CWA exec VP denounces AT&T, calls for petition signing

UNIONS DO SERVE A PURPOSE BUT IT WHEN THEY GO BEYOND THE IDEA OF A UNION WHICH MANY SHOULD LOOK UP. I AM FOR UNIONS AND HAVE BEEN A MEMBER WHEN I WAS IN MY YOUNGER YEARS. BUT AGAINST COMPANIES SUCH AS THE BELLS THE UNIONS MUST STAND STRONG AND TALL. THE BELLS WILL CHEAT THE WORKERS WHILE HE LIES DYING. SO I MYSELF WHO WAS A BUSINESS OWNER FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS. DO NOT ALLOW THE BELLS TO CRUSH YOU.

I worked for AT&T Wireless for over 8 years. I was there for all the possible strike threats this past winter and early spring. Because we did not strike, we were approved for a 500.00 bonus from AT&T on 3-13-09, this money to be paid on 5-15-09. I paid my union dues on each paycheck-mandatory. I left my employment on 4-30-2009 due to chronic health reasons. My last paycheck was on 5-15-2009, union dues were taken, but no bonus. I have been fighting this, cannot get anyone to contact me from the union. I am prepared to go as far as allowed to get the money I was approved for on 3-13-2009 when I was still employed with the company. If anyone out there has any advice on who to contact to get this resolved (polititians,etc) I would appreciate all of your help. Yhis company took & took from us, I am not letting them take this from me. HELP

" I feel the company (AT&T) is being very deceptive to try to get what they want. I got a recent email from them concerning : Labor Update- facts about health care plans currently under negotiation.

In it they said, "AT&T does not want to be a company that asks for a bailout or completely abandons employer-funded benefits." In a previous news release to get sympathy for the company they were trying to compare themselves to GM! What deception! GM lost a lot of money for many years!

What bologna when AT&T says, "AT&T does not want to be a company that asks for a bailout " in that update. AT&T made a 10.36% profit last year after all the bills were paid. (Apprx. 12.9 Billion) Fortune 500 named them #8 in their top business earners for last year. That's #1 for all phone companys, above Verizon etc.. Even though a tough economy right now, they did alright in the last quarter considering the down economy, and will do even better when the economy gets better.
I did not stay with the company a long time to have a lot of my benefits decreased a couple years before I retire. If the Company is loyal to me, I will remain loyal to them. If they take away too much, I will switch all my phone and intranet services to another company, and will have my family and friends do the same. I will personally find them cheaper service. ( Including my friends business that I had switch to us a couple years ago)
I want to see the company do well, but they have buffered these tough times pretty well and their managers did not get a raise, and the non-management did not get their STIP (team award). Non management will probably not get a raise this year either or at least reduced. That helps the company a lot during these hard times. If our company lost a lot of money and was hurting for a couple years, I understand I might have to give up a little more, but this is not the case.
The company tells the wireline workers that were losing money in wireline so you should be grateful. But when the company was doing great with wireline they did not mind investing the profits of wireline and investing it in upcoming areas like "wireless" and "U-verse"! We are one company. And U-verse is doing quite well on top of it.

President Obama is moving the card check legislation thru. I am looking forward for the non-exempt managers joining the Union ranks.
Bet cash dollars on that one.

It's the corporation's job to worry about shareholders, not the employees'. The employees job is to do the job they are hired for. They have a right to get paid as much as they can.

What a croc. We are merely exercising our legal right to bargain collectively. I'm sorry that you are jealous but wake up and see that it is AT&T who took your raise away and lowered your benefits, not the union. IF the union agreed to the same screwing you got tomorrow then we would all be screwed. It wouldn't help you one bit. IN fact the company would screw you even more. Your argument is that you got screwed so you want everyone else to get screwed also. You are very sad.

You are correct about FMLA. In fact if you go out on disability according to your benefits under the disability plan the company uses that time to deduct from your FMLA benfits from the government.

I was under the impression that the purpose of being in business was to maximize profit in order to increase shareholder value? As an employee, aren't you a shareholder? As a shareholder, why would you question the practice of maximizing value? The real benefactors of all of this hoopla are the individuals who are deducting income from paychecks which represent a counter-value to the shareholders. Propgating issues which are really more counter productive to creating value should be the message which is being received from all of this... The Fact that an organization can post strong profits in these economic times is not a condition of poor operations, it's a representation of delivering strong value to it's sharholders. Who wouldn't invest in this type of return?

good luck with that manager

I'd love for you to explain what "extra bonuses" and "great salaries" management gets based on your performance. What a crock.

