AT&T Legacy T Bargaining Report #4

At the bargaining table today, the Company continued its retrogressive proposals. Following up on their presentation on day one, in which they said that reducing absence is a major issue for the Company this year, they proposed NO PAID INCIDENTAL SICK DAYS. They are convinced that our members, particularly those in Consumer titles, take the time off because they are paid for personal illness days. They are convinced that eliminating everyone’s paid sick days will fix their problem. People coming to work sick, because someone cannot afford to lose pay, is not something the Company is worried about. They want you at your desk – no matter what.

They also submitted demands to shorten the length of time our members have to file grievances, and to reduce the number of paid Union reps at grievance meetings. The “tie backs” provision, which protects our members against Company abuse of Article 16 to save particular groups of workers from layoff, is another thing they want to get rid of. Also, without offering a better solution to addressing the problem of management doing bargaining unit work, the Company also proposed to eliminate a process (the “Barnes” Agreement) we have in the current agreement that helps address that issue. Finally, they submitted a proposal to eliminate the Termination Pay schedule currently in Article 25 that tops out at 104 weeks. They are proposing a schedule in which the maximum termination pay is 45 weeks.

With 2 days to go until we are 30 days from expiration, we are further away from an agreement than we were on day one. Use that day, March 7, to mobilize and show the Company we are united against their take-backs.