News

Determined to bring the same energy to bargaining with AT&T that their members brought to the 2008 political campaigns, local CWA leaders from across the country met this week in Dallas to prepare for talks with the telecom giant beginning in early 2009.

Although negotiations for AT&T Core will take place at six tables, in addition to bargaining for AT&T Mobility's "Orange" contract, the theme of the bargaining council meetings was one of solidarity: "One Union, One Fight, One Future."

"If we go in with a sense of unity, we couldn't be stronger," CWA President Larry Cohen told the 300 participants as he opened the conference Monday night. "This union is sending a signal that we're fighting back. We're mad but we're hopeful and we're on the march. And we'll be on the march until every worker has a decent contract."

Contracting out of work, changes in job titles and job descriptions and other job security issues surrounding AT&T's consolidation of various former Bell companies were major concerns for participants, along with the enormous economic challenges facing the country and the never-ending attempts to rollback health care benefits for workers and retirees.

Not all issues affect each geographic region the same way, and CWA national leaders said they understand that locals and districts have developed their own ways of doing business with the company over the years. "We're family, and like family, we may have some disagreements," CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill said. "But we need to leave with a sense of purpose about what we want to accomplish and recognize that we're all in this together."

Ensuring that CWA's contracts keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and wireless expansion is a key bargaining issue, and conference speakers and local officers in attendance said that it's vital that the union be vigilant. Telecom expert Andrew Saybold discussed technological changes on the horizon, noting that there will always be jobs – even if they are fewer in number – for landline workers. "Spectrum is a finite resource," he said. "There's not enough wireless spectrum in the world to replace wired."

He went on to discuss what the future holds and what AT&T is and isn't doing to compete. Notably, he said the company leaders "don't get it" with regard to fiber to the home. "If they don't wake up and start doing fiber seriously, they're going to be in trouble," he said. "Whatever you do, you've got to figure out how to get AT&T into the fiber business, and quickly."

For CWA, bargaining with AT&T coincides with its two biggest legislative campaigns – passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform. But working toward passing the vital bills won't stop CWA from fighting just as hard as ever for workers' rights and health care issues during negotiations, national leaders said.

"We have to do two things at once, we have to be able to walk and chew gum," Hill said. "The Verizon folks had to do it and the Qwest folks had to do it because we were in bargaining while we were also focused on getting the right people elected." The AT&T Mobility bargaining will begin first, on Jan. 21, 2009, in Richmond, Va., The current Mobility "Orange" contract expires Feb. 7.

The Core talks will take place at six tables around the country beginning Feb. 24 to negotiate with AT&T Legacy, and with five regional contracts: AT&T East (formerly SNET), AT&T West (formerly PacBell), AT&T Midwest (formerly Ameritech) AT&T South (formerly Southwestern Bell) and AT&T Southeast (formerly BellSouth). All contracts expire April 4, except for AT&T Southeast, which expires in August -- but bargaining there will be held in unison with the other companies.

October 30, 2008

Today, CWA Local 4630 President Sharron St. John received the following petition:

This is a petition, by the undersigned, formally requesting a special meeting of CWA Local 4630 to be held. The purpose of this meeting is to reconsider a motion made to hold a referendum to break up Local 4630.

Pursuant to CWA Local 4630 Bylaws Article 11, Section 1, specifically:

Regular meetings of this Local shall be held on the third Wednesday of each month. Special meetings may be called by a majority of the Local Officers, or by a petition signed by thirty (30) members. Upon the receipt of a proper petition, the Local Officers shall call a special meeting to be held within ten (10) days.

The Local is now required to hold a special meeting no later than November 8, 2008. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss and possibly make a motion to rescind the following motion passed on October 15, 2008:

I would like to make a motion to hold a referendum by November 29, 2008, to decide whether the Local should perform the following in order to move to charter a separate local; waive jurisdiction over the work performed by members in Rock County, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Ixonia, Monroe, Oconomowoc, Platteville, Watertown and Whitewater as of January 2, 2009 and transfer to the new local upon receipt of a charter, all possessions currently in the Janesville union office along with a share of treasury total as of January 2, 2009, which is proportionate to the percentage of members waived.

This required meeting will be held on November 6, 2008 at 6pm at the Local Union Office at 821 Williamson St, Madison, Wisconsin.

SSJ:bli
CC: 4630 Officers & Chief Stewards
Ron Honse
Tom Verkuilen
4630 Webmaster

All SBC/at&t Local Presidents

Please continue to encourage your members to vote early but as a reminder, article 18.18 in the SBC mid-west core contract requires our members to request time off to vote prior to election day. It is in our best interest to continue to encourage all our members to vote early to avoid any problems on election day but for those that are not able to vote early remind them to ask for the time in advance. We are not anticipating a big problem but with the new at&t things are usually a little different than in the past. We have already had a few issue arise. We would also like to encourage you to work with your local management to pro-actively try and smooth the process since voting lines, as you know, are anticipated to be long on November 4th. Attached FYI is the voting hours by state and a summary of applicable state laws for election day with link to specific law.

