New Haven Independent

NLRB Backs Union In AT&T Fight

by Melissa Bailey | April 27, 2009 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

As phone company workers gird for a possible strike, a National Labor Relations Board official has slammed AT&T for refusing to bargain in good faith.

The ruling by Jonathan Kreisberg, acting regional director of the NLRB in Hartford, represents a step forward for a union that’s locked in a battle with AT&T to retain jobs in Connecticut.

“To get the NLRB to rule in your favor is a big thing,” said Bill Henderson (pictured), president of the union, Communications Workers of America Local 1298. “It’s huge.”

Henderson said negotiations between his union and AT&T have made little progress since they began on Feb. 24. The talks affect 4,300 AT&T employees statewide who have been working without a contract since their last one expired on April 4, he said.

Union leaders are planning a solidarity rally on the New Haven Green at 11 a.m. on May 16.

The lack of progress so far has some workers bracing for another strike, as happened briefly in 2004. The company has secured replacement workers to spring into action if workers walk out, confirmed AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp. In a tough economy, Henderson said, he’s working hard to avoid that outcome.

“A strike is always a possibility,” said Henderson, “but a strike to me is when everything else fails.”

Henderson spoke during a break in negotiations this week at the company’s local headquarters at 310 Orange St. The building is home to one of five bargaining tables across the country: Five contracts covering approximately 80,500 employees in the
landline business of AT&T expired on April 4, said Sharp. All those employees are working under the terms of their expired contract.

NLRB Weighs In

The NLRB issued two complaints on March 31 and April 6 siding with the union against AT&T.

The first ruling came in response to an unfair labor practice grievance filed by CWA local 1298, in part regarding a new disciplinary system.

On Jan. 27, the company rolled out a new “performance management plan” called PAR for its customer service representatives, who take questions about AT&T landline service for residents and businesses. According to the new policy, customer service representatives now face discipline and possible termination if they don’t meet sales quotas.

One customer service rep, speaking during a smoke break at the company offices at 300 George St., said the new policy has turned her job of 13 years into a sales position. When she takes a customer call, she has to enter the info into three computer programs, get off the phone within eight minutes, and meet a sales quota.

“It’s very stressful,” said the woman, who declined to be named.

In its grievance, the union argued that the company violated the union contract by implementing the new policy without negotiation with the bargaining unit.

On March 31, the NLRB’s Kreisberg issued a complaint against the company incorporating the union allegations.

AT&T “has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith” with its union representatives, Kreisberg found.

He agreed with the union that PAR “is a mandatory subject for the purpose of collective bargaining,” and that AT&T implemented the plan “without first bargaining with the union to a good faith impasse.” Kreisberg also found that the company failed to provide information requested by the union, including the number of people terminated due to the PAR program. His complaint also seeks relief to remedy the unfair labor practices alleged.

On April 6, the NLRB issued a second complaint against AT&T for refusing to provide other information requested by the union.

AT&T spokesman Sharp declined to comment on the rulings.

Each complaint triggers a hearing before an NLRB administrative judge, who will issue a final decision in the case. A tentative hearing date was set for May 20, but that date will likely be postponed, according to John Cotter, assistant to the regional director at the Hartford NLRB.

As news trickled down to union workers, Henderson and fellow union negotiators (pictured) celebrated the ruling.

A Changing Landscape

Meanwhile, union and company officials returned to the bargaining table.

“It’s going to be a long, laborious process,” said Henderson, “because the issue is jobs.

Over the last four years, AT&T has shipped out 1,000 Connecticut union jobs out of state, to places like Ohio and Michigan. The moves were spurred by “the advantages of consolidating services,” said Sharp, the company spokesman. He argued the company still provides quality service, whether the job is in Ohio or Connecticut.

Henderson disagreed. He cited a recent ice storm where many customer phone lines were going down. The calls for repair got routed through Ohio, where the dispatcher couldn’t look out the window and see what the conditions were. A dispatcher ordered workers to commute from Hartford to New Haven, putting workers at risk and resulting in slower service, he said.

The consolidation comes as the company makes a shift from old to new technology.

The landline business, where the employees whose contract is being negotiated work, “is a part of our business that is declining,” explained Sharp in an email. “In recent years we have lost 21 percent of our landlines due to wireless substitution and to extensive competition from other voice providers, especially non-unionized cable companies, that have a distinct cost advantage.”

First-quarter earnings for this year showed that profit for AT&T’s wireless group
rose 13 percent, while profit for the Wireline, or landline, groups, fell 27 percent. As the landscape changes, the company has sought to adjust.

“Our goal continues to be to reach an agreement that is fair to employees and provides the company with a competitive cost structure,” said Sharp.