Just because someone is labeled a manager does not mean they receive bonuses or have a high salary. And in fact, their benefits are LESS than those of union employees. Why? Because management doesn't have a union using legalized extortion tactics on the company to try and negotiate different healthcare. Management accepts the benefits the company offers.. no one is making them work for AT&T. Its employment at will.

www,unionvoice,org/campaign/attjobsfirst replace the comos with periods

Amen!

First of all i'm an employee who have worked for this company for 29 years. I have had perfect attendance for the last 10 years and work very hard.I will be 50 years old when i have my 30 years so i have dedicated my life to this company. I expect and deserve to be able to retire with my paid benefits. Tell these greedy CEO's to stop taking so much money and start working with the union to help solve the healthcare issues! When they need something passed through legislation they call on the union to help! In Ohio they would not had gotten UVERSE passed if it wasn't for the union going to talk to the people who could had made or breaked the whole UVERSE launched! But now we are the big bad guys, no we are human beings who work hard and take pride in our work and want a fair contract!

Let me make it clear the union employees DO NOT get paid for fmla. Fmla is a law that protect the employee from any step of action being taken if they are off sick or for a qualified family member. So you need to catch up on the fmla law before you quote it.What get the employee paid is how their contract read for getting paid for sick time. Whem they take fmla for a family member there is never any pay.

For those who decided to go into management that is a choice you make after all you get great salaries and extra bonuses based on how hard the hourly employees work!

Oh How I long for a CEO with integrity like Ed Whitacre. Randall Stephenson is way off base to compare AT&T to automakers. AT&T has a massive monthly revenue stream from millions of cell phone users, from landlines, from U-Verse, from business services division, corporations all across America that pay AT&T every single month for their networks . If a consumer has less money because of recession they may eat out less , take shorter vacations etc but guess what . Theyr'e not giving up their cell phones. Theyr'e not giving up their DSL or their U-verse home entertainment that they pay for every month. Business's might cut staff but guess what ? They're not going to get rid of the AT&T network that is the backbone of their existence. People will put off buying a new car . They will drive the car they have that's already paid for . Guess what! No monthly payment to Ford, or Toyota. No montly revenue stream if people are not buying new vehicles. AT&T is a totally different business. It is very disappointing if Randall Stephenson is the one that is actually making this comparison. I really question his credentials. AT&T has survived unbelivable change! We will do fine and we will be enormously profitable. AT&T executives are very fortunate to work for this company. It is insulting that AT&T executives want to continually lower our standard of living . We are the very workers that allow them to shine in the spotlight, of one of the top telecoms in the world. Oh how I long for Ed Whitacre. His outright fairness and compassion. Randall is really generating a lot of drama that just is not called for. If Randall is convinced that destroying what we have worked so hard for is the right way to go then he needs to slash executive compensation by at least %50 percent.

Hey Scab, I am sorry you r so angry. I am not out of touch and i responded to you by your name you posted as. Kinda sounds like you are a scavenger, and i think your title of self-employed really means un employed. If so I am sorry you are dealing with that right now. But it is sad that you are trying to take our jobs when we too are trying to feed our families. We as Union people are not dumb. Again read my previous post to you and try to really think about what it said. Enjoy your little life as it is and try to stop judging those who are fighting for a just cause. Sleep well scavenger.

This just shows how out of touch YOU are of the real world today. I do not need or what anything from any "co-worker". I pay my way through life for me and my family. When you do go on strike I will be doing your job and getting compensated well for it. But thank-you for your concern. Once again you did not understand my comment, because if you did you would know I DO NOT WORK FOR THE COMPANY. Being self-employed means just that, I answer to no one because I am the COMPANY. I hope your co-workers are not as dumb as you.

Hi Scab,
If you are so proud then please sign the following and turn it in to the company:

I am opposed to Unions. I have may excuses for not joining with my co-workers and for not paying my fair share of the Union-negotiated benefits I am receiving every day for free.

And because I am opposed and won’t join the Union, I am therefore equally opposed to all the benefits that the CWA and the other Unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO have won for me over the years.

I refuse from this time forward to accept these and any other benefits that will be won by the Union in the future.

Therefore, I hereby authorize and direct management where I work to withhold in full the amount of all Union-won benefits from my paycheck.

I further authorize the company to keep my share of the Union-won benefits for itself because the company is so good to me on its own that I don’t need or want a Union.

