AT&T offers wage hikes to CWA, bargaining continues

remember, if the company locks us out, you are entitled to unemployment...I know I'll be the first in line!

This contract covers and Affects thousands of people...hello... people... "core" group people...define "core"....MIDDLE...CENTER...Heart...Biggest Body Mass...There isnt a top or bottom with out it..This group of people is the heart and soul of the company containing the vitals for its survival and offer quality service to everybody...WE all work together from the top to the bottom ,but when something gets out of balance or broken ,we all suffer from it...From customers all the way to the top of the chain and its shareholders...All of this because AT&T wants to bust the union and its members of core group to make more money by saying wireline is down in revenue which is the network but also provides the other services that makes AT&T so profitable...These actions will affect all of us one way or the other ...Corperate Greed is The true issue to what is standing in the way for a fair contract not wireline loss...it is just like a virus infecting all of the components in the body...AT&T the brain is telling the body they cant continue bussiness as normal and cant continue to feed it because they are to busy counting the money they make and getting more greedy from what the body produces...AT&T instead blames it on the economy and wireline loss revenue to the general public so they can continue to make huge profits at the expense of its body...So busting the union is like removing the anti-biotics that fight against the infection

Union playing us for fools? Are you a company shill? The Company is the one trying to reduce our pay and benefits, not the union. How can someone be so foolish to say that the union who is bargaining on our behalf is playing us. If the union was not here we would have taken a bigger screwing already as evidence by what they have done to lower level managers and non represented workers. If the union workers get less then the non represented workers will have even more taken away. Tell us. Do you work for AT&T? If so what is your position?

I understand the the FMLA abuse, see it every day. It would be nice to see the company offer something like building up paid sick time over time, so if you really r sick you can take a day or two if needed and come back to work. The way it is now is crazy. This would hopefully help prevent some abuse, those who are work all the time are covered if they get sick. The abusers would not be able to take an ungodly amount of paid time off either...AT&T could reward those who are at work and weed out the abusers while they r at it

FMLA is not paid by the state - it is a Federal plan to help protect jobs. It is up to the companies to decide if sick and/or appointment time is paid. All FMLA does is protect the job, it does not PAY you. I agree, if the company stopped paying for sick days the people who abuse the FMLA system would not get paid and many would either quit, or stop. And even if they didn't, at least they wouldn't be getting paid to not come to work. As a bargained for employee myself, I would happily give up paid sick days to keep my benefits.

YEH I AGREE WE SHOULD STAY OUT 8 WEEKS, we might suffer a lil but will win the WAR

Does anybody have any real sound information on whether or not we are going to strike? All the information we get is so general, no details, just mobilization stuff and some stuff we are ( negotiating) .

I doubt very much the AT&T is going to suffer that much with a few days of a strike. If you could muster 6 to 8 weeks being off work maybe. Wake up the Union's only are playing you for FOULS so they can say they did something and raise your dues. You will end up accepting what is offered.

You'll find out if we go on strike that especially the new Uverse flagship product will suffer. Most managers and retirees that will attempt to fill in the gap don't know how to troubleshoot or install Uverse. Us so called "wireline" employees include prem-techs that install Uverse, Emerging "Network" techs who maintain the signal from the house throughout the "wireline" be it fiber optic or copper lines. Other techs included are regular phone repair that also troubleshoot Internet DSL circuits and install multiple lines for Businesses. The job is a hazardous job and takes time crafting a skill for it. For too long American Workers have been willing to take what the Market can bare individually. I hope that Americans are paying attention to the fact that taking what the market can bare collectively is much more fair for Americans trying to care for their families in the current economic environment. America don't give up on good paying jobs for Craftsmen and Women.

"wireline employees" are responsible for maintaining the network for uverse, cellphone towers, data/ high cap circuits. Calling us wireline is very misleading. We really should be considered "Network Employees"

I can't speak to your comments individually, as once they are deleted, we have no record of them, so I can't give a specific reason as to why any of your comments were removed.
Our policy is to remove comments that contain profanity, threats, promotion, or are very long without staying on topic. This is to maintain the comment feeds as a reasonable place to voice your opinions, and create a dialogue.

to all who read this and FIERCETELECOM.COM, i apologize my previous comment was meant for anothe website who wrote a heated article about AT&T. One of the commentors was supposibly wSharp from AT&T, in his post he stated that the website would 'set the record straight tomorrow.' and sure enough the next day there was a pro AT&T article.

once again my sincere apology about posting my comment on the wrong website.

