AT&T, CWA reach new tentative agreement

AT&T Inc. today announced that it has reached a new tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in core wireline contract negotiations in CWA District 3, which includes employees in South Carolina.

GSA Daily Staff Report
Published Feb. 8, 2010

The two sides returned to the bargaining table and reached the new agreement after District 3 members voted down a prior agreement that had been reached in December. The three-year agreement will be submitted to the district’s membership for a ratification vote in coming days.

Like the prior agreement, it includes pay and pension band increases in each year of the agreement. Changes in the new agreement include things like significantly lower health care premiums the second year of the agreement rather than a health reimbursement account, and payouts in a reward program keyed to the company’s financial performance paid in cash rather than being paid into the HRA.

Six of the seven bargaining units representing AT&T’s core wireline employees now have either ratified or tentative agreements. Those agreements cover nearly 97% of the approximately 120,000 employees covered under the company’s core wireline contracts.

CWA District 1 – AT&T’s East Region, covering employees in Connecticut – is the only region that is yet to reach a contract. Employees there continue to work under the terms of the expired contract while negotiations continue.

The contract in the Southeast Region expired Aug. 8, 2009, and employees have continued to work under the terms of the expired contract. Agreements between AT&T and the CWA have been ratified in the Midwest, Southwest and West regions, as well as with Legacy AT&T Corp., which covers employees across the country. An agreement between AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has also been ratified.