At the bargaining table, AT&T is looking for workers to switch to a new health care plan, Sharp said. “Our core wireline employees pay no premiums whatsoever and pay only 8 percent of their health care costs, compared to 34 percent paid by the average U.S. worker.” That figure is extremely low, said Sharp, even compared to the rest of the company’s employees.

Henderson said talks haven’t centered much on health benefits or salaries. The jobs are considered to be well-paid: customer service representatives make up to $30 per hour, and installers make about $26 per hour, according to CWA.

The union’s focus is on one main thing: keeping those 4,300 jobs in the state.

“Their issue is dollars. We’re focused on people,” said Henderson.

He noted that on a whole, the company is doing exceedingly well: In Forbes Magazine’s latest annual Global 2000 ranking, AT&T became the seventh largest public company in the world, reporting $12.87 billion in profits.

Shareholders and top company officials are reaping the benefits, while local workers face losing their jobs, Henderson argued.

Sharp responded that “AT&T has a long history as a union-friendly company. We are the largest employer of full-time union labor in the country and have more union-represented employees than the Big 3 automakers combined.”

Back at 300 George St., workers described an atmosphere of “low morale,” with tension running high, as they wait on the outcome of continuing talks.

“It feels like your life is holding on by a string,” said one customer service representative, who’s worked at AT&T for eight years. With a kid in college, she said she can’t afford to have her job shipped out of state.

“We’re not complaining about the money,” she said. “We just want to keep what we have.”

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Comments

Posted by: Bill | April 27, 2009 3:36 PM

That whoosh sound you hear is the sound of jobs leaving Connecticut after the democrats increase taxes on businesses.

Posted by: Exiled Italian Shill | April 29, 2009 8:41 AM

That "whoosh" sound you here is the sound of jobs leaving Connecticut no matter what the taxes are as cheap labor will go to where it is the cheapest - no matter what.

Posted by: writing on the wall | May 3, 2009 2:43 PM

AT&T is sending it's jobs to where they can get cheap labor-period. Does not matter if they know what they are doing or not. All that matters is they are cheap. Out of the country is fine with them. I hear they are even contracting to Columbia. Columbia. Yikes!

Posted by: Christine | May 4, 2009 1:29 PM

I see this article mentions the other at&t regions taking work but how about the contractors In New York that take calls and don't even directly work for at&t. They handle calls for many different phone companys. And how about when the ceo said that at&t couldn't find enough educated people in the U.S. to do the tech support jobs handled by India. What he left out is that they couldn't find enough qualified I.T. people willing to work for the same pay as some I.T. tech in India.

Posted by: Stevie Ray | May 4, 2009 6:56 PM

There are some things that need to be said and explained about the contract negotiations between CWA and AT&T . I am not an expert on this subject matter, since I am not involved in the negotiation process in any way. However; I do have an opinion on the subject.

I have been a loyal union member for 32 & 1/2 years. I was here during the "good ol days", and I am still here in the not so "good ol days."
AT&T has always used scare tactics and half truths to try to influence union members, as well as the general public, into believing the union is an evil entity out to destroy everything that makes America great. Don't fall for this misconception. It seems to me that big business and corrupt CEO's are doing more to destroy this once great country than anyone else. Of course, you say, "he is leaving out the corrupt politicians." Even though probably 90% of them are worthless, that topic is for another day.

The big fight in this contract negotiation is over wages and benefits. And once again, healthcare is at the forefront.
It has been stated by one of AT&T's executive officers "Union-represented Core wire line employees ( that's us ) pay similar amounts for their health care as union workers at the Big 3 automakers pay, and its clear what those sorts of unsustainable costs have done to America's auto industry."

This statement makes no sense at all. AT&T made RECORD BREAKING PROFITS last year, 12.9 BILLION $$! Everyone surely remembers last year. Your 401 went in the toilet along with your other investments. Whew! And the Big 3? Well, they received bailouts by the govt. CAUSE THEY ARE GOING BANKRUPT!

It was also stated that AT&T has lost 20% of consumer access lines in the past 3 years. They make it sound like we are about to go out of business because of it. It's true that we are losing some, however we are more than making up for it thru the sell of U-verse,wireless, and DSL lines. Plus, with U-verse and DSL you still have to have copper wire to the house. And believe me, we do.
All thru the year, AT&T tells us employees what a great job we are doing, heck they even buy us lunch once in a while. But, when the contract comes up, we are suddenly something they need to scrape of their boots.

Remember that 12.9 BILLION $$ RECORD BREAKING PROFIT we talked about earlier? That is after the company paid our wages & benefits, including healthcare. Oh, and that also includes AT&T paying approximately $ 100 million to move their Corporate Offices from San Antonio to Dallas. Word has it that AT&T still has an office building in San Antonio they are paying $100,000 to $200,000 a month for because they can't find anyone to lease it.
And lastly, our CEO Randall Stephenson said he was going to do the right thing and turn down a bonus for 08. Good job you say? Well, a day or two later, he received thousands of shares of AT&T stock at NO COST! Then turned around and sold them at market value for a very nice profit. Sounds like a very nice bonus to me! Plus our former CEO takes home over a million a year for retirement and free healthcare. And God knows what else.

