AT&T workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union have voted to approve a three year contract for the telco's Internet Services division.
The contract covers nearly 1,200 employees in 16 states.
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Under the terms of the agreement with the CWA, AT&T will offer a number of general wage increases, including significant increases in the current wage schedules for workers in the two lowest paid job titles. These wage increases will have a large impact especially in higher cost areas like Las Vegas.
These lower paid workers, which include internet assistants and customer assistants, will see an overall pay raise of $5,000 to $8,100 over the life of the three-year contract. Workers in all other titles will receive a compounded wage increase of 7.7 percent over the contract term.
To date, the service provider reached 19 agreements with the CWA and IBEW in 2015 and this year, collectively covering over 95,000 employees. Out of these contracts, 16 have now been ratified.
While this contract only covers a small portion of AT&T’s workforce, this union negotiation was fraught with the usual setbacks typical of most union negotiations.
In August, these same CWA-represented employees voted 92 percent to authorize a strike if a new contract couldn't be worked out. At that time, AT&T said strike votes are routine in the negotiation process and that the two sides would eventually settle their differences. CWA and AT&T began negotiating a new agreement in June.