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