Mr. Wylie, can you explain why comments made on this and other articles have been pulled by your staff?? I have made several posts and had them pulled for no aparent(sp?) reason. I would call it a bit of censorship, but I do not have all of the info. Just curious

We report the facts of the situation, and what both sides have said in regard to the negotiations. AT&T has no impact whatsoever on the editorial content of stories posted on the site and in our newsletters. That being said, you're entitled to your opinion of the content and its biases, perceived or present.

TO FIERCETELECOM.COM, were you bullied by Mr. Sharp to write this article? Come on you can tell us...the day before this article you published a rather scathing article about AT&T and the first commentor was Mr Sharp himself. Makes me laugh really b/c it shows that AT&T is monitoring and sensoring all these 'indipendent' websites, making sure you don't get out of line. What did they threaten to shut down your site. Come to mama (the public) and tell us the truth, we wont bite nearly as bad as the corprate mafia thats holding your leash.

One last thing, how much did they pay you for your soul?

I agree but i thought the state pays the employee for FMLA not the company?

HAVE AT&T STOP! PAYMENT OF FMLA - and leave our medical the way it is ! they will save alot of money !!! there are alot of EMPLOYEES that are ABUSING the system... why do good employees have to pay for the fake medical leave abusers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to the last poster-that was so tranparent it is funny-thanks for the bit of humor-we needed a break from the other "stuff"

I may not agree with the you union but us managers are no way prepared for this strike at all. and we do not look forward to working with contractors at all- cause they know nothing about about our equipment.

Hope all you brother and sisters have a good ole family reunion planned on your time off. Good for the scabbies who are not afraid to work. What isn't good enough for some is a blessings for someone else and those people will benefit and have a chance to pocket some cash and the company will make even more profit. Sounds like a stirke would be a refreshing change. Think it can't be done? Think I am hearing "yes, we can" from folks other than union gorillas.

"How about you learn to use better language and be a little more positive."

"If not at least your calender will be clear for 4 week"

You just can't make this stuff up.

I'm sorry Mr. Contractor, I cant go on strike just yet because I have to continue to support lazy people such as yourself who are without work on welfare. How about you learn to use better language and be a little more positive. Hopefully if we win, your standard of living will be raised also through better pay in your work contracts. If not at least your calender will be clear for 4 week and you and your couch can have a great time together.

Maybe you should invest your time in some anger management classes, instead of posting stupid crap on this blog. Keep sitting on your couch sucking your thumb crying about us not going on strike. That'll get you somewhere!

Just go on strike so I can get paid as a contractor and do you job. I cleared 4 weeks to do your job at premium wages and willing to go cross the state to do so. I have been in the field 20 years and can do YOUR job asshole.

The contract for Perm Techs was in place when we all got hired for Kalamazoo. We've heard for the last year how the unions going to get us in the core contract this time around and get us substantial raises, I don't see that happening. AT&T wants the core contract to go bye bye, they sure the hell don't want to put more of us in it.

Sounds like your union didn't do a very good job with your contract last time, then.

I'm real sick of seeing the same crap day in and day out about how far we are apart. Being a prem tech, we're treated worse than anyone in at&t. We have minimum protection, the lest pay and work the most hours. The call center people who sit on there ass make a hell of a lot more money than we do and that's pure crap. I'm not saying that there job isn't important, but they don't come close to what's expected out of us. Settle something fair for us, we do craft work for peanuts.

Not sure whey Randall Stephenson would want to prevent or impede an employee from having a pathway to another job in the company should their current job go away. Sounds over the top to me.

As far as wireline goes. Are people cutting off their traditional copper phone service and just using using their cell phones. Of course. I got rid of Bellsouth local service and went with Vonage years ago. I like to be able to use a fax machine and a message recorder. My cellphone is not as reliable in that regard. I might get a message days later on my cellphone. That's not good.

If I was a business owner large or small I don't think I would have my main network on a wireless system. AT&T Business Services is doing very well and it's not wireless. Ethernet,Private Line,AVPN,OC48,OC192, are some of the high value services that only a few providers in the country can offer businesses looking for a network or to upgrade their existing. This part of the business is big revenue for AT&T. Wireless will level off and then technology will put wired service back on top.

sasha I speak to contractors in general based on what i have experienced in the field that speak at me like they know me. no double standard there

Gosh amazed in the valley, I have to agree with anon @ 11:55. Have you noticed that when you post about others, you know exactly what they can't do. But when someone posts about about you,"they don't know you" Double standard is real convenient isn't it.

