AT&T Wireless Workers Renew Strike Threat as Shareholders Meet
About 21,000 AT&T wireless workers in 36 states could strike Monday after sending their employer a 72-hour notice to end their contract extension, the Communications Workers of America said in a Friday news release. The workers authorized a strike in February, when their contract was to expire, but have been working under an extension (see 1702090054). The union sent the notice Friday as CWA workers from various AT&T contract negotiations protested outside the carrier’s shareholder meeting in Dallas. Inside, stockholders re-elected AT&T board members and voted against requiring reports on political spending and lobbying.
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“The pieces are all in place now, and we’ll strike if necessary,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. The wireless workers are protesting AT&T offshoring call centers and retail outsourcing to third-party dealers. “Striking is never easy, but we mean it when we say we’ll do whatever it takes for a fair contract that keeps our jobs at home, provides for our families, and protects the promise to provide high-quality customer service,” said Cheryce Chambers, a retail worker from New York who participated in Friday’s Dallas protest.
AT&T “continue[s] to bargain with the union and remain confident a fair agreement can be reached,” said a company spokesman, saying AT&T pays well and is the only major wireless company with a unionized workforce. The company reached agreements with 29 bargaining units since 2015, covering 128,000 employees, he said.
"AT&T always has to take a strike threat seriously as any positive or negative press can provide each side negotiating leverage," 556 Ventures analyst William Ho emailed. "AT&T has shown in the past with its other unions that it will strike a deal. Clearly, a strike isn’t desirable for any parties for the wage losses or business discontinuity."
Wireline and DirecTV workers from California and Nevada joined wireless workers protesting Friday in Dallas, with each group in separate contract negotiations and not part of the 72-hour notice issued by the wireless workers, a CWA spokeswoman said. About 17,000 California and Nevada wireline workers held a one-day grievance strike in March and 120 DirecTV technicians from California briefly walked off the job in February (see 1703230016 and 1702010027). AT&T recently resolved some other CWA contract negotiations, including a four-year contract with wireline workers in its southwest region and a pact with DirecTV workers in Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico and Oregon (see 1704070030 and 1703060012).
The firm last week reached a tentative five-year agreement with about 5,000 Midwest wireline workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AT&T said in a news release. IBEW praised the deal in a separate release, saying members would vote on it in the next few weeks. “This is a fair and mutually beneficial agreement that helps employer and employee alike,” said IBEW International President Lonnie Stephenson. “It’s a testament to the strong relationship between the IBEW and AT&T and shows the way to building strong labor-management partnerships in the telecommunications industry.” Reaching agreement wasn’t easy, said IBEW System Council T-3 Chairman Paul Wright. “These were difficult negotiations because of the unknowns and how they could potentially affect IBEW members.”
At the Dallas meeting Friday, shareholders voted to re-elect 13 nominees to the company’s board for one-year terms, AT&T announced. Each member got at least 89 percent of the shares voted, the company said. Also, 97 percent of shareholders voted to appoint Ernst & Young as the company’s independent auditor. In two nonbinding advisory votes, 91 percent voted in favor of executive compensation described in a 2017 proxy statement and 86 percent voted in favor of annual votes on executive compensation, AT&T said. The board offered the proposals that got approved. Four stockholder proposals were rejected. On one proposal, 70 percent opposed an annual company report disclosing political spending including campaign contributions; on another 65 percent opposed an annual report on AT&T lobbying activities and spending, the firm said.