Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Yeah, don’t think D9’s TA has even been voted on, let alone ratified. I’m hearing a lot of members are voting No. They are going on 7 months negotiating and still not a done deal so, how can the company say they are bargaining in good faith. They aren’t offering any back pay either which, appears to be the reason to delay.

And all of that cr-p about management severance is irrelevant. The original question asked what the union severance is. Other bargained contracts mentioned previously have had things like 88 or 120-something weeks. The first post about it asked what D3 (union) severance is.

“…I know even management benefits vary…”

Not for severance they don’t. Management Severance Plan covers all non bargained for, capping severance at 6 months salary.

Actually states with WARN acts have different rules for severance which kick in when layoffs exceed certain thresholds and depending on one's length of service can result in more than 6 months of salary.

"due to the impasse and many ULP violations"

What specific violations? The NLRA says the parties don't have to make concessions. The company made their final offer and the Union rejected that offer. It's within the collective bargaining guidelines set forth in the NLRA. There's no crime here.

No doubt they are bargaining in bad faith, Company Bargaining Representatives just called Wire Techs, 2nd-class employees. Lovely people we work with, I feel so valued, as a 2nd-class employee. What’s next? calling us “Human Capital” or too old and need younger employees. Oh wait…. The 🤡 already did.

It would have been nice if the union would have given everyone 60 to 90 notice of a possible strike instead of hey, just walk off your job today with no guarantee that it will be there tomorrow: What about the workers with small children, mortgages, kids in college, and chronic illness? It would have been nice to know so everyone could plan (find other employment) before getting scr.wed over by the union. How are you any different than Corporate America? How many of your members are going to end up losing their homes over this? I’m sending out a 100 resumes this week while I’ve been involuntarily laid off without the option of getting unemployment.

"What do you expect. You are responsible for cratering customer satisfaction and service while you are out whining about the mistreatment."

I love it when non-represented employees blame the union for bad service and customer satisfaction. I'm in IT and actually appalled at some of the systems we give the front-line workers to deal with. If you think the union is solely responsible for bad service, you are either a troll or delusional. It was any union employee responsible for the data leaks or the February outage.

And when I see how non-represented employees are being treated with the quiet layoffs and the sham of requiring employees to move, I absolutely believe the union when they say the company is bargaining in bad faith. Our management despises its employees, union and non-union.

Every week in my area of responsibility we have at least 2 T mobile circuits go down. There is a lot of pressure to resolve these outages quickly.
Apparently in typical AT&T fashion, our contract with T mobile allows them to fine AT&T millions of dollars for these outages if they are not resolved within a few hours.
CP team, you got this!!

“Feeling valued now”. What do you expect. You are responsible for cratering customer satisfaction and service while you are out whining about the mistreatment. Your value comes in the form of a paycheck. If you need anymore validation after that, seek counseling. The company even provides that for you.

CWA D9 and AT&T looks to have spent a long time negotiating new contract. What’s different about D3 and AT&T??

https://cwad9.org/system/files/2024-08/att_final_report_0.pdf

ULP is a protected strike, due to the impasse and many ULP violations , it will continue until the company decides to start bargaining in good faith. We have an expired contract on Aug 3 and 2 1/2 months of bargaining, how long does it take? They should have had it settled in two weeks, it’s usually wage increases, cleanup of contract language and minor work rules/conditions. Show everyone your company press release is true and get this thing done.

Apparently the CP assignment you don't want is property/facility/call center oversight. The only people I know who've been deployed...so far...have been stuck babysitting properties to make sure of no unauthorized access and checking badges.

Seriously - five or six of my teammates had contingency assignments. Only one has heard anything about being deployed - they’re deploying people with local assignments first, and a lot of us have assignments out of town. They haven’t been told when they need to report.

Will the contingency team report to your SE work locations now! We have a busy day planned for Monday because the union slugs are on strike / vacation. You will be required to complete two residential Gpon installations daily with attic access for customer requested equipment placement. Many will be in a centrally located media closet easily accessible by crawling through attic insulation. Trouble tickets replacing aerial and buried drop, bvoip and one button repairs and special circuit installs can be done at 6 am as per leadership. That is all.

Id--ts. No. Contingency workers will be deployed until at least Tuesday. CFO (consumer field ops) has some of its local field managers out and about handling troubles today, but that’s about it. Specials, ABFS, DEG and CO are not dispatching except for TSP and T-Mobile related stuff.

