Update (May 24, 2018): An AT&T spokesperson said that “after over 10 weeks of negotiations, we’ve made comprehensive and very fair final offers to the CWA in Midwest and Legacy T wireline bargaining. The contracts currently cover good-paying U.S. jobs averaging over $120,000 a year in pay and benefits, with some making over $200,000. We’re offering generous packages including annual wage increases, continuation of job security provisions that are virtually unheard of in the U.S., and comprehensive healthcare and retirement benefits. All employees covered by the offers would be better off. In addition, the Midwest offer includes a commitment to hire 1,000 people in the region.” A related EDGAR filing can be accessed by referring to the banner below, the original story is as follows.
Major carrier AT&T laid an undisclosed “final” offer on the table for disenfranchised contract employees and their union, the Communications Workers of America, which left the other party unsatisfied. Neither the CWA nor AT&T put out any official word as to the exact terms of the contract, likely due to the fact that the contract is still under negotiation. The CWA claims that this offer from AT&T does not keep quality jobs on American shores as has been called for time and time again. The possible consequences of this development have not yet been stated, but if past negotiations between the CWA and AT&T over the two contracts at hand are any indication, speaking specifically of Legacy T and AT&T Midwest, then last year’s record worker strike could be topped. Earlier this month, AT&T reiterated that it remains confident the negotiations between the two will be successfully concluded soon, adding that the affected workforce already enjoys pay and benefits that are well above the industry average.
For the time being, both of the contracts being negotiated expired back in April, and previous negotiations sought to reach a new contract before the old one expired. As of now, there are no contracts protecting AT&T workers that previously fell under these two, meaning that either the workers or AT&T could potentially take just about any reasonable adverse action they want at this point, up to and including the company firing the entire union-led employee base and starting over, or that entire employee base quitting simultaneously, throwing the company’s operations into turmoil. While both scenarios are technically possible, they’re highly unlikely.
Tensions between AT&T and the CWA have been mounting of late due to these two contracts, despite a large contract that covered workers across 36 states being approved earlier this year. The AT&T Legacy T contract covers a number of workers across the entire nation, while the AT&T Midwest contract covers all installers and field technicians in a number of Midwestern states. The people affected by these contracts form a significant chunk of AT&T’s total workforce, so failing to reach a satisfactory set of contract terms could spell disaster for AT&T; last year’s strike not only took many installers and technicians off duty but also shuttered or severely reduced the crew of many retail stores during the time the strike was active.
AT&T's EDGAR Filing