AT&T Cloaks Itself in Economic Crisis, Communications Workers Call Bluff

[dcsmart]

CWA members in Minneapolis rallied against AT&T's concession demands. Photo: Local 7250.

I LOVE WHAT HER SIGN SAYS :toast:



— Mischa Gaus

In what could act as a signal to other big union companies, AT&T is playing on hard times to demand a raft of concessions. The telecommunications giant and its workers are battling over who will carry the burden for health care: AT&T wants to as much as triple union workers’ cost for coverage. Workers currently pay between $1100 and $1500 a year.

Bargaining continued while Communications Workers (CWA) members kept working after their contract expired April 4. Talks with the company, which booked a $12.9 billion profit last year, have slowed to a crawl.

The union, with about 110,000 workers at AT&T, announced that 88 percent of voting members authorized a strike in late March. The last negotiations, in 2004, led to a four-day strike.

The company has refused to bargain over health care for retirees, and CWA expects it to try unilaterally to hike their costs. Local 1298 in Connecticut won an unfair labor practice in late April over the company’s refusal to hand over information.

“They told us they could sweeten the pot if we got rid of the retirees,” said Bill Henderson, Local 1298 president. “We’re not going to put these people under the bus.

“This is not a fight for just us. This is a fight for the auto workers, for the Teamsters. For everyone that has a job.”
Text

FULL ARTICLE
http://labornotes.org/node/2209

[Omaha Steve]

1. I will give up my rollover minutes and drop AT&T if there is a strike

K&R! Marta was CWA for 18 years.