Signed: _______________________

Yes I am and been one for the past 25 years. I help build the Telecommunication Network thoughout the US and PROUD of it. While the UNION worried about how long there lunch break is and if over-time was available on this job, I was building COs and pulling and terminating fiber. So please do not sugar coat the issues, they are how much can I get and for how long. Talk to so one who really cares. You guys are over paid and under worked and need a reality check.

THE TRUTH USUALLY HURTS I was refused from the UNION years ago because I refused the pay $1000.00 and did not know anyone in it. So I have been working for UNION Companys for years as a Sub-Contractor so they can balance there books and stay afloat. THIS IS FACT. UNIONS do nothing but drain UNION Companys bottom line and care little about it.

Posted by Anonymous | April 14, 2009 - 1:00am
Where are all these UNION defections occurring? I haven't heard/read of any. I don't know if you are but you sure post like a SCAB.

Posted by Anonymous | April 14, 2009 - 4:16pm
"UNIONS are why were are in this economic mess, they demanded high wages and put the little guy out of work, for little in return. Unions only goal is to bleed the American Dream. Keep up the good work."

You need to quit listening to Rush, O'Reillyl, and the rest of Fox. You don't have a single piece of evidence for that idiotic post do you? Explain to everyone how you came to that conclusion with out any facts or data. Opinions are OK as long as you state that they are only opinions and not fact.

UNIONS are why were are in this economic mess, they demanded high wages and put the little guy out of work, for little in return. Unions only goal is to bleed the American Dream. Keep up the good work.

I can not belief how STUPID the union rank and file are about the issues, when millions of Americans today can not find any work. My Parents are retired and have to pay for there Health Insurence. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU

I can't imagine how the public perceives this hot mess! Cables cut, junction boxes being sabotaged, union workers defecting already. As a previous craft, then mgr we maintained loyalty and respect for the union and the company. Someone needs to do damage control, we are all in this together...

To Posted by Anonymous | April 13, 2009 - 6:45pm
"Perhaps it's the terrorist actions that you perpetrate both against the communications infrastructure as well as towards managers who do their jobs while you strike?"

Do you have any proof what so ever to support that idiotic statement? If you do please contact the FBI since they would like to learn what you know. Then post the information so that the rest of us can learn the truth. I know you are afraid but relax this is an anonymous site. I continue to scan the web for any information concerning this act and have not found one instance where any law enforcement agency or at&t have accused the CWA or any UNION member. Please reply

Perhaps it's the terrorist actions that you perpetrate both against the communications infrastructure as well as towards managers who do their jobs while you strike?

To all of you out there who bash the union worker, I am sorry you feel the way you do about us. I dont know what has happened in your life to make you feel so negative towards us. I do however hope you get all you want in life. May god bless you and your family and may you have a very happy Easter!

As a small business owner I cant provide the benefits that AT&T provide for their employees. I cant pay $28 an hour wages either. But, I do everything I can for my employees and I mean EVERYTHING. I realize the importance of having a happy crew. There was a time when I didnt care, but that eventually came back to bite me in the rump. I have learned the hard way that "WORD OF MOUTH" can destroy a business regardless of there size. One unhappy employee can bring a moderate amount of negative publicity to your company. Now, imagine 100,000 unhappy employee's. I don't fully understand AT&T's strategy. I hope for the sake of it's employee's and there family's that they can reach an agreement in a timely manner. I fear that a strike will also impact my business. I own a small business telephone company. I provide digital systems and voicemail systems. I am also a resaler of AT&T services. The problem with a strike for me is the lack of service that will exist for I dont know how long. Lets face it. Your managers may be able to fix a few problems here and there, but not enough to keep the customers happy. I'll have to dispatch my people to the customer site only to have to tell the customer its a phone company issue and they will have to call AT&T. The customer will the wait forever for there lines to get fixed, or just get sick of waiting and switch to another provider. I feel for you guys and I hope everything works out. Everyone will suffer because of this mess!

A year ago we were all content in our daily lives. Get up, go to work, go home. Look at us now!

