August 28, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

July 28, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

July 16, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

July 1, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

June 3, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

April 20, 2009

All across the country, CWA members like you who work at AT&T have been standing strong and sending a clear message -- AT&T needs to get serious about bargaining a fair contract.

On Thursday, April 23 at 9 pm EDT we will hold our first ever National Unity Meeting to launch a new phase of our mobilization.

During this meeting, which will be broadcast over the Internet, President Cohen and I will be updating you on the status of bargaining at AT&T, sharing video and voices of AT&T workers from around the country, and answering questions.  We will also be detailing specific actions that you can take to show our collective strength and put pressure on AT&T to reach an agreement.

To participate in the meeting, you must register in advance at www.cwaunion.tv. After you register you will have the opportunity to submit questions that you would like for us to address during the meeting.

This is a critical time for you, for our union and the for labor movement.  It's essential that healthy companies like AT&T reward the people behind their success -- people like you -- by continuing to provide good jobs with fair wages and adequate health coverage.

I look forward to speaking with you on Thursday.  Don't forget to register in advance at www.cwaunion.tv so that you do not miss a single minute of this critical meeting.

In Unity,

Annie Hill
Executive Vice President

P.S. Please share this information with your co-workers. While many of our members are on our e-mail list, not everyone is. We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to be involved.

April 6, 2009

AT&T Is Just Like the Auto Industry—
Except for its $12.9 Billion Profit

While it isn't worth responding line-by-line to the Company's self-serving "Labor Update," we do need to address one of the company's outrageous claims on health care:

"Union-represented Core wireline employees pay similar amounts for their health care as union workers at the Big 3 automakers pay—and it's clear what those sorts of unsustainable costs have done to America's auto industry."

This is the lowest kind of scare tactic: "If you don't let us slash your health care benefits, we'll end up like the auto industry!" It's incredible that AT&T management is trying to draw a parallel between a successful and expanding telecom company and the Big 3. AT&T posted profits of $12.9 billion for 2008 and is on track for solid growth this year. 

We've shown the company how to save money without massive cost-shifting; yet their only objective is to make us pay more. Clearly, AT&T is looking for scapegoats, not solutions.

Read CWA's press release in response to AT&T's outrageous comparison to auto.

Union Update on CWA-AT&T Negotiations

Here's what's really happening:

Conversations are continuing at all 5 tables (see below for more information on AT&T Southeast/former BellSouth), but we are nowhere near agreements with AT&T. CWA has decided that we will stay on the job at the present time. However, the contracts have expired, which gives CWA the ability to call a strike at any moment of our choosing.

This begins Mobilization Phase 2: Strike Standby. 

AT&T management sent out a "Labor Update" to announce the "highlights" of their proposals. They should have called it the "lowlights." This is a good reminder that you should always check with your local before believing the company's line.

Here is just some of what AT&T is trying to force on us:

• Major retrogression in health care benefits, including massive cost shifting in the form of premiums and out-of-pocket contributions
• Retrogressive pension proposals that would diminish the value of lump sums and provide no pension to new hires
• The company told us that its retrogressive health care and pension proposal was a "final offer." They are either not serious about the word "final" or not serious about getting a contract.
• No progress on the issue of substandard treatment of Prem Techs, just a token wage increase
• Elimination of the Employment Security Commitment
• Elimination of our Card Check Organizing Agreement which allows non-union AT&T workers to choose whether to join CWA without management interference
• Modest wage increases that would likely move our standard of living backwards over the life of the agreement. When describing wage increases, AT&T includes the wage progression that is already in our contracts!

Our bargaining committees stand ready to meet anytime AT&T is ready to get serious. The company must provide the data we need to evaluate their proposals, send someone to the table who has real authority to reach an agreement, and take its harshly retrogressive proposals off the table and start real bargaining.

Until then, stay strong, stay mobilized, stay united!

AT&T Southeast/Former BellSouth Negotiations

The AT&T Southeast/former BellSouth contract expires in August. CWA District 3 agreed to bargain early with the company, but their bargaining committee has concluded that AT&T has no interest in being fair or just to the members and retirees who built this company. District 3 locals will continue to mobilize in support of their brothers and sisters in other AT&T bargaining units.

