CWA District 3, AT&T to Resume Bargaining on Monday, July 20

Alert: CWA members to rally on Monday, July 20, at 11 am, outside AT&T Headquarters, 675 West Peachtree St., Atlanta

The Communications Workers of America and AT&T Southeast (formerly BellSouth) will resume negotiations Monday, July 20, 2009 in Atlanta. Early negotiations that got underway in February showed some modest progress, however the critical issues of healthcare, wages, pensions and retiree benefits remain to be resolved. The contract expires August 8, 2009 at midnight (that is, Saturday evening).

The contract covers about 35,000 CWA-represented workers in the nine-state area of the Southeast. AT&T is a significant employer in the area and especially in Atlanta. Employees and retirees look to AT&T, a profitable, industry-leading company, to continue to be a leading community corporate citizen as well. That means maintaining quality jobs and benefits for employees and not seeking to cut their standard of living.

Negotiations are continuing for new contracts covering 70,000 CWA-represented workers in other AT&T regions. They include East (CWA District 1), West (CWA District 9), Southwest (District 6) and Legacy T (CWA ComTech unit) and some other AT&T units. CWA has reached a tentative agreement with AT&T Midwest, covering nearly 20,000 workers.
Contacts

CWA District 3
Judy Dennis, Vice President
404-983-2170
or
Linda Crawford, spokesperson
404-784-1207