AT&T West workers reject deal pushed by Communications Workers of America

On July 6, some 17,000 AT&T West workers in California and Nevada rejected a proposed contract brought back by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) by 53 percent. The proposal included a meager wage increase of 11 percent over four years, which would be more than offset by an increase in employees’ share of health care premiums, which would rise to 29 percent by 2020, and other concessions.

After the defeat of the sellout agreement, the CWA immediately agreed to federally mediated talks, an information blackout and ban on any strikes until mediation in completed. The CWA fears a rebellion by rank-and-file workers who it has forced to remain on the job for more than a year after the April 2016 expiration of their labor agreement.

AT&T, the world’s largest telecom, has refused to back down on its concession demands even as it raked in $13 billion in profits in 2016 and is currently involved in an $85 billion merger with Time Warner. CEO Randall Stephenson pocketed $28.4 million in 2016, 500 times that of an AT&T employee.

The CWA-backed deal would force workers to pay for vision and dental care for the first time. The deal would not restore six months of retroactive pay for 2016—from a raise that workers should already have received—which means the ostensible three percent annual wage would dwindle to 1.5 percent. The CWA has also agreed to the creation of another lower tier of workers, with new hires paying more for health care, receiving reduced short-term disability and with only five days of sick time.

Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/11/atat-j11.html