Roughly 17,000 AT&T employees in the Southeast returned to work this week after concluding their month-long strike with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the longest in its history, on Sunday.
The CWA accused AT&T of unfair labor practices and bargaining in bad faith when negotiating their new contract after their previous one expired on Aug. 3.
The five-year deal provides a 19.33% wage increase with 3% more for wire technicians and utility operations. It also prevents the price of health care from rising.
Union members expect to receive further details of the plan next week.
”Now it’s just up to leadership to share the information — the nitty gritty, the details — so that we can make an informed decision of whether to ratify it or turn it down,” said Alfredo Lopez, a digital technician and vice president of one of Miami’s CWA chapters. “We’re not quite there yet. I believe that they’re putting the pieces together so they can properly inform us. But we’re very close. I believe sometime next week we’ll be getting that information.”
AT&T released a statement after talks concluded.
“As we’ve said since day one, our goal has been to reach fair agreements that recognize the hard work our employees do to serve our customers with competitive market-based pay and benefits that are among the best in the nation — and that’s exactly what was accomplished.”
