AT&T Legacy T 2012 Bargaining: Report #1

“…AT&T is a very successful and profitable company. We believe that AT&T has a responsibility to help America by being a leader for economic growth, continuing to provide good middle-class jobs. This is not the time to be lowering the standard of living for employees, diminishing benefits, or putting jobs or secure retirement at risk.”

As the bargaining with Legacy T kicked off today at 10:00 AM, co-chair Lois Grimes-Patow delivered our team’s opening remarks.

She emphasized our key issues:

• improving employment security with access to the jobs of the future
• stopping the attack on our jobs through layoffs, outsourcing and off-shoring
• protecting our health benefits and improving the quality of care
• improving our pensions
• improving our standard of living with a fair wage increase
• justice on the job – dealing with forced overtime, inflexible schedules, unjust performance, sales quotas and adherence plan and increased surveillance

As expected, AT&T laid out a very different vision of what they want to accomplish this bargaining. In their opening remarks, their dire description of the state of the economy is a backdrop, not to improve the situation, but a reason to lower our standards.

Their outline of things to be accomplished during this bargaining is:

• our “total compensation” is too much
• our contribution to our medical cost are too low: we need to pay our “fair share”
• our absenteeism and paid days off are too high
• our pension plans and retiree medical benefits are unrealistic in an era when most employers are eliminating them
• our work rules are too inflexible

After those statements, the Union gave its first response to a Company health care presentation that was given a few weeks ago. We discussed a different strategy for lowering health care costs that did not involve more cost-shifting to our members.

So the lines are clearly drawn, and we all need to be united in making sure that it is OUR vision of the future that prevails. Mobilize every day.

Your bargaining team:

Ralph Maly

Lois Grimes-Patow

Laura Unger

Roy Hegenbart

Rick Hunt

Larry Ihfe

Mary Ellen Mazzeo

Lanell Piercy