s response was that he would not tell a district what they should or should not do: if they were happy with what they bargained, he would not take a position.

Because of this lack of leadership, from the top of CWA down to its district vice presidents, our union lost a huge chance to stop the constant givebacks.

We will never get a fair contract until the leaders at CWA start to lead. Meanwhile, we continue to regress into a time of robber barons and lack of worker rights not seen since the 1920s or 1930s.

Charles Borchert is a business agent for CWA 1298, representing 2,000 outside technicians.