21,000 AT&T Wireless workers could go on an industrial strike action beginning Monday following a 72-hours ultimatum issued on Friday by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to the company.
The CWA union members have been working on a rolling extension of their previous labour contract since early February, according to a CNN report.
The notice of the possible strike is coming the same day as AT&T’s shareholder meeting in Dallas.
“We have given AT&T every opportunity to show their commitment to finding common ground and a fair contract,” the CNN report quotes Dennis Trainor, Vice President of CWA District 1, as saying.
“Time is running out for AT&T to stop undermining good jobs, quality customer service and its long-term success. The pieces are all in place now, and we’ll strike if necessary,” the Vice President said.
Just because the union has given 72-hour notice doesn’t mean a strike will necessarily start on Monday said AT&T spokesman Marty Richter. And even if there is a strike, the company has contingencies to continue to serve customers, he said.
“We continue to bargain with the union and remain confident a fair agreement can be reached,” it said in a statement, adding: “The contract covers good paying US jobs averaging nearly $70,000 a year in pay and benefits”.
Richter also pointed out that the deal with CWA doesn’t cover all the unionized employees at AT&T Wireless.
Between 40% and 50% of the employees covered under this CWA contract work in the company’s stores. Roughly the same proportion work in its call centres and about 10% are field technicians.
The union says that AT&T has eliminated more than 12,000 US call centre jobs and offshored thousands of other call centre jobs to Mexico, the Philippines, India, the Dominican Republic, among other countries. It is seeking to end offshoring in the contract talks. It also is seeking limits on AT&T’s use of third-party dealers, known as “authorized retailers,” rather than company-owned stores.
In addition to the unionized wireless employees, there are 17,000 CWA members at AT&T West’s wireline unit as well as DirecTV, which is owned by AT&T, who have been working without a contract for more than a year. They went on strike for one day in March before returning to work.
The company did reach a deal covering 20,000 workers at AT&T Southwest in March, in which it agreed to bring 3,000 outsourced jobs back to the U.S. The company said it also reached a labour deal earlier this week with another union, the IBEW, agreeing to hire 1,000 people and open a new call centre in Chicago.
AT&T has agreed to purchase Time Warner, which owns CNN and CNNMoney, although that deal is still awaiting regulatory approval.