CWA and AT&T Exchange Barbs as Southeast Strike Continues

Communications Workers of America slammed a final offer from AT&T late Wednesday as a strike continued into its third week (see 2409030025). More than 17,000 workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are on strike. “CWA members have seen and personally experienced the effects of prolonged outages and wait times for service and repairs,” said union President Claude Cummings. “It’s time for AT&T to engage in productive bargaining where it belongs -- at the bargaining table -- so we can get back to work serving our customers,” Cummings said. “We have made a strong final offer,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed: “We believe that this offer, if accepted, would provide our employees with competitive market-based pay that exceeds projected inflation. The Company is also offering to increase its financial contributions to employee healthcare and wellness by up to 25% per year.” The spokesperson said the terms of the offer “are largely in line with the 3 other competitive and fair agreements we’ve reached with our unions this year.”