Communications Workers Of America Local 6508 AFL-CIO, CLC

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CWA Reaches Tentative Agreement at AT&T Southwest

CWA District 6 and AT&T have reached a tentative four-year agreement covering 27,000 CWA-represented workers at AT&T Southwest.

Members of CWA Local 3805 keep up the pressure for a fair contract at informational picket in Knoxville, Tenn.

The tentative agreement provides for wage increases of 11.5 percent and pension band increases of 8 percent over the contract's four-year term, with cost of living adjustments in the final year. The contract maintains quality health care for active and retired workers and includes new job security protections, among other gains.

Read the details of the tentative settlement here.

The District 6 bargaining committee said, "We felt it was important to stand our ground and push for the best possible contract we could achieve for the hard working union members of District 6." The committee unanimously recommends ratification of the agreement.

Contract information materials are being provided to locals and members, with a ratification vote to be completed November 11.

Negotiations are continuing for 40,000 CWAers at AT&T Southeast (District 3) and AT&T East (CWA Local 1298).

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CWA ComTech Members Ratify New AT&T Contract

CWA members at AT&T Legacy locations nationwide ratified a new three year agreement by a strong two-to-one margin. The agreement covers about 7,000 CWA-represented workers.

"This contract achieves our members' key goal of improving employment security and safeguarding jobs. It maintains workers' standard of living and quality health care. In these extremely difficult economic times, these are tremendous achievements," said CWA Communications and Technologies Vice President Ralph Maly.

The settlement sets a "watermark" for job retention and provides new layoff protections for workers. It increases pay by about 9 percent over the contract term, including cost of living adjustments, and provides pension band increases of 2 percent in each year of the agreement.

The health care plan provides for fully funded preventive care and new company-funded health reimbursement accounts that can be used toward any eligible health care expense; both serve to offset some cost changes in the plan, along with wage increases and other improvements.

More details are available at www.cwa-comtech.org.

Bargaining continues for about 65,000 CWA-represented members at AT&T. These negotiations cover AT&T East (CWA Local 1298), Southeast (District 3) and Southwest (District 6). CWA members at AT&T Midwest, CWA District 4, and AT&T West, CWA District 9, earlier ratified new three-year agreements.

CWAers Blanket Capitol Hill for Health Care Reform

District 13 Vice President Ed Mooney briefs CWA members before they head out to congressional offices. Center is CWA Research Director and health care expert Louise Novotny.

More than 200 CWA members met with their senators and representatives this week, part of a wave of CWAers and union activists who are writing, calling and lobbying their members of Congress on health care reform.

"Here's what Congress needs to hear from us: 'You don't make those who pay, pay more. You make those who don't pay, pay,'" CWA President Larry Cohen told CWAers before they set off for legislative visits. Just this week, about 150 District 13 members spent seven hours on the bus from Harrisburg, Pa., and another seven hours in congressional visits.

CWA President Larry Cohen has CWAers fired up and ready to go on health care remform.

CWAers from Arkansas, Colorado, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia and Washington state came to D.C. as part of the AFL-CIO's "fly-in" from more than two dozen states, and about 20 District 2 CWAers from Maryland set up meetings with their senators and representatives.

Meeting with Senator Blanche Lincoln were Local 6508 President George West; Tom Pevey, Local 6508, and Kelly and David Arellanes, retired local members who are facing devastating financial hardship following Kelly's traumatic injury and their insurer's refusal to pay.

Jeannine Maury, a member of CWA Local 7800 who works at Qwest, was part of the Washington State delegation that took labor's message to Capitol Hill.

The Arkansas CWAers stressed to Lincoln that companies like AT&T and even Walmart agree that all employers should pay toward employees' health care.

The Senate Finance Committee's health care proposal would hit employers that already provide quality health care (above $8,000 for individual coverage and $21,000 for a family) with a 40 percent tax while, employers that don't cover employees would continue to be health care freeloaders.