Nobody is panicking, nobody is in an uproar. No need to spread fantasy cr-p about how terrible this is. It’s not. You union fools will be back sooner than you think and it’ll all be right here waiting for you along with forced OT to catch up.

union members are federally protected and that's a fact jack

Will the contingency team report to your SE work locations as soon as possible.
Will the contingency team report to your SE work locations as soon as Sunday.
Will the contingency team report to your SE work locations as soon as now! You are required to complete two residential Gpon installations daily with trouble tickets replacing aerial and buried drop. Work will be in 12 hour shifts for six days. You will have one rest period for six hours. That is all..

Well, yes, historically labor unions are aligned with the political left. That's not news.

Just came in from the ULP picket line. Want to give a BIG thanks for all the public support! They are honking, dropping off water and offering food, all nice gestures so, Thanks! Hopefully the company will stop their ULP actions and get back to bargaining in good faith, it’s all we can ask. Asking for better behavior’s and respect the process, let us get back to serving our customers and put this behind us.

Yeah, it’s a ULP action, end of story. The company and union will be back to the table soon, several days after a TA will be agreed to then, sent to members for ratification. After an affirmative vote, life will go on as usual.

Definitely not authorized spokespersons. Locals are aware of the damaging effect. Some of the brothers and sisters don't yet understand they were the targeted audience for the STFU message regarding social media posts.

I’m voting for MAGA maniac so that unions get dissolved (bigly and beautifully). No more strike duty!

It’s like a vice presidential candidate, AT&T can’t get around their record. It’s a record of hostile actions and treatment of employees by creating toxic environments and working conditions. Don’t bargain in good faith until, it’s settled legally with a ULP. They bargain in bad faith as long as possible. Exhibit A, D9 contract expired April 6, 2024 and they still don’t have a ratified agreement finally, got a TA. It was one week before D3 contract expired, just like last time in 2019, coincidence? Hmm….🤔

“This is a public forum where the public can see the true face of the Union via the comments of its authorized spokespersons. The press releases are what they want the public to believe. On this forum you get to see the truth of what AT&T has to deal with.”

Don’t get over your ski’s, the ULP was filed based on what was filed with the NLRB, go to the D3 or national website and search for bargaining updates, they tell a story of how the company has stalled and refused to bargain in good faith, good try at taking another bite out of the apple but you failed once again.

There is also a history, same thing happened in 2019, a pattern of bad faith bargaining, not using qualified people to bargain or make decisions, etc… I go with the General Counsel who ruled in the Union’s favor the last time and will happen this time too.

“…I know even management benefits vary…”

Not for severance they don’t. Management Severance Plan covers all non bargained for, capping severance at 6 months salary.

Despite the fake news reports, a huge swath of working union members aren’t voting for or in-lock step with liberal dems policies. Just like AT&T policies, mission statements and political contributions are at times in contrast with employees opinions and values. Just because you are part of a larger entity, it doesn’t mean you endorse everything they do, say or their policies. As an example; Company is for DEI, most competent employees are for merit.

In fact, a lot of CWA union members are independents and conservatives so, painting with a broad brush is just wrong. The one thing all union members are united about, is the contract.

"comments here differ greatly from those in the release on the CWA website"

This is a public forum where the public can see the true face of the Union via the comments of its authorized spokespersons. The press releases are what they want the public to believe. On this forum you get to see the truth of what AT&T has to deal with.

Does D3 get the same crazy high amounts of severance as some of the other districts, or is it more like the other areas that used to be BellSouth and things are more reasonable? I know even management benefits vary, and BellSouth was in the normal range while other areas were paying themselves a kings ransom in benefits (like retirement).

Arrived here via a Google search for the WRBL article. The comments here differ greatly from those in the release on the CWA website. If the comments posted here are representative of the CWA mindset, the CWA is being disingenuous in their negotiations. Your company needs to force the CWA to bring accuracy and truth to the bargaining table.

“Bargained employees definitely went backwards over the last 3 1/2 yrs. due to high inflation so, they are asking for a little better compensation to keep up, nothing drastic. Even with the ask, it won’t even come close to making up from the loss of a decades high, 3 yr. inflation rise.”

CWA proudly endorsed Joe Biden whose policies created the high inflation. Don’t blame the company for inflation. Blame your leadership for supporting the person who caused it. This isn’t the 1960s…Democrats don’t care about the working person anymore.

“ The guy wiping boogers on the dash of his service truck thinks he should get the same bonus as upper management.”

Another uniformed and childish, gaslighter. Show us where the union has asked for a bonus comparable to upper management. They are asking for fair and reasonable wage increases, they don’t get a large yearly bonus, especially since it’s tied to the stock price increase for the year. They used to get at least two weeks of pay for a bonus but those days are long gone since SBC took over. It would be nice if you knew what you were talking about before, you pop off. Last time I checked, CEO’s are compensated 287 times the avg. employees’s.