Thanks Jerry

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Dear Colleagues:

CWA has filed a lawsuit today in the United States District Court in San Antonio, Texas, against AT&T Inc. and its major subsidiaries in an attempt to halt the company's use of corporate shell games to avoid contractual obligations to CWA and its members. The lawsuit, as filed, is attached to this message.

The lawsuit names as defendants AT&T Inc., every subsidiary that is a party to the five regional core contracts, AT&T Mobility (including all four regional wireless contracts), and AT&T Internet Services.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue injunctions ordering AT&T Inc. and its major subsidiaries to cease and desist from all contract violations. In addition, the lawsuit asks the court to order AT&T Inc. to recognize that it is a party to every subsidiary's collective bargaining agreement, responsible for contract compliance, and required to negotiate with CWA on issues that rightfully fall under the realm of each of the collective bargained agreements.

The suit cites many examples of violations by AT&T Inc. The most recent is the company's just-announced consolidation of wireless and wireline consumer marketing functions from Mobility and the core companies into a single Consumer Marketing organization. This reorganization dramatically threatens the wages, benefits, working conditions, and job security of thousands of Service Representatives in the core companies while squeezing more out of Mobility employees for disproportionately lower pay and benefits.

Another cited example is the company's new practice of cross-assigning the work of the old AT&T Corporation (Legacy T) technicians and the work of the old RBOC (Legacy S) technicians across bargaining unit lines, thus severely threatening the negotiated working conditions and contractually guaranteed seniority rights of all affected employees.

The lawsuit details several other similar violations of contractual rights through the company's ongoing disregard of bargaining unit lines, including the company's recent practice of diverting work to the AT&T Internet Services bargaining unit in order to obtain core work for lesser benefits and working conditions.

The lawsuit points out how the company hides behind the corporate fiction of "separate companies" to avoid accountability for contractual obligations. For instance, when CWA objects to both Mobility and a core company about lower-paid wireless Mobility retail sales consultants being assigned higher-paid wireline Service Representative work to the detriment of both groups of CWA members, both companies respond in essence that CWA is arguing about the rights of another company?s employees thus there is no valid complaint.

CWA's lawsuit argues that AT&T Inc. is the real decision-maker and that every major subsidiary is an alter ego of AT&T Inc. CWA contends that AT&T Inc. should not be permitted to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid accountability for collective bargaining obligations.

In addition to injunctive relief, the lawsuit asks for a jury trial and seeks decisions from the jury to hold AT&T Inc. accountable and award relief including damages for all harmed employees for all the itemized contract violations.

This lawsuit was filed because our traditional methods have not been successful. We have filed grievances, requested meetings and bargaining and filed board charges. This will not be a quick fix though we are hopeful that this action will put us in a much better position to resolve these issues for CWA and the members we represent.

We will keep you apprised as additional events occur specific to the lawsuit.

In Unity,

Annie Hill
Executive Vice President

We received the following information regarding a change in the DOT regs for drug testing and will be implementing effective November 1st as outlined below:

The following DOT Drug Testing regulations are changing on November 1,
2008 under 49CFR 40.67 (b):

(b) As an employer, you may direct a collection under direct observation of an employee if the drug test is a return-to-duty test or a follow-up test

Pursuant to this change, the field is implementing the following to coincide with the new regulation:

Return to Duty

AT&T will determine if the Covered Employee may return to duty after having violated any prohibitions concerning alcohol and controlled substances. An alcohol test result of less than 0.02 BAC and/or a verified negative controlled substance test is required of the employee prior to resuming safety-sensitive functions. Direct observation for return-to-duty testing will be mandated beginning November 1, 2008.

Follow-up Testing

A Covered Employee who has violated prohibitions concerning alcohol or controlled substances must follow any treatment plan this is recommended by a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) prior to performing any safety-sensitive functions. If the Covered Employee is allowed to return to duty after treatment, the Covered Employee must submit to unannounced follow-up alcohol and/or controlled substances testing, as directed by the SAP. Direct observation for return-to-duty testing will be mandated beginning November 1, 2008.

The minimum required testing will consist of 6 tests in the first 12 months following return to duty, and testing may continue frequently as required by the SAP for up to 60 months after return to duty.

Such unannounced testing is in addition to any random or other required alcohol or controlled substances testing. The Covered Employee must authorize the release of any and all information related to evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation, testing, counseling, and/or group participation for assistance in dealing with alcohol or controlled substances use, by signing a consent form for such release.