It seems like the party is over for the union and core employees. Att does not want to spend money on wireline anymore. It was ironic for the southeast to get a 5 year contract to put them the same renewal schedule as the southwest. In every area of the southeast, the workload is light or nonexistent and could be done with half or less of the current employees. A sweet package deal would cost att a billion plus. A 10 to 15 thousand employees layoff would cost over a billion too. What would happen if att let the contracts expire and either filed bankruptcy or sold 51 percent ownership of wireline to another party that planned to bring in their own people? This just happened at yellow freight. 33000 teamsters left in the cold. Att is already in gpon joint venture with Blackrock in every area there is not a union contract. Probably where the money is going.
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D9 West, expires April 6, 2024
Is wireline where you plug in the internet?
For your info... The SW Contract does not expire until April of 2025. The Southeast contract expires in August of 2024.
GPON venture with Blackrock is small potatoes and a month to month operation, even execs have expressed concern about longterm viability. No way could that minute force cover or have the experience to handle all of the AT&T areas, in full.
The party isn’t over it’s just a transition to a new network, each time newer technologies and systems come along, the work force shrinks. There used to be mule teams and handlers, phone operators, telegraph operators, frame attendants, pager sales and repair, coin collectors for pay phones, admin, dispatchers, switchmen, splicer helpers, iron wire, lead, paper and pulp cables being placed, etc… Fiber, electronics, IP, cellphones, etc.. have all combined to reduce a need for a huge workforce but there will always be a need for those that touch the network.
It seems like the party is over for the union and core employees.
We'll be around longer than a lot of managers.
Any gains we get will be made up for when they clean house.
They're going to surplus us either way. Time to get what we can.
OP is right. They don’t need half of us. Now ain’t exactly the time to be flexing. Any gains we get will be made up for when they clean house.
Management Employees must remain neutral on bargaining and union matters. Remember, this is AT&T. We conduct ourselves the right way, every day.
Why? You (HR) sc--w us (management employees) on a daily basis. Respect is mutual, so get in the back of the line.
Wireline of the future = fiber, limited copper, and routed technologies.
Read it again, Not dialtone, not special circuits, IP and fiber. If you're not doing IP, very limited copper, and fiber, your job is as safe as a railroad fireman once steam engines went away.
Skill up, in case you need to move to another company or a different craft inside AT&T, or prepare to move on.
I'm a techie. This has honestly been life in the real world for 30 years. Not ready to retire? Skill up, roll your union surplus or retirement bennys into investments and move on.
"Market cap does not reflect debt." It does in the sense that the market cap will change as investor's opinions change the stock price as it relates to the company's ability to manage that debt.
Management Employees must remain neutral on bargaining and union matters. Remember, this is AT&T. We conduct ourselves the right way, every day.
Post ID: @emx+1rEZLt4Z
That song and dance is always played by some during every contract negotiation. There is no way the Mgmt team can cover the work if a strike occurs. A short strike might be beneficial to the strategy because they will see the actual impact to the service levels and what areas need more automation.
I hear from my boss quite a bit, that they will bust the union
Market cap does not reflect debt.
There are some options as you mentioned. A billion dollars seems astronomical to us common folks but if the wireless/fiber strategy actually plays out in the next year or 2 (especially the debt pay down) a billion dollars is not out of the question based on supposed cash flow. They are using RTO to increase the attrition rate and it seems they are investigating and cracking down on some business practices that have gone on for years which will increase that rate. If this continues how much will it cost by the end of 25?
Imagine making this comparison. Yellow Corp market cap $391 million, AT&T market cap $123 billion. You're not too bright.