When is a pay raise not a pay raise? When the pay raise is accompanied by large increases in what you have to pay for your benefits! It's laughable that Walt would even try to say that AT&T is offering wage increases when all there really doing is a massive cost shift onto the employees for there health insurance.

www,mp3newswire,net/stories/9002/iphone_att.html replace comos with periods. interesting article, AT&T does not want to lose thier golden egg "IPHONE" - its only best for them to give us union members a JUST contract . because we are the babckbone to wireless.

Name calling and attacking each other just makes both sides look really pitiful. Why do some of you try so hard to agitate each other? Grow up.

Why don't you clowns make some valid points. Instead you want to critisize my, "EXAMPLE" not of a big job, but a point. I am not whininhing, haven't whinned yet. You really need to get over yourselves. I have been doing nothing but making points and valid ones at that. Why in your response didn"t you correct me? Because you can't!! I consider that to be a small job but it wasn't about a job. It is about what you do compared to what I do. The fact is YOU CAN"T DO WHAT I DO on a daily basis, because you do different type of work then I do. So next time you repost something I say, why don't you at least try to make a valid point. Or else just keep your dumbass remarks to yourself. You don't know me, if you did you would have nothing to say.

why does everyone keep saying the union protects bad workers? I have seen plenty of people get fired who violated company policies, premtech does sloppy work, the company wants him gone the union gets him probation he keeps doing sloppy work he gets fired. premtech cusses out a customer, management and union do an investigation verify it happened tech gets fired. tech is using company fuel card for personal use tech gets fired. on the other hand tech gets in accident in company vehicle is found not at fault by police but company still wants to fire him because policy is that its automatically your fault union keeps tech from getting fired. company says tech is stealing gas union checks and finds out tech has a model of truck with a larger gas tank than others in his garage. premtechs productivity numbers are down company wants to fire him union does investigation and finds out the numbers are down because tech is following procedure and has no control over why his numbers are down. the union does not protect screwups but it does protect people who are doing their jobs but have some bad luck.

Atleast they are talking. That's a good thing. Maybe these AT&T-CWA babies can put their differences aside and come to a compromise soon.

He's probably on disability from patting himself on the back. Most likely all talk, because he sure does enough of it.

amazed--if you call this a big job,you're a piss poor trouble shooter.with this many legs and peds,it should be isolated and cleared in less than an hour.what a joke!!!!
What big jobs do you do? Does the company call you up and say, "Hey you contractor you, we have this 2000 foot section with 8 pedastals, and 2 500 foot bridge legs with 3 peds on each. Somewhere in this section we have something failing. dt is all static, uverse and dsl won't work. We need you to go find out WHY?"

To Posted by Anonymous | April 19, 2009 - 12:37pm
"ATT should do everyone a favor and throw the union out. Once the union is out,"

at&t won't and can't break the UNION. If at&t thought it could break the UNION it would and stop being pestered by the CWA. Does anyone honestly believe that at&t only bargains because they like their employees?

"they can invite the good employees back and hire new ones to replace the dead weight that was protected by the union."

What is the criteria for decided what is a good employee? Numbers...not really they can always be manipulated. Gets along well with others...we all know of techs who everyone likes but really don't perform. Go by what the Boss says...get real only if you like brownies. Go by what the crew says...this actually might work but don't worry the people who might have the answers are never consulted. In short what would be the reliable method to pick a good employee.

"ATT can pay all the new employees more, based on the money not being paid to the union"

How much money does at&t pay to the UNION? My understanding is that they transfer a set amount out of the employee's pay to the CWA.

"and the increased productivity achieved by not having the dead weight on the payroll."

How do you plan on increasing productivity with less employees? Are the bad employees standing in front of the vehicles preventing the good employees from performing their jobs?

ATT should do everyone a favor and throw the union out. Once the union is out, they can invite the good employees back and hire new ones to replace the dead weight that was protected by the union. ATT can pay all the new employees more, based on the money not being paid to the union and the increased productivity achieved by not having the dead weight on the payroll.

Boo hoo. Go shake your rattles and click your pens. Let your rich union bosses laugh it up with Randall while they move you around like little toy soldiers.