Read more from District 3 Vice President Beverly Hicks.

March 31, 2009

To: AT&T Update Subscribers

Here is the latest Unity@ATT newsletter.

Below are links to download color and black/white versions for printing.

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

March 18, 2009

To: AT&T Updates Subscribers

• Unity@AT&T - Color
• Unity@AT&T - Black and White

Please share the newsletter with your co-workers by e-mail or by printing it out.

June 17, 2008 Introducing CWA @ AT&T! We are happy to announce the first edition of CWA @ AT&T, a monthly newsletter full of news, photos, and stories about CWA members working at AT&T. Beginning in July We will also publish a special edition for our membership working at Mobility. This project is all about you--it came from suggestions made by many of you and by the CWA National Mobilization Committee. If you have anything you'd like to be considered for publication, feel free to submit it through your District or Sector. CWA AT&T National Mobilization Committee Established Local union representatives and District and Sector staff have joined together to form the CWA AT&T National Mobilization Committee, which will coordinate mobilization and education efforts among CWA's membership at AT&T. The committee recently met in Dallas for a two-day planning session, solidifying our priorities, timelines, and potential upcoming actions. Along with our monthly conference calls, the committee will help keep us on track toward our goal of building CWA's AT&T membership and strengthening our bargaining power. Members of the committee include: District 1: Carl DiNicholas and Pat Telesco; District 2: Robert Hill and Bill Evitt; District 3: Debra Noble and Booker Lester; District 4: Diane Bailey and Susan Baxter-Fleming; District 6: Kevin Kujawa and Mike Littleton; District 7: Shari Wojtowicz and Brenda Roberts; District 9: Pam Suninga and Libby Sayre; District 13: Mary Lou Schaffer and Amennah Salaam; and C&T: Shari Wojtowicz and Laura Unger. Mobility Health Care Bargaining Underway Negotiations for a National Health Care Benefits plan for Mobility workers kicked off on June 3rd. While the current agreement expires on June 30th, our benefits will continue unchanged through the rest of the year. If no agreement is reached by June 30th, a mediator will be brought in, and if that process is also unsuccessful, the company and the union will present their cases to an arbitrator for a final decision. As negotiations began, thousands CWA members across the country mobilized in support of their brothers and sisters who work at Mobility. Our bargaining committee is chaired by District 3 Administrative Director Betty Witte, and includes representatives from each of our four collective bargaining agreements: Paul Klabel of the District 3 agreement; Holly Sorey and Joe Sison of the "Orange" agreement; Jim Murray of the District 6 agreement; Rafael Castro of the District 3 Puerto Rico agreement; and District 1 staff representative John Alphonse. "Our Future at AT&T" training held in Philadelphia More than 45 Local representatives from each of our districts and C&T came together this week in Philadelphia for a "train the trainer" session. They learned how to conduct the upcoming "Our Future at AT&T" workshops, which will be held for our members at AT&T companies across the country. At the request of the Telecom Vice Presidents, this project falls under the Telecom Strategic Industry Fund, and it focuses on member education that will help us to meet our current and future challenges.  The trainers’ next charge will be to coordinate and schedule training with the CWA Locals with a goal of reaching 10% of our AT&T membership.  Activities included in this workshop are:  AT&T’s Strategy in a Changing Industry, Protecting Our Jobs & Wages, Protecting Our Health Care, Learning From the Past, Moving Forward, and Our Action Plan. Negotiations continue for first contract in Dover, NH The CWA bargaining committee is working hard to secure the first contract for more than 300 workers at an AT&T call center in Dover, NH. The workers were organized earlier this year by CWA Local 1298, and their work falls under the Service Contract Act. The bargaining committee, which is chaired by CWA Representative Lois Grimes-Patow and includes representatives from Local 1298 and District 1 staff, is standing strong to achieve the best possible agreement that improves the workers' wages, benefits, and working conditions. Make sure your CWA brothers and sisters at AT&T stay up to date on the latest news. Click here to send them a message about signing up for the CWA @ AT&T newsletter.   Visit the web address below to tell other CWA members about Unity@AT&T.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for CWA@AT&T.

© 2007 - 2008 Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC. All Rights Reserved