AT&T's (NYSE: T) Western division has ratified a four-year agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 9 covering more than 17,000 wireline employees in California and Nevada.
As previously reported, the agreement includes general wage increases each year of the contract, starting with 2.25 percent on Oct. 1, 2012, increasing to 2.75 percent in 2013 and 3 percent in 2014. Wages would increase 2.5 percent in 2015. It also includes a 1 percent pension band increase each year of the contract for most employees.
CWA District 9 and AT&T West reached a tentative deal last month.
Negotiations between AT&T and the CWA union members region had been tense.
When the CWA and AT&T were unable to ratify the three-year tentative agreement that they struck in February, the roughly 18,000 workers (a figure given in a National Public Radio report) and CWA leaders said they would decide on a day-to-day basis whether to strike. Last June, thousands of the telco's employees located in California and Nevada walked off the job in a one-day protest.
In addition to the West territory, AT&T wireline has made progress in ratifying similar contract in three other regions last year: Midwest, Southeast, and the Southwest.
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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