AT&T Workers Vote To Authorize Strike; Rallies Planned In 35 Cities

Frustrated over the offshoring of customer service jobs, more than 21,000 AT&T mobility workers have authorized a strike if necessary, as their contract is set to expire Feb. 11.

Technicians, retail workers and call center workers have also planned coast-to-coast rallies outside AT&T retail stores and call centers to urge the company to put an end to offshoring jobs. According to a press release from the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents the workers, AT&T's latest proposals are trying to cut sick time and force long-time workers to pay hundreds of dollars more for basic healthcare.

"Workers are frustrated, this is a very wealthy company, and it shouldn't be this hard to get a fair contract," Candice Johnson, a media representative for CWA, told Patch in a phone interview.

Johnson said they don't know if there will be a strike. So far, workers have taken the first step toward going on strike, which is to authorize it. Some 93 percent of wireless workers authorized a strike. The second step would be for CWA's president to set a date for the strike.

Nicole Popis, who works at an AT&T call center in Rantoul, Illinois, said she has seen the workforce at her call center shrink since she started working there nine years ago.

Popis told Patch that the proposals put forward by AT&T show that the company is not committed to providing good jobs in the U.S.

"We’ve known for a long time that employees have been frustrated about the offshoring, the outsourcing and you know the job security," Popis said. "And now more than ever you can see it in the employees' eyes, you can hear it in their voices."

Popis said she and her co-workers are showing AT&T how serious they are and that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get a good contract.

A single mother, Popis said she has her 17-year-old son, who is thinking about college, to think of. She is also the sole breadwinner in the family and pays for his healthcare.

"Without a good job, those are big concerns for me," she said.

According to a press release sent out by CWA, rallies are planned for Friday in New York City and Albany and in 22 other locations, including Phoenix, Portland, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis and Milwaukee. For Saturday, Popis will be leading the rally planned at AT&T's flagship store in Chicago that starts at 11:30 a.m.

Rallies are also planned at the following locations:

• Bakersfield, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• San Diego, CA
• Washington, DC
• Allentown, PA
• Harrisburg, PA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Arlington County, VA
• Lebanon, VA
• Triadelphia, WV
• Huntington, WV

“AT&T is making an unfortunate decision by putting forward contract proposals that would decimate good, middle-class jobs,” Dennis Trainor, vice president of CWA District 1, said in the press release. “AT&T’s workers should not be facing cuts to pay and benefits and the offshoring and outsourcing of American jobs while the company is making $1 billion in monthly profits. We’re ready to support AT&T workers in doing whatever it takes to win a strong contract that creates and protects good jobs.”

At least seven U.S. senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to keep call center jobs from going offshore. Trump, who has stressed the importance of bringing back good middle-class jobs for American workers, has so far focused his efforts on manufacturing jobs and pressuring auto makers, Fortune notes.

"The contract CWA leaders are threatening to strike over covers good-paying U.S. jobs averaging nearly $70,000 a year in pay and benefits, with some averaging over $115,000," an AT&T spokesman said in an emailed statement to Patch. "We’re not proposing to cut anyone’s pay, or take away their benefits. We’re continuing to negotiate with the union, and we’re confident a fair agreement can be reached."

The spokesman added that AT&T is a union-friendly company with more full-time, union-represented employees than any company in America. The company hired nearly 20,000 people into union-represented jobs in the U.S. in 2016 alone and is currently looking to fill at least 4,200 union represented jobs.

In 2016, nearly 40,000 Verizon employees went on a days-long strike that ended in mid-June when workers ratified a four-year contract with the communications giant.

Image Credit: Communications Workers of America