CWA / AT&T 2017 “Orange” Contract Bargaining
October 13, 2017 – Bargaining Report #57
This morning AT&T sent out an email to our membership that begs clarification. While
not exactly fake news, it is misleading and aimed at dividing our membership.
As we last reported, AT&T did pass proposals last week. They did not pass proposals
to address any of the issues that we have been discussing with them since May. In
May, you successfully struck AT&T and let the company know we are not accepting less
than you deserve. Our proposals still on the table reflect your priorities. Following this,
AT&T continued to refuse to provide the information we need to bargain your future for
the next four years. AT&T needs to be more forthcoming with the truth.
They refer to “formal” proposals not being passed since May, but they leave out the
why. We have outstanding requests for information that impact our ability to make
additional formal proposals. We have had proposals on the table for months that AT&T
refuses to address except to say they have no interest. AT&T would prefer we bargain
in the dark. AT&T has made requests of CWA that violate the National Labor Relations
Act and we anticipate we will hear back from the Labor Board soon.
CWA has told AT&T that we agreed to meet via phone conference for a few weeks
while we work on issues other than wages and benefits, such as working conditions.
One issue familiar to Call Center workers is MI-60. After weeks of AT&T promising to
bring an operations manager to bargaining to explain their use of the MI-60 program in
Call Centers, we were finally joined by Bradley Petrick, the AVP over ATS call centers.
The description of how this program is supposed to be used in the centers, while
enlightening, did not resemble in any way what you have told us actually occurs.
Since AT&T indicated in their morning email that they are expecting a response on what
was passed last week, CWA asked to reconvene at our mutually agreed upon
bargaining location, and guess what? They are not available as their bargaining chair is
not able to travel at the moment due to medical issues that kept him out of work. How
many attendance points do you think he received? Our guess is NONE. The CWA
Bargaining Committee had already planned on getting together this week to study the
proposals and the open issues and work on our response. We have the right under the
National Labor Relations Act to insist on face to face bargaining, and we hope the AT&T
bargaining chair is cleared to travel soon.
By now you should have received information on how to join our Town Hall Call next
Thursday evening, October 19th. We look forward to hearing from you.
Your CWA Bargaining Committee