CWA AT&T Southeast Workers Go on Strike

Late last week, over 17,000 CWA workers across the Southeast went on an unfair labor practice strike in protest against AT&T's bad faith bargaining tactics. CWA District 3 members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee walked off the job. Though negotiations began in late June, AT&T has refused to bargain over mandatory subjects and has failed to send a representative with authority to make decisions.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said, "I have been in close contact with CWA District 3 Vice President Richard Honeycutt, and I have complete faith in our bargaining team. I have told AT&T executives that the striking workers and the bargaining team have my full support. I expect AT&T to treat every member with respect and to send representatives to the table who have authority to bargain and who are serious about bargaining in good faith."

With customer service representatives and AT&T installation and maintenance technicians on the strike line, the company has resorted to using unqualified subcontractors to keep their network running. "During the strike, AT&T has been sending undertrained managers and contractors to perform highly technical work," said Honeycutt. "Our members have seen them at work in their communities and documented unsafe practices, including failure to wear proper safety equipment, failure to secure ladders and other equipment, putting the worker and nearby vehicles and pedestrians at risk, and failure to mark work areas with safety cones. We are encouraging members of the public to use extra caution when encountering these worksites."

The strike has been widely covered by news outlets, including National Public Radio, The Associated Press, and many local news outlets.

The workers have also set up a petition for supporters to sign. Please do so at cwa.org/attse-support.

Striking workers are walking the picket line in every state in CWA District 3 (Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama).