AT&T (NYSE: T) and the local 1298 branch of the Connecticut Communications Workers of America (CWA) union have finally struck a truce by striking a tentative contract agreement. While AT&T struck deals with the majority of its other regions by the end of last year, Connecticut remained one of the lone holdouts.
What helped seal the deal was AT&T's agreement to put job protection language into the new contract, something it was not willing to do before. According to a von/xchange story, the new agreement requires AT&T to maintain at least 84 percent of union positions in Connecticut.
"We hung tough, the membership hung tough, we had the support of national, and AT&T knew it and finally realized that 'we're not going to get these guys to move,'" Local 1298 President Bill Henderson said. "It's not everything we wanted, but it's big for us and we can build on it in the future."
Expected to be ratified after a union vote on September 7, the two-part contract deal, which addresses 3,400 core employees and 200 Yellow Pages employees, will provide annual pay raises.
For more:
- von/xchange has this story
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