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2019 AT&T strike

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2019 AT&T strike
DateAugust 24–28, 2019
Location
Southern United States
Caused by
  • Failure to agree to new labor contracts
Resulted in
  • New labor contracts generally favorable to union members
Parties

The 2019 AT&T strike was a labor strike involving about 20,000 employees of AT&T in the Southern United States. Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) went on strike from August 24 to August 28, following the failure to agree to new employment contracts. Following several days of protest across nine states, the strike ended with a tentative deal reached between CWA and AT&T.

Background

On August 3, 2019, employment contracts between 20,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and AT&T Southeast were set to expire. These workers primarily consisted of customer service representatives and technicians from AT&T's wired phone and Internet division.[1][2][3] Leading up to this, discussions between the two parties regarding future contract agreements were proving to be unfruitful, and leading up to the expirations the CWA began to prepare for the possibility of a labor strike.[4] The previous month, members of the CWA voted to authorize a strike if an agreement regarding contracts could not be made.[5] On August 3, hundreds of telecommunications workers held a rally outside AT&T Midtown Center (AT&T Southeast's headquarters) in Atlanta.[6] On August 10, the workers began to work without a contract.[3] A meeting on August 20 between AT&T and union officials again proved fruitless, with the union alleging that proposals by the company would have reduced paid sick time, among other unwanted effects.[7]

Course of the strike

On August 23, the CWA announced a strike that would begin at midnight.[3][8] They also filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that AT&T was not bargaining "in good faith" and that they had failed to send proper representatives to contract discussions.[8][9] A day prior on August 22, local CWA unions in Florida walked out over issues relating to unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act. However, these actions were unrelated to and did not prompt the mass strike the following day.[3][10] In total, the strike involved workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.[9]

On August 25, Senator and 2020 Democratic Party Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders met with strikers in Louisville, Kentucky ahead of one of his campaign rallies.[11][12] On August 28, following an agreement between CWA and AT&T, CWA announced the strike had ended and workers could return to their jobs that day.[10][13] As part of the agreement, the two parties agreed to a 5-year contract that included increases in wages and enhancements for workers' 401(k) and pensions.[3] In general, the agreement was considered to be favorable to the labor union.[3][14]

References

  1. ^ Pressman 2019.
  2. ^ USA Today 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Berlin 2019.
  4. ^ Kanell 2019b.
  5. ^ Kanell 2019a.
  6. ^ Staples 2019.
  7. ^ DiFurio 2019.
  8. ^ a b Jeong 2019.
  9. ^ a b Kanell 2019c.
  10. ^ a b Kanell 2019d.
  11. ^ Ballman 2019.
  12. ^ Rodrigo 2019.
  13. ^ Thornton 2019.
  14. ^ Kanell 2019e: "Union officials stopped short of declaring victory, but they expressed satisfaction."

Bibliography

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