AT&T (NYSE: T) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have ratified a four-year contract covering about 3,000 employees in the telco's East region. CWA District 1, which represents wireline workers in Connecticut, is the last AT&T wireline unit to ratify an agreement out of the seven that had contracts that expired in 2012 and early 2013.
Set to run through April 9, 2016, this agreement replaces a contract that expired last April. It includes a compounded wage increase of over 10.8 percent and an expansion to additional employees of a provision that provides qualified surplus employees a guaranteed job opportunity with AT&T.
In April, the agreement was submitted to the CWA's membership for a ratification vote. Since the CWA and its employees were able to ratify the agreement by June 3, a bonus of $350 will be paid to each eligible employee.
Over the past year, AT&T has made continual progress with its union bargaining efforts. The telco has solidified agreements in four other territories--West, Midwest, Southeast, and the Southwest--which collectively cover 77,000 CWA union-represented AT&T wireline employees.
In addition to its agreements with the CWA, AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers System Council T-3 earlier this year ratified a four-year contract covering almost 6,500 wireline employees in Illinois, northwestern Indiana and other local union branches throughout the United States.
For more:
- see the release
Special Report: The battle for union contracts: AT&T, Hawaiian Telcom, others hash out wireline benefits
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