Pawn to c6.

Anonymous | April 19, 2009 - 12:45am

You keep telling yourself you have experience doing what i do and keep on telling you you have no idea.

What big jobs do you do? Does the company call you up and say, "Hey you contractor you, we have this 2000 foot section with 8 pedastals, and 2 500 foot bridge legs with 3 peds on each. Somewhere in this section we have something failing. dt is all static, uverse and dsl won't work. We need you to go find out WHY?"

Nope didn't think so, sounds more like this usually, "Hey you contractor you, We have a 150 ft section of 200 pr cable that our maintenace crews isolated as a wet section. We need you to go and replace it for us. Our maintence crews just, well have more important things to do, and construction is busy right now. So we figured we would throw you a bone."

Sorry I actully put what they were thinking not what they really say.

"Yeah Mr Contractor, Here is a job just go do it." sounds closer I guess.

When was the last time you actually had to trouble shoot and isolate something. Yup im not talking about DC testing and verifying, Most the contractors I have ever followed behind, never verified anything, That is why we almost always have to go be hind them and clear up multiple failures. There are some good contractors don't get me wrong. Some of them do some awesome work and they usually get paid fairly well. For most it is their choice to get paid well, with not as many benefits. For me and most of my union buddies we hired on here not for a job, but for a career. that is why most of us union peeps retire from this company.. That is why work for a company and hope that that said company works for us. Nobody likes to feel underappreciated. What are you going to do when the next job the company offers you is 20% lower pay then what they paid you last time.. Your going to say, " Oh hell no' lets negotiate this. why are we getting 20% less now then before." Don't even try to say you wouldn't. Because if you did, thats just allowing them to step all over you.

Bottom line is we just won't allow that where as you might. Yeah you may not have any say in it. But we do that is why we are united and strong. There is flaws with every thing, yeah the union collects money from us, just like a lawyer collects from who he is defending. At least I have someone attempting to defend me and my families future. There is no reason for you to be jealous, We understand where you are coming from. Just don't try and drag us down with you. You can get a union job too, may not be nice as mine but you have got to start somewhere.

Oh and as far as the retard the is continuiously talking about the pen clicking and baby rattles. Just becuase you feel inferior to a so called, "infant". To your standards, doesn't mean you have to live with that inferiority complex. There are plenty of doctors that you can talk too. But watch out because they like tapping their pens, oh yes and clicking them too. Seek professional help before you go on a rampage and decide to damage something. If you haven't already. Good luck with that..

again it is not rocket science. there r plenty of contractors/vendors that have the experience and not this onesie twosie jobs...big jobs. we will work temporarily in your spots and go back eventually to our home jobs. if not plenty of unemployed experienced people will take your job. the fact is the union or the company can careless about any of us. they have their best interest in mind.

Please, Oh Please Lock US OUT. Please.....

THANK YOU "Union actually" - i am scared , i have a big family. 8 kids, both me and my wife work for the company. but if it comes down to it, and the company takes back benefits from us. me and my wife are more than willing to strike - if cwa calls for it. I may not like all my managers , but I do respect the position they are in. but i truelly believe they can't handle the work we do , if we go on strike.

As a district manager over many managers and union occupationals I am very proud of the work that the union represented workers do. They are like a rock solid foundation that keeps on tickin no matter what they get thrown at them. We have to interface with AT&T account reps that are contracted out and it's a mess. These people just start to grasp the work after a year or so and then their contract is up and we start the process over and over again. But while they are learning they are constantly misinterpreting what the customer actually wants. So we are constantly redoing work . I like the occupationals because they are very experienced. Sorry what can I say.

Wow, imagine that. A union member abusing the system, this time via spam.

Face it, public support of this union has all but dried up.

Like my fellow CWA member said HATERS GO POUND SAND we are going to get our money the company is now already giving in they wanted everyone to pay now they want it by how much you make,down here in the South where I'm at they're FORCING everyday cause they are 5 days behind,a cust told me he called to get his house rewired cause someone vandalized it they told him 3 weeks go train 1 of these idiot managers to do it it will take him 3 days versus 3 hours for a seasoned tech I'm laughing at these haters my manager weighs 250 he could not even fit under a crawlspace keep drinking the company KOOL-AID outsiders LOL!

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

CWA worked for 7 or 8 weeks after the last contract expired before they went on strike.