IBEW contract expires; talks continue with AT&T

Flying under the radar—or tucked away in the shadow--of AT&T’s contract negotiations with the Communications Workers of America, has been the company’s talks with its other major union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The IBEW contract with AT&T—which covers some 10,000 union members at AT&T in Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, New England, and other states—expired Saturday at midnight.

Union members authorized a strike last month, but are continuing to work under the old contract. The major issue? Health care. Union members currently pay 8 percent of their costs, but the company thinks this contribution should increase, according to an AT&T spokesman.

Chicago-based Local 21 represents the workers; about 8,650 of them work for AT&T in Illinois and Indiana. Both sides say negotiations are ongoing and express hope an agreement can be reached soon, but with negotiations between the CWA and AT&T dragging into their third month, that may be wishful thinking.

For more:
- see this Delaware County Times article [1]
- or this Quad-City Times article [2]

Related articles
CWA District 6 negotiators leave bargaining table [3]
CWA exec VP denounces AT&T, calls for petition signing [4]
CWA President: AT&T strike "a tactic we may yet use" [5]
AT&T and CWA: Is no news good news this week? [6]