Why is there a media freeze on the AT&T & CWA Contract negotiations?

[Hestia]

My husband, who is a CWA member, and employee of AT&T, have looked on the internet tubes and there is not one word in the media regarding the contract negotiation of 120,000 employees. Why not? AT&T is the largest union employer in the U.S.

Here is the CWA district that my husband is a member of http://district6.cwa-union.org/
You can read contract negotiation updates there.

If no contract, it looks like AT&T employees will strike on April 24th.

This contract involves a lot - giving up a holiday, no raise for 2 years, total restructing of health benefits, etc.

Here's their side of the story - http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=10885

[MilesColtrane]

1. I think AT&T is keeping this quiet on purpose.

AT&T is so bloated and mismanaged, if the workers do strike, no one may notice.

Shitty or no service? Just business as usual.

[Hestia]

2. Grossly unfair - especially in the CO where my husband works. The workers

there work their tails off keeping service going or connecting new service, such as DSL. AT&T corporate is 100% different that AT&T union workers. The stupidest thing that happened when Southwestern Bell bought out AT&T is to keep the AT&T name. They should have created a whole new one instead of keeping the old. You are correct about the old AT&T. But SWB/AT&T CEO Ed Whittaker, who worked his way up as a union worker to CEO retired and then this goomba became the new CEO.

[MilesColtrane]

3. Notice I blamed poor service on mismanagement, not the workers.

The bloat to which I refer is also due to it's poorly organized corporate structure. Again, not the fault of the rank and file.

[Touchdown]

4. Management doesn't provide you with service We do.

And we're the ones who may strike.

You need to apologize... that is if our shitty service doesn't prevent you from getting on line and posting a reply. :grr:

[MilesColtrane]

6. Then MANAGEMENT hasn't hired enough of you to do a proper job.

My dial tone went dead a couple of weeks ago.
It took over thirty hours before a tech was assigned to fix it, then another thirty hours before he arrived at my house.

Once there, he did a stellar job and restored service.

Two and a half days without phone service is shitty service by my definition. (Funny that you should mention my inability to get online, because DSL operation has been an ongoing problem too.)

This has got to be a function of not hiring/training enough repair people...a decision made by MANAGEMENT.

[Touchdown]

9. on that, you are absolutely correct!

This isn't going to mean much to you, but we are in negotions for the long distance business (Old Ma Bell capital letter AT&T). The service we provide is pretty transparent to you and your hook up.

If we go out and a couple of major switches go kaput, then more than you would know about it. Like 100,000 calls blocked a minute. We (The LD arm or "Legacy") handle the core backbone of the network.

The local services (Old SBC, Ameritech, Ohio Bell, Michigan Bell, Pac Tel, SNET) start contract negotiations in May. That's where you have your beef. Not enough people for speedy service calls. Unfortunately, they downsized the core network too, so we're stretched pretty thin as well.

And then there's wireless/Cingular/at&t Mobility (crappy name)... Lots of fiefdoms. This company is a monster.

[MilesColtrane]

11. I don't blame the workers for AT&Ts shortcomings any more than...

I blame the UAW for the '85 Blazer I bought and had to pay for twice, once at the dealer's and once in major repair costs.

I'm union myself, and like you we're also negotiating a new contract this year.

Good luck to both of us.

[Touchdown]

5. District 7 here. Never heard of Apr 24th. as a cutoff.

Is this just news today, or did you hear it Saturday when the contract expired? I haven't heard anything about this yet. We were told "until further notice, and it's not business as usual. Which means BERT to Zero, and no more.

[Hestia]

7. My DH called me today and said his Chief Steward told him the 4/24 date

If you look, there is a AT&T Board of Directors Meeting in Dallas at the Arboretum (sp?). His Steward said that is the date they are shooting for if the contract isn't signed.

[Touchdown]

8. Nobody in my office has heard about it.

I'll check it out. His steward may be just speculating as well. I've been known to talk out of my butt as a steward... but not nearly as much as a DUer.:evilgrin:

[jumptheshadow]

10. We're an AT&T family...

A gay AT&T family. That means we will have to pay a substantial amount of taxes on top of whatever deductible they decide upon. Health care benefits for me are considered "extra income."

So "restructured" health benefits will hurt most AT&T families but they will cause real pain for us.