CWAers Tell AT&T Shareholders to Show Us the Jobs

On Friday, hundreds of CWAers rallied outside AT&T's annual shareholder meeting in Dallas, Texas, and called on the company to negotiate a fair contract that keeps family-supporting jobs in their communities. 14,000 AT&T workers covered by AT&T’s Midwest and Legacy T contracts have voted to authorize a strike if AT&T refuses to offer real solutions at the bargaining table.

"We're out here because we have many call centers that have closed. Cities have been devastated," said CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton. "This is a wealthy, growing company, and it's our CWA members – their employees – who have helped build this company. Our members deserve a fair contract. It's about jobs and employment security for everyone."

"We deserve a fair and equitable contract," Vice President of Telecommunications & Technologies Lisa Bolton said. "We are not asking for anything unreasonable – just good wages, good benefits, and job security. After AT&T pushed and pushed for that tax bill to go through, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was out in the public making statements that there will be 7,000 new jobs. Only weeks later, what did he do? He laid off 1,500 members. These contract negotiations are an insult to every one of you and every one of your families."

District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings said, "Already in the first quarter of 2018, AT&T has made $4 billion in profit. You made that money for them. We shouldn't have any takebacks on the table. We want a fair contract with good wages, good benefits, and job security."

The shareholder meeting came just after CWA released a new report last week examining AT&T's continued role in hollowing out the middle class by eliminating thousands of jobs, closing call centers, and moving jobs to low-wage and overseas contractors.

While AT&T refuses to release details about plans for its $20 billion in tax savings, the CWA report finds that AT&T has closed 44 call centers and eliminated 16,000 call center jobs in the last seven years.

Hundreds of CWAers, including CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton, Vice President of Telecommunications Technologies Lisa Bolton, District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings, and Public, Health Care and Education Workers Vice President Brooks Sunkett, rallied outside AT&T's annual shareholder meeting in Dallas, Texas, and called on the company to negotiate a fair contract that keeps family-supporting jobs in their communities.