“How's this for a pattern”

“Every contract end of life the Union starts with the same whine, "They're mean, and won't give us what we want".

Sorry sycophant, you have failed at your job of protecting the company elites. We’ve seen all your tired union tropes but you forgot a few so, I’ll add them. “Union Slugs won’t strike”, “you don’t have the ba--s”, “we don’t care, strike”, “you aren't needed”, could add many more but guess what?? We are on Strike! Tell daddy John your reverse psychology didn’t work, now slink back to the basement and let the adults bargain.

We don’t need months of Strike because, we are “essential” and “hard-working employees”. Mike drop!!

The guy wiping boogers on the dash of his service truck thinks he should get the same bonus as upper management.

How's this for a pattern

Every contract end of life the Union starts with the same whine, "They're mean, and won't give us what we want".

NEVER during the life of a contract does the Union pressure the membership to up their game and deliver better service.

Collective bargaining weakens a business by draining resources, and greatly contributes to cost cutting measures that put other employees at risk.

Unions are a cancer. Always have been.

“ Bargained employees expect their fair share too.”

We have earned our fair share and yes we expect a company that values their “hard-working” employees, to offer us fair compensation. The exec’s and c-suite received massive bonuses, for what? Last time I checked T is no longer a Blue Chip, stock price is about half, employees numbers are down drastically and multiple failed M&A’s but no consequences only, compensation. Pendulum has swung to far their way!

Gotta love the hypocrisy of the elite!

AT&T Exec’s Wall Street financial guidance, paraphrasing; We are going to meet our forward guidance of 16 billion free cash flow projections and continue paying down the debt by x billions over the next two years. Continue to have strong growth in wireless, low churn and 40% take in our fiber offerings as they come on-line which, offsets our legacy products as we transition the network and rightsize our company.

EOY, it’s all roses so, 1st quarter manager bonuses are very large and get nice raises. CEO Stankey even mentions that every year, it is a drag on first quarter financial numbers, “haha”.

Now when it’s contract bargaining time, suddenly no money, lots of debt, need take backs and labor makes too much, unreasonable demands, stall negotiations, way past contract expiration. Same pattern, every time so, the AT&T statement of “ We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since day 1 and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees”. What hypocritical nonsense!!! Do we need to post the bargaining updates to the public, of just the opposite is happening? ULP’s don’t get filed and strikes don’t happen because the company is so eager and bargaining in good faith with their “hard working employees”. 🤣

I feel so special, I received an engraved token for my customer facing service, during Covid-19. I worked the entire time in the field as a FT in I&M, installing internet, phones, Uverse, DSL and maintaining the network facilities. I was blessed to not get Covid during that time but had a couple of older family members and a good friend who did and they died, even after they got the jab! I miss them and think about them all the time.

I think we only received some hazard pay for a month or two, that was either govt. mandated or supplied, that was it. Now we have a reasonable ask for some working condition improvements and a decent raise and look how we are treated!

It doesn’t make any sense for the company to be so hostile to their employees, we are feeling real valued now. Nearly every contract comes down to some minor work rule adjustments and wage increases, that are between 1.5%-3% @ year. Bargained employees definitely went backwards over the last 3 1/2 yrs. due to high inflation so, they are asking for a little better compensation to keep up, nothing drastic. Even with the ask, it won’t even come close to making up from the loss of a decades high, 3 yr. inflation rise.

The bargained employees worked through the pandemic 😷. A lot were frontline techs who endangered themselves and their families because they were deemed, “essential”. It was for the public good and it kept the company from huge losses or worse when, so many other business went bankrupt. How quickly, they forget!!! I remember someone saying, “Human Capital”, now we know, truer words were never said, Mr. John Stankey!

Sure, they are so eager, they went 4 months past D9 contract expiration before, agreeing to a (TA) tentative agreement. It happened one week before District 3 contract expiration. The same thing happened in 2019, can we say a pattern has developed? It seems 4 or 5 years of a contract and 2 months before contact expirations aren’t enough so, the company has a pattern of dragging it out, by using all kinds of tactics. The union doesn’t have unreasonable demands, it’s called bargaining or negotiating for a reason but it takes two serious sides for it to occur.

Last contract negotiations in 2019, D3 had to file a ULP and strike for similar actions of the company bargaining in bad faith. The company didn’t have qualified representatives to bargain so, they immediately flew in another team and a TA was agreed upon very quickly. The union doesn’t want to strike unless, they need to but the company continues to force them into striking without pay in order, to bring in qualified negotiators, get back to the table and bargain in good faith. Quit surface bargaining and reneging on agreements, AT&T! The company has made billions in profit and gave huge bonuses and raises to management in the first quarter. Bargained employees expect their fair share too.