AT&T, union settle on contract after 4-day labor strike

Workers will get pay raises under new contract agreement

Staff photo by Doug Strickland/ Taylor Brown with the Tri-state Musicians Union, Chris Panter, and Bodine Willis, from left, picket outside of the AT&T Building on Martin Luther King Boulevard on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Local workers joined thousands of AT&T employees on strike across the Southeast as the Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at the company, accuses AT&T of unfair labor practices.
Staff photo by Doug Strickland/ Taylor Brown with the Tri-state Musicians Union, Chris Panter, and Bodine Willis, from left, picket outside of the AT&T Building on Martin Luther King Boulevard on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Local workers joined thousands of AT&T employees on strike across the Southeast as the Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at the company, accuses AT&T of unfair labor practices.

Unionized workers for AT&T in the Southeast will get a 13.25% increase in wages over the next five years under a tentative contract agreement negotiated between the phone company and negotiators for the Communications Workers of America.

Negotiators for the telephone giant and its biggest union announced a tentative contract agreement Friday for more than 22,000 AT&T technicians, linemen and other hourly employees, including more than 180 workers represented by the Communications Workers of America Local 3802 in the Chattanooga district.

The agreement follows a historic four-day strike against AT&T that blamed the company for unfair labor practices during negotiations. The company denied any unwillingness to negotiate, and talks resumed this week and produced the tentative settlement and a "handshake deal" late Tuesday.

The new five-year agreement includes wage increases, pension and 401(k) plan enhancements, improved job security and additional customer service positions and no increase in the health care cost percentage paid by employees, who will now have the ability to contribute to a Health Savings Account via payroll deduction, the union said.

"This agreement provides substantial improvements for working people at AT&T Southeast," CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt said in a statement Friday. "The strike showed AT&T that our members were united. Once the company returned to the table with negotiators with decision-making authority, we were able to resolve the outstanding issues quickly."

Jim Kimberly, director of corporate communications for AT&T, said Friday the phone company "is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement" but he said in deference to the union the company is not commenting on the specifics at this time.

"We've been committed throughout this process to reaching a fair agreement," he said.

AT&T said it has now reached 23 labor agreements with its employee unions since 2017. Unions represent about 109,000 of AT&T employees nationwide.

The action by CWA members was the largest private sector strike in the South in a decade and the first strike by AT&T workers in Chattanooga since 1983.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, addressed strikers in Louisville, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and former Vice President Joe Biden posted tweets in support of the workers, and local elected officials joined picket lines across the region.

The union said additional details on the agreement will be provided to members along with the procedures for the ratification vote.

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