AT&T (NYSE: T) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) on Saturday were not able to finalize a new core wireline contract for the Southeast region by the 11:59 p.m. EDT deadline, but the telco and the union did agree to a five-day contract extension.
CWA's contract with the telco was extended until 11:59 p.m. EDT, Thursday August 9.
This contract covers 22,000 wireline employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The Southeast region is the latest area where AT&T is moving to finalize agreements with its union workers.
Last month, AT&T reached reached "tentative" agreements with the CWA union covering wireline workers in both the AT&T Midwest region and AT&T Corp (CWA Communications and Technologies unit).
In addition to the CWA, AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to a one-year labor contract extension for about 7,000 workers.
Tension between wireline unions and the major U.S. telcos continues to be rampant.
Fellow ILEC Verizon (NYSE: VZ), embroiled in contract talks of its own, may be facing a walkout of 45,000 CWA and IBEW workers. Neither side has been able finalize a new contract since the unions went on strike last August.
For more:
- see the release
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