As most of you know bargaining with AT&T in the Southeast recessed April 4th and will resume in July prior to the expiration of the current Agreement on August 8th.
This
was agreed to by former District 3 Vice President Noah Savant and
AT&T management with the approval of the Local Presidents. The
thought was by having simultaneous bargaining with the other CWA
Districts it would give District 3 input into the overall negotiations.
At the time of the April 4th recess, District 3 had received a total of three Benefit proposals from AT&T. The other five Tables continue to “bargain” and at last count had received two more proposals from AT&T regarding benefits.
Needless
to say each of the three we received was RETROGRESSIVE. The last two to
the other Districts have simply been remakes of those three.
In
a nutshell the Company at all Tables; REFUSES to discuss existing
retirees; wants healthcare premiums for all including future hires and
retirees; deductibles based on income; outrageous out of pocket expense
limits; modified pensions with no pension for new hires; bonuses
instead of guaranteed pay increases in some years; eliminate Team
awards; etc.
While these demands vary by Table the bottom line is
that they want out of pocket healthcare expenses to amount to
approximately 35 percent of your income and they want to stymie growth
of that income.
While
District 3’s negotiations are in recess we continue to mobilize in
support of those who remain at the Tables across the Country.
On April 9th a rally to show support for those still bargaining was held in Birmingham, Alabama and one is scheduled next week in the Atlanta area. We also had a demonstration at the AT&T sponsored Master’s golf tournament and have encouraged District 3 participation at the upcoming AT&T Shareholders meeting April 24th in Dallas, Texas.
We encourage all employees to remember the Bell system motto “no job is so important or no service so urgent that we cannot take the time to work safely”.
Mike Fahrenholt
Assistant to the Vice President