The Los Angeles Times reports
An estimated 17,000 AT&T technicians in California and Nevada went on strike [March 22], highlighting workplace tensions within the massive Dallas telecommunications giant.
The strike follows a protracted dispute between AT&T and union members affiliated with the Communications Workers of America [CWA], District 9, who have been working without a contract for nearly a year. Workers say they have been increasingly asked to perform the duties of higher-paid employees and that AT&T has cut sick leave and disability benefits and required them to pay more for their healthcare.
Another sticking point is AT&T's closure of U.S. call centers, including a facility near Anaheim. The union contends that AT&T has moved 8,000 call center jobs in recent years to the Philippines, Mexico, and other countries.
[...] "We're currently negotiating with the union in a good-faith effort to reach a fair labor agreement covering wireline employees" in California and Nevada, [said AT&T spokesman Marty Richter]. "We've reached 28 fair labor agreements since 2015, collectively covering nearly 123,000 employees."
AT&T said it has hired 20,000 people into union-represented jobs in 2016 and has more than 4,200 other union job openings.
"We're a union-friendly company, with more full-time, union-represented employees than any company in America", Richter said. "We're the only major wireless company with a unionized workforce."
Union officials said Wednesday's walkout, which began at 6 a.m., was triggered by AT&T's demand that technicians who typically install and maintain the company's U-Verse TV service also work on the cables and hardware for landline phone service (AT&T's wireless division is not affected by the action).
"We are hoping to reach an agreement settlement with the company", said Shelia Bordeaux, a member of the executive board of the CWA Local 9003 in Los Angeles. "They are unilaterally and continually changing the job duties of our premise technicians to do a higher-wage job at a lower rate of pay."
The two sides have been trying to negotiate a new contract to replace the one that expired in April 2016. Bordeaux said Wednesday's strike was to resolve the issue of job duties for the premise technicians, and only included landline workers who belong to the CWA in California and Nevada.
In addition to Los Angeles, workers were striking in San Diego and San Francisco.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @05:01PM (10 children)
"AT&T has cut sick leave and disability benefits and required them to pay more for their healthcare." News flash: Costs have gone up. Economy sucks. Most everyone is paying more for everything.
Get over it before they fire your ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @05:15PM (8 children)
Burn in hell you sociopath.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @05:35PM (3 children)
Ooh! So you'll buy my food, pay my rent, and take care of me while I sit around on my fat arse and do nothing?
No?
Burn in hell you sociopath.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @09:24PM (1 child)
It surely is most heartening to see those who enjoy the benefits of social progress support rolling things backwards. Chuckleheads the lot of you, selfish chuckleheads.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2017, @03:29PM
Wait - what benefits, exactly? You mean the unemployed gangstas who get welfare, so that they can stay up all night dealing drugs, and gang fighting? You mean the illegal aliens coming here to do the work the gangstas don't have time to do?
Maybe if you were more explicit about those "benefits", people would have some meaningful responses.
Hey, I have an idea! If you like all those social benefits so much, maybe we should sign another dozen "trade agreements", encouraging the migration of wealth and wealth production out of the United States! When we are all on welfare, things will be perfect, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @11:16PM
Ronnie liked to say "A rising tide lifts all boats."
It appears that rather than lift everyone up to union standards, you want to drag everyone down to your pitiful level.
Dumb bastard. Typical minion of The Ownership Class.
.
If it wasn't for unions, wages in the USA would be ZERO, because then The Ownership Class would know that they can get away with that.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @07:34PM (3 children)
Liberal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @09:27PM (2 children)
Derp dook mer jerrrbs!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @10:31PM (1 child)
"Liberal", from Latin liberalis "noble, gracious, munificent, generous," literally "of freedom, pertaining to or befitting a free person," from liber "free, unrestricted, unimpeded; unbridled, unchecked." Liberals, in favor of liberty, like the right to form free associations to bargain for the interest of all against oppressive young-blood-transfusing Capitalists. Liberty, the founding principle of America! Why do you hate Freedom? Why do you hate America?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2017, @07:13AM
So you like unions then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2017, @04:45AM
Dear anti-worker person:
You will be happy to know that
Telecom union calls bogus "strike" at AT&T in California and Nevada [wsws.org]
We previously discussed the Verizon thing.
In another story, I got a +5 for details about the Momentive thing.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]