AT&T Southeast and Communications Workers of America’s (CWA) third district have reached “strong tentative agreements,” all but ending the strike after 30 days.
The strike began on Aug. 16 when CWA’s third district — representing Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico — filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against AT&T for bargaining in bad faith.
It was the longest telecommunications strike in the region’s history and now the nearly 17,000 AT&T workers represented by CWA in the southeast returned to work on Monday.
“I believe in the power of unity, and the unity our members and retirees have shown during these contract negotiations has been outstanding and gave our bargaining teams the backing they needed to deliver strong contracts,” CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said in a press release.
The new contract covers the 17,000 technicians, customer service representatives and others who install and maintain AT&T’s network.
Wages and health care costs were the core issues at the bargaining table and the five-year agreement includes across the board wage increases of 19-percent, with an additional 3-percent increase for wire technicians and utility operations.
The health care agreement holds premiums steady for the first year and lowers them in the second and third years.
“We know that our customers have faced hardship during the strike as well. We are happy to be getting back to work keeping our communities safe and connected,” CWA’s District Three Vice President Richard Honeycutt said in a statement. “Our bargaining team has worked tirelessly to negotiate a contract that provides significant wage increases that reflect the hard work and dedication of our union members.”
