Approximately 21,000 AT&T wireless retail, call center, and technical workers across 36 states were voting Friday on whether to authorize a strike should one become necessary, the Communications Workers of America said in a statement.
The decision comes amid CWA’s attempts to negotiate a new contract for the workers with the carrier, a process the union said so far isn’t producing the results it wants. CWA said AT&T “wants to force” employees to pay for a third of their medical benefits, do away with pensions for all new hires, and end future pension contributions for current employees. Additionally, the union claimed AT&T is seeking to reduce employee sick time to five days per year.
“The fight for good jobs, fair wages, and real job security is one that we take very seriously,” Yesenia Gonzalez, a wireless retail worker in Orange, Calif., said in a statement. “But, so far, AT&T has showed us they aren’t treating bargaining with that same commitment. Going on strike is a tough decision we’ll make together and if necessary we’ll be prepared to do it. I’m casting my vote for good-paying, middle-class jobs—whatever the cost. I know thousands of my fellow workers plan to do the same.”
CWA spokeswoman Candice Johnson said the results are expected to come in sometime next week. The contract for the workers involved expires the night of Feb. 11.
But the vote doesn’t necessarily mean a strike is on the way.
According to Johnson, the union follows a several-step process before taking any strike action. Johnson said the first and “most important” step is a vote from the workers. From there, though, a strike must also be approved by CWA’s executive board and then the union’s president will set a strike date. Johnson said the actual implementation of a strike “depends on how negotiations are going.”
In the case of 17,000 AT&T customer service workers and technicians in California and Nevada, CWA said workers recently voted to authorize a strike after working for nearly a year without a contract. Their contract expired in April 2016.
A third contract covering an additional 21,000 AT&T workers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas is set to expire in April, the union indicated.
An AT&T spokesman earlier this week told Wireless Week the carrier’s objective in contract negotiations is to “reach a fair agreement that will allow us to continue to provide our employees with solid union-represented careers with great wages and benefits.” The spokesman reported the carrier is still working toward that goal in the case of the contract for the 17,000 California and Nevada employees and “continue(s) to communicate with the union and work toward an agreement.”
This kind of tug-of-war isn’t unusual in contract negotiations, but last year nearly 40,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast followed through on a strike threat after negotiations stalled. The result was a 49-day strike and negotiation stalemate that was resolved only when the U.S. Labor Secretary stepped in to bring both parties back to the bargaining table. The seven-week strike impacted Verizon’s second quarter earnings, dragging down total operating revenue and earnings per share.
However, AT&T in July successfully made it through contract negotiations with more than 40,000 AT&T Mobility employees who initially rejected a new four-year contract offered by the carrier. A new agreement was quickly reached in early August.
