AT&T is downplaying the possibility of a work stoppage following last week’s rejection of a tentative contract agreement by union workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and other Southern states.
But if the company’s non-union workers in the Seattle region have lost track of its labor negotiations around the country, it might be worth tuning back in. That’s because, if there is a strike in the South, AT&T says it’s prepared to call on managers, vendors and contractors from other regions of the country to fill in. In a worst-case scenario, that could mean weeks away from home for those who are tapped.
The contingency plan won’t be a complete surprise to those workers, many of whom went through training for just this type of scenario — with desk jockeys, programmers and others learning how to handle a variety of jobs in the field. But for the most part, the anticipation has died down inside the company as AT&T has been able to negotiate contracts around the country. Five of the seven bargaining units — representing nearly 70 percent of about 120,000 employees covered under AT&T’s core wireline contracts — have ratified agreements.
Recently, workers with the Communication Workers of America District 3 voted against ratification by a 60-40 margin. The union had announced the tentative agreement in December.
“We do not believe it is in anybody’s best interest to have a strike, and we remain confident that an agreement will be reached,” an AT&T representative said via email in response to our inquiry. “We’ve been negotiating core wireline employees for almost a year, involving seven different bargaining units, and in all cases the employees have continued to work under the terms of the expired contracts.”
We’ve heard some concerns out of the local AT&T offices about how much of that training the Seattle-area workers will remember, based on the amount of time that has passed. But AT&T says the potential contingent workforce is “well-trained.”
“While we don’t expect a work stoppage, we’re prepared,” the representative said in the email. “We have been planning for more than two years to handle such a possibility and believe we have a substantial contingency workforce of well-trained managers, vendors, and contractors in place. That contingency workforce includes management employees from other regions.”
AT&T says it’s continuing to work to reach an agreement with CWA District 3.