So you see, things aren't always as they seem. AT&T continues to make tons of money in spite of itself, while trying to shaft the very people who made that profit for the company.
Stevie Ray, Texas

Posted by: Tom | May 6, 2009 3:37 PM

The CWA Core Union's arguments seem very illogical to me. They say that AT&T made a profit so the "core" (Wireline) union members should keep their "best in industry" benefits. They constantly mix topics to get the best advantage for themselves, even when it does not make sense. Let me use an allegory to make my point.

There was an apple grower who hired a group of folks to pick his crop. He paid his pickers very well. Over time the grower realized apple sales will likely drop off so he started growing oranges. He hired another group of folks to pick them.

Sure enough, over time apple sales began to steadily drop, but the orange sales grew quickly. With apple sales dropping, the grower had to reduce apple related costs. The grower attempts to reduce the number of pickers but the apple picker's union says "NO!" The grower tries to reduce the wages/benefits of the apple pickers, but the apple picker's union says "NO!" "Why not?" asks the grower. "You are making lots of money on oranges!" says the apple pickers. "Can we move apple pickers to pick oranges?" "No! We are apple pickers!" "So what do I do?" asks the grower? "You should make less salary/bonus and give more of the profits from oranges to US even though our apple business it dying!"

Many will nitpick the over simplification, but it fairly represents the underlying reality of the situation. How long can AT&T keep paying premium wages/benefits to Wireline workers using wireless profits? The core union workers claim AT&T is making money from them when in reality they are getting paid from the profits of the Wireless Union's members work.

Posted by: Jerry L. | May 9, 2009 12:10 PM

To the person that is comparing the apples and oranges, you are completely wrong! The same network of copper and fiber and CO's that supply service to the pots lines also connect uverse and DSL, which are big money makers for AT&T and that part of the business is increasing. Also, how do you think the wireless services work, by magic???? Once again technicians keep the infrastructure up and working. And in case you didn't know, the customer service reps that handle wireline service are the same ones that handle selling uverse, DSL and yes even wireless services!!!! You see, we are all connected, not separate, like apples and oranges. I do know this because I am a NTEC and my wife is a customer service rep. But if you wish to use the farmer analogy, how did the farmer get the money to start growing the oranges?? he used profits from the apple orchard! So by what you are saying, now they are less profittable, so kick them to the curb!! What happens when it's the orange pickers time?? Think about it!

Posted by: Josh | May 10, 2009 1:45 AM

Tom

Your allegory needs no nitpicking for simplicity. It does however need a few more things thrown in the mix.

What the grower didn't say about the orange picker is that it decided to set them up on a different contract. He did see the swing of the pendulum to the oranges. He knew however that he really need to vamp up the apple orchid with some temp pickers so it could be used to fuel the orange orchid. When most of that work was done he then went to the apple pickers. The apple pickers didn't say no we are apple pickers. The grower said hey, I want X amount of my apple temp pickers to go over and pick oranges. The apple pickers said ok on what terms. The grower said well, for most of you apple pickers you are going to report to a location that is twice the distance as your current one. Then I'm probably going to ask you to work a lot of 6 day weeks. You are going to work in less than current conditions, and more hours. You will have more direct contact with the orange "trees" than you did with the apple trees. Your work will be scrutinized to the letter and if I find any flaws I'm gonna harass you. I'm setting a quota and I'm going to flaunt these numbers every single day. I will have meetings everyday about how we need to speed up and a general round about way threaten your jobs if you don't be good little pickers. Oh and one last thing he said, you'll do all this for half the pay....thanks.

Imagine if you went into work Monday and your grower said those things to you? How would you feel? It sucks, I know.

Now allegory aside. He is another things that most people aren't taking into account.

Wireline may have fallen 21% but U-verse is way up. 1.2 million or so subscribers. All of which runs on wireline. I know we can't say that everyone that is signing up for U-verse didn't have any wireline service. I'm sure however that there are a lot of people that did not. We could use a conservative number....say 21% (252,000 of 1.2 million sounds fair) Saying you lost 21% of POTS lines, but not counting for how many lines you hooked back up via u-verse doesn't make for a fair argument. Wireless also is feed from wireline.

When at&t begins to broadcast u-verse, dsl, and high speed broadband wireless from fiber fed, retro fitted X connect, V-rads or whatever acronym they want to designate (there's probably more than 12.9 billion acronyms in the phone company) they can then argue that they can't justify the compensation given to they guys that make it all work.

NLRB Backs Union In AT&T Fight

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