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On Friday, AT&T workers in Alabama joined fellow Communications Workers of America members in a strike across the Southeast that includes roughly 17,000 employees.
Following the expiration of their previous 5-year contract earlier this month, negotiations between the CWA and AT&T have broken down, with the CWA alleging that the corporation has not been negotiating in good faith — supposedly sending representatives to bargain without any actual intention or ability to do so.
AT&T has disputed the claims of unfair labor practices, citing their successful contract negotiations earlier this year with other national regions. “We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since day 1 and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees,” said AT&T spokesman Jim Greer. “We have reached 3 agreements this year covering more than 13,000 employees, including our most recent tentative agreement with District 9 (west). We remain committed to working with District 3 (southeast) in the same manner.”
Montgomery’s CWA Local 3908 West Vice President Corey Mckenzie disagrees. “AT&T hasn’t been bargaining in good faith, [they have been] sending representatives to the table who don’t have the authority to make decisions, reneging on decisions that were previously made, and refusing to negotiate on mandatory items,” he told the APR.
“Our members would much rather be at work,” Mckenzie continued. “[But] people are willing to fight for their rights… they understand how important it is for AT&T to come to the negotiating table and bargain in good faith, just as they expect CWA to bargain in good faith on their behalf. Once the membership understood that, they understood why we had to go on this unfortunate ULP strike.”
Just like the members of the International Longshoremen’s Association in Mobile who themselves are preparing to go on strike, the CWA is seeking adequate wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and improved job security assurances in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation.
“Here you have AT&T, a multibillion-dollar corporation, and they often brag and boast about the profits they make in the media and to their shareholders, and we feel like … what we’re asking for is nothing unreasonable,” said Mustafa Hassan, president of CWA Local 3905 in Huntsville, which represents over 250 workers.
Despite this, Greer criticized union officials, saying that their collective action “needlessly jeopardizes the wages and well-being of our employees.”
Greer went on to express AT&T’s disappointment that union leaders called for a strike “rather than directing their energies toward constructive discussions at the bargaining table.” However, the CWA clearly believes that it is AT&T who is not interested in engaging in honest negotiations.
“This strike will be over as soon as AT&T sends a negotiating team that it is willing to bargain with CWA in good faith,” said Mckenzie.
As for what AT&T consumers in Alabama should anticipate, Greer stressed that the company has “business continuity measures in place to avoid disruptions to operations and will continue to provide our customers with the great service they expect.”
The CWA strike is yet another in a string of efforts to activate labor in the South over the past few years. State officials have been vocally critical of unions, but it appears that workers in Alabama and across the Southeast are intent on organizing and continuing to advocate for themselves.
“If this is happening here in a union environment, others should be looking at this – maybe people on a job who haven’t gotten a raise for years or they feel like they’re overworked and underpaid, they can relate to something like what we’re going through,” said Hassan.
