AT&T and DirecTV workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) voted to finalize agreements covering nearly 2,000 call center employees, a move that will further solidify the service provider's relationships with its union workforce.
The agreements support workers in five locations: Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Englewood, Colorado; Huntington, West Virginia; Huntsville, Alabama; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
As part of the agreements, these DirecTV employees will be placed in three existing labor contracts.
RELATED: AT&T, CWA carve out tentative agreements for DirecTV call center workers
The finalization of these contracts comes after AT&T and the unions recently reached three tentative agreements covering DirecTV workers in five call centers.
Now that it has completed these agreements, AT&T’s DirecTV employees have ratified nine agreements with the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in 2016.
The nine agreements collectively cover nearly 8,000 former DIRECTV employees. In all, AT&T reached 15 ratified union agreements in 2016, covering nearly 61,000 union-represented employees.
Being able to get these agreements in place with its union workforce will be important as AT&T shifts its video focus to DirecTV.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told investors during the company's third quarter earnings call that the integration of key DirecTV operations, including installation and call-center support, will be fully completed by the time AT&T begins integration of Time Warner Inc.
Since AT&T completed its $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV in August 2015, the service provider has been working to integrate the satellite operator’s core operations into its own fold.
In the third quarter, AT&T reported that it added 323,000 new DirecTV customers, but lost 3,000 total video customers.