Many on here are over-simplifying everything in order to prove a point that otherwise would be wrong. For starters, comparing the auto industry to at&t is indeed wrong. Don't blame the automakers for SUV's - we the consumers bought them. People just don't like the auto industry because they still have an early 80's mentality about the auto industry. Auto industry is losing money because they can't get loans for people because banks aren't giving out loans because people don't pay their loans(look for article stating people are burning their OWN cars to get out of paying for them - yeah real responsible). But back to the whole strike thing... No one wins with this. I'm lucky enough to have manager's that aren't anti employee because I belong to a union. This is about fairness to everyone. Remeber, wireline is the backbone that built telecommunications. Uverse is not the save all either because it won't be and isn't available everywhere. Thirdly, if someone cut fiber optic cables, that is not representative of everyone in a union. Just like in any company at any level, there is some nut. Don't make it representative of a whole group, union or not. As for the company making money, that's what it's here for - not a charity, however, it should not make a profit at the expense of it's own employees. Randall stated there are not enough skilled people in the States - it's up to us to show him we are the backbone of the company and not act like some ignorant assbackwards jerk, either. Think about it... at&t not only sells a service but we also maintain it, and with archaic technology it seems at times. If the at&t infrastructure is so important to national security then why does at&t want to jeopardize it with subpar employees at subpar pay. I like many of us who are reasonable want this issue to be resolved in a fair and timely manner. Hope I made sense.

Southwestern Bell had the vision and the money to put the new at&t together. I aplaud the men and women who did that because our company earned nearly 13 billion dollars last year and looks to improve on that number in the years to come. At the same time you must recognise what Southwestern Bell did to put themselves in to this position. We were a service driven company filled with good people from top to bottom. Our employees represent our communities. SWB brought in hard working people from all ethnic groups and backgrounds. They trained us to perform our jobs and gave us an opportunity to earn good middle class incomes. In return they asked us to be honest and work hard to provide the best service we could. From the CEO down to the lowest position in this company, that should be our goal. There are thousands of men and women who have elevated their families lives through SWB. Generations of men and women put their children through college and brought new faces to middle class and even the upper class. SWB can take some credit for this. We need to look at the big picture. Look what Walmart has done to America. They put small companies out of business and they eliminated the textile industry in this country. Sure you can buy products cheaper from communist countries with child labor and human rights violations. This will improve the bottom line long enough to make a few people rich. Eventualy there is a down side. The middle class of America are what drive our prosperity. You need to have a population of people who can afford to buy goods and services or you will eventualy bankrupt yourself. It's an investment in the future to pay a little more for an American worker. It pays off in the long run. I hope and pray that we can settle this without a strike. I hope every one who reads this will do the same. Both sides seem to be dug in to their positions and we don't have facts from either side as to what those positions might be. I ask that every one who reads this will pray for a just solution to this situation. Please ask everyone you know to do the same. This weekend is a time when many of us turn our focus on our faith. Trust in God and pray hard. Just imagine every employee from top to bottom of at&t praying for a just solution. That would be millions of prayers. Lets all stop stressing our families from both sides and put this in Gods hands.

retired and tired: FMLA is a law and it's a wonderful law. the difference between AT&T and most other companies is that AT&T employees get PAID FMLA time. That fact alone is enough for people to fake - and they do. Our security department is constantly firing folks on FMLA who are working second jobs, or taking vacations, or remodeling their homes. There are doctors who will sign anything - people who are 'allowed' to have X amount of days a month for FMLA because they have Asthma, Diabetes, etc. I have asthma and personally i never understood why anyone needs a specific amount of time off every month to deal with it when the company pays for their inhalers (both preventitive and emergency). Oh - and another way we know they're faking it - many of the dopes actually admit to it to their coworkers!

to Prowd CWA: How do you figure the ball is in AT&T's court? They hold all the cards - they can walk away from the table as easily as the union. There is no way they're going to wait for the IBEW contract to come up in June let alone the Bell South contract in August.

And, instead of remembering song lyrics .. try remembering what happened to the Air Traffic Controllers in the '80s. They didn't think anyone could do their jobs either.

This aint your father's phone company any more - and, before you tell me that AT&T employees aren't putting people at risk by striking ... think about the amount of security connected with the phone lines now. If public safety is an issue - the government WILL get involved.

ah why should we strike while we are under old contract. The ball is in the company's court now. I doubt you will see a strike until ibew contract is up. then we may wait for one in august. so if the company had balls they would force the issue. just remember the song "time is on my side"

Cable cut in the bay area. Police Investigators believe it is an inside job. Have called in the FBI. Police and FBI say this was a deliberate act of violence and the person had to have the skill to know what they were doing. Put over 50,000 landlines out of business, 911, police, fire and hospitals. If they do get the person, and with a $250,000 reward. They most surely will. THis will not bode well for strikers expecting the public sympathy vote.

