AT&T's spat with CWA drags on in Southeast

Around 17,000 AT&T employees in the Southeast region were still out on strike on Monday as the carrier and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) remained at loggerheads over the union’s claim of unfair labor practices.

The CWA also issued a press statement yesterday that accused AT&T of "sending undertrained managers and contractors to perform highly technical work" – a move presumably linked to the "business continuity measures" put in place by AT&T to "avoid disruptions to operations."

Richard Honeycutt, vice president of CWA District 3 in the Southeast, said replacement workers are using "unsafe practices, including failure to wear proper safety equipment, failure to secure ladders and other equipment … and failure to mark work areas with safety cones."

The strike action kicked off last Friday. The CWA said AT&T workers walked off the job in response to AT&T's failure to bargain in good faith over a new contract, which would replace the current contract between CWA and AT&T Southeast that expired on August 3.

The CWA added that negotiators have been at work bargaining a new contract since late June, but said AT&T had not sent representatives to the bargaining table with the authority to make decisions. The unfair labor practice charges that CWA has filed with the National Labor Relations Board also address the company's refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining and reneging on agreements made in bargaining, the union said.

According to the CWA, the strike involves over 17,000 technicians, customer service representatives, and others who install, maintain, and support AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications network in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

AT&T has argued that CWA's claims of unfair labor practices "are not grounded in fact" and said it was "disappointed that union leaders would call for a strike at this point in the negotiations, rather than directing their energies toward constructive discussions at the bargaining table."

The carrier insisted it has been "engaged in substantive bargaining since day one" and is "eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees."

AT&T pointed out that this year it has reached three agreements covering more than 13,000 employees, "including our most recent tentative agreement with District 9. We remain committed to working with District 3 in the same manner."