AT&T's workers on the west coast have been protesting the company's increased use of offshore labor as they work toward a new union contract. 15,000 CWA-represented AT&T workers in California and Nevada are issuing the same sort of complaints Verizon saw in its most recent battle over union contracts earlier this year, when the telco was seen to have buckled to complaints.
AT&T workers in CWA’s District 9 region in San Diego
protested at the intersection of San Diego Mission Road and Interstate 15 on Friday.
The CWA reached out to DSLReports.com to note that talks have "broken down" and that 15,000 AT&T employees in California and Nevada have voted to authorize a strike, if necessary.
The union says AT&T has been outsourcing thousands of jobs to India, Mexico, the Philippines, Jamaica and elsewhere. The CWA also says technicians are being required to work overtime hours with no advance notice, for extended period of time -- all while benefits have been reduced.
"The company is also short-changing customers and communities by failing to meet minimum regulatory standards and charging customers more for basic services," CWA said in a statement. "Despite the financial success, the company is asking its workers to do more for less -- keeping them from their families with unpredictable overtime, undercutting pay and advancement, offshoring good jobs, and pushing more healthcare costs onto employees."
AT&T, as you might expect, denies that there's any problems at AT&T.
"We’re proud to be one of the largest employers in the U.S. and the country’s largest employer of full-time union labor," said AT&T in a statement to DSLReports.com. "We provide excellent union careers with very competitive wages and benefits, and we provide more of them than anyone else in the country."