Awesome! Well said "amazed" thank you for speaking up for us "little guys". The public is being bamboozled by semantics...wireline is not dead, not even close. We have metamorphosed along with the technology...we have not been replaced and will not stand for those who want to cut us off at the knees while we bolster the growth of this business. We work hard, and will not be easily replaced in the event of a work stoppage. I heard some manager say how ready he was in the case we walk because he had extensive training and "flow-charts" to tell him what to do. I literally laughed in his face. Just wait until something comes up that isn't on that flow chart...my guess is it will be his first job out. Good luck, I say. I still pray we come to fair terms and very soon...a work stoppage is good for no one.

Ok now what idiot would risk his job if it is a CWA member which we dont. We haven't went on strike yet, Don't make us all look bad if you are UNION. See now these are the type of idiots that mgr's complain about.

The only reason the average American is paying 32% for healthcare is because they aren't in a union. The union isn't broken - healthcare system is. Although I disagree with the union when it comes to them playing big business. union brass should make as much as it's workers.

if that was a union employee (no proof that it is) he/she should have their walking papers handed to them and have criminal charges levied against them. 125,000 apples will have a few rotton ones in the bunch. in 2003 a union member lost his head and vandalised some cables in illinois. he was immediately fired and federal charges brought against him. the union did not fight this just firing. THE UNION IS NOT AN EVIL ORGANIZATION.

Sounds more like some of your union thugs are getting impatient. Cutting lines in California to prove how important your jobs are is pretty low.

sounds like your vacation plans are on hold until this is resolved. It is no surprise you want us to go on strike. your life is on hold until this is resolved. I guess you will just have to let the process take it's course. SO SORRY!!!!

Just strike already. If you think you are entitled to what you are demanding and are as "special" as you claim, you would of went on strike immediately. Using the strike as an bargaining chip isn't working. Management is calling your bluff and won't budge. Haven't you read the daily reports that management isn't budging at all? Time for the CWA to grow a pair.

Unions have done some wonderful things in the past. they have fought for good pay, good benefits, worker safety laws, child labor laws, overtime laws, 40 hour work week that created the "weekend" in this country. get rid of the union. i don't think so. Unions are the ONLY counterbalance force opposite the greedy ceo's of this country. they raise the standard of living for every worker in this country.

how do you KNOW that all of the people on FMLA are faking it? Just because they don't have bandages, crutches, or look like they have a terminal disease doesn't mean they are faking it. I admit there are always some people that take advantage of any great situration but Clinton made FMLA a law and I have used it many times when I needed it but wasn't ready to quit my job for health reason yet nor was I willing to retire until I could no longer do the job.

I would like to know how much Annie Hill gets paid with your hard earned money. The union workers get paid by you working. Wow what a business to be in. Like you can't get together and stand up for yourselves without a union. Workers need to man up and get rid of the union. They are just another big business stealing your money

Glad to see you are up on your cartoons. Funny, where are you going to go get a different wireline provider? Move to a non-att served area? Yes, cable does provide telephone service and video. But, AT&T continues to speak of the cable companies as being "major competitors". Hardly so, they have a very small percentage of voice customers compared with AT&T. Last I remember Cable was in the business of providing video long before we began offering U-Verse. So, I would say we were the major competitor to the cable companies, seeing as our push is video and internet. You need to look beyond what Randall Stephenson is passing down to you, because your (if you are management) buying into a bunch of crap. Wireline (POTS) is analog, and analog is to digital as rotary was to touch tone. Of course people are moving beyond analog services, and Randall Stephenson wants to bargain on analog technology. Besides, if every American today was to dump all of the wireless, video and internet services today and buy a POTS line. Randall Stephenson could then say he had 100% of wireline and would not be able to pay his own salary! You think about that Barney.

You GOTTA be proud of this member!!

Posted by Penny | April 9, 2009 - 7:28pm
wow another Chicken $hit Anonymous bitter At&t manager...

Hey Penny, sounds like you were denied your pin to bid on management jobs in career path. Wah, Wah, Wah. Typical union bitterness. Grow up. You are a perfect example of the union mentality that went out and cut those fibers. At&t isn't going to suffer as a result, the customer is. And if it weren't for the customer you wouldn't have the job you are currently so ungrateful for. Loser.

I am sure Ed is really feeling our pain! By the way he got free health care for life and personal use of the company jet.

And when Ed Whitacre the 65-year-old executive steps down, he stands to rank with the corporate elite in another fashion: His retirement payout will be among the top pension packages in the country, weighing in at $158.5 million.