AT&T / CWA Contract Expiration and Potential Strike – Update 2

Update Sunday #2 – From the CWA-Comtech website on “Legacy T” bargaining, which seems to summarize the entire picture right now (link below):

April 5, 2009

12:01 a.m. – We are currently working without a contract and maintain the right to strike whenever we feel it is necessary.  We are still very far apart on many issues.  The contracts in the Midwest and West Coast have not yet expired.  We will continue to bargain through the night and through the day tomorrow to try to develop a framework within which we can come to an agreement.

In the meantime, wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions remain in place.

Go to work if you are scheduled, but this is NOT business as usual.  Step up your mobilization activities.  Solidarity is more important now than ever.

http://www.cwa-comtech.org/barg_mobe/at-t-legacy-t-bargaining-report-23.html

Telwares maintains:

While a strike would clearly put a strain on AT&T’s resources, we do not believe this will materially affect continuing operations within AT&T in the short term. The Telwares concern for existing clients and prospects grows larger if a strike were to happen and extend for more than a few weeks. At that point, we believe there could be real jeopardy for clients relating to account support, service provisioning/troubleshooting, and network implementations/migrations.
KEY ENTERPRISE CONSIDERATIONS:
•Contractual risk mitigation ‐ how are labor disputes handled in your contract(s) and is there remedy available to you if needed? The majority of AT&T agreements to address labor disputes as part of Force Majeure language – due diligence is required.
•Account maintenance and support ‐ if resources are stretched within AT&T, what is the contingency plan specific to your relationship with them, in practical terms?
•SLA delivery ‐ what provisions are wrapped around the SLA’s in your contracts, and again, are there sufficient remedies in place if service were to degrade?
•Implementation and/or migration of new services ‐ if new services are planned or in‐flight, what is the contingency plan to accomplish the transaction? What remedy is available to your organization?
oIn addition, there may be implied delays in contract negotiations or legal review/approval process due to any labor dispute. This should be challenged aggressively.

AT&T / CWA Contract Expiration and Potential Strike – Update

Update Sunday: Negotiations are continuing past the strike deadline. According to various statements by the CWA and AT&T, the two sides remain focused on wages, health care costs, and job security. More detail will be posted as appropriate. Telwares maintains:

SUMMARY OF ISSUE:
•On April 4th 2009, a series of five regional union contracts will expire between AT&T and the Communications Workers of America affecting 112,000 employees. A sixth contract due to expire later this year is also in scope.
•Members of the CWA have ratified a strike if negotiations are unsuccessful.
•AT&T is seeking concessions related to active and retired employee health benefits, essentially sharing more of the burden with employees.
•The CWA is seeking to finalize a variety of wage issues and mitigate the AT&T position on sharing more of the medical costs.
•AT&T has been preparing for several months to accommodate a strike by training non‐bargained employees for assignment throughout the organization.
TELWARES PERSPECTIVE:
While a strike would clearly put a strain on AT&T’s resources, we do not believe this will materially affect continuing operations within AT&T in the short term. The Telwares concern for existing clients and prospects grows larger if a strike were to happen and extend for more than a few weeks. At that point, we believe there could be real jeopardy for clients relating to account support, service provisioning/troubleshooting, and network implementations/migrations.
KEY ENTERPRISE CONSIDERATIONS:
•Contractual risk mitigation ‐ how are labor disputes handled in your contract(s) and is there remedy available to you if needed? The majority of AT&T agreements to address labor disputes as part of Force Majeure language – due diligence is required.
•Account maintenance and support ‐ if resources are stretched within AT&T, what is the contingency plan specific to your relationship with them, in practical terms?
•SLA delivery ‐ what provisions are wrapped around the SLA’s in your contracts, and again, are there sufficient remedies in place if service were to degrade?
•Implementation and/or migration of new services ‐ if new services are planned or in‐flight, what is the contingency plan to accomplish the transaction? What remedy is available to your organization?
oIn addition, there may be implied delays in contract negotiations or legal review/approval process due to any labor dispute. This should be challenged aggressively.

AT&T / CWA Contract Expiration and Potential Strike

Update to previous entries…negotiations are continuing.

SUMMARY OF ISSUE:
•On April 4th 2009, a series of five regional union contracts will expire between AT&T and the Communications Workers of America affecting 112,000 employees. A sixth contract due to expire later this year is also in scope.
•Members of the CWA have ratified a strike if negotiations are unsuccessful.
•AT&T is seeking concessions related to active and retired employee health benefits, essentially sharing more of the burden with employees.
•The CWA is seeking to finalize a variety of wage issues and mitigate the AT&T position on sharing more of the medical costs.
•AT&T has been preparing for several months to accommodate a strike by training non‐bargained employees for assignment throughout the organization.
TELWARES PERSPECTIVE:
While a strike would clearly put a strain on AT&T’s resources, we do not believe this will materially affect continuing operations within AT&T in the short term. The Telwares concern for existing clients and prospects grows larger if a strike were to happen and extend for more than a few weeks. At that point, we believe there could be real jeopardy for clients relating to account support, service provisioning/troubleshooting, and network implementations/migrations.
KEY ENTERPRISE CONSIDERATIONS:
•Contractual risk mitigation ‐ how are labor disputes handled in your contract(s) and is there remedy available to you if needed? The majority of AT&T agreements to address labor disputes as part of Force Majeure language – due diligence is required.
•Account maintenance and support ‐ if resources are stretched within AT&T, what is the contingency plan specific to your relationship with them, in practical terms?
•SLA delivery ‐ what provisions are wrapped around the SLA’s in your contracts, and again, are there sufficient remedies in place if service were to degrade?
•Implementation and/or migration of new services ‐ if new services are planned or in‐flight, what is the contingency plan to accomplish the transaction? What remedy is available to your organization?
oIn addition, there may be implied delays in contract negotiations or legal review/approval process due to any labor dispute. This should be challenged aggressively.

Organized labor: A time for workplace change?

Following a presidential election that was almost exclusively (and sometimes brutally) focused on change, the CWA and AT&T Mobility contract negotiations have sparked many debates on the role of unions in the workforce – now and in the future. It would be hard to dispute, looking at history, that unions played a pivotal role in shaping the workplace of today. While many of those influences are strikingly positive, the global economic condition we are currently experiencing puts the labor organizations in a precarious light. Push too hard, and you potentially damage and / or break the company. Push too little, and you stand to lose credibility with members as viable representation. This is exacerbated by the financial positions of the companies in question. While AT&T and AT&T Mobility may not be in imminent danger, there is a perception that most large global organizations are in a weakened state. Any demands that appear, even on the surface, to take advantage of  “timing”  will have negative effect on the public perception of organized labor. Ask the UAW if mutual cooperation is important right now.

What is perhaps overlooked on the grand scale is the opportunity for unions to play an important role – again – in reshaping the workplace. They are ideally situated to enable the broad deployment of training and re-tasking for displaced workers. They can have an important and influential voice in helping companies retool, in a corporate environment where boundaries are disappearing – by virtue of that little thing known as the Internet. They can even be an important arbitrator in the rebuilding of our core infrastructure, and in the broadband deployment of our future.

Specific to the CWA and AT&T, we maintain that the current negotiations are minor in contrast to the larger contracts at stake over the course of this year. This particular contract will be an excellent barometer for the tone, tactics, and potential impact for the customers of AT&T. Perhaps it can even be a barometer for larger change.

CWA members authorize strike at AT&T Mobility

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS ENTRY ON POTENTIAL AT&T LABOR SITUATION

With a contract expiration of February 7th at midnight, members of the CWA have overwhelmingly ratified a strike against AT&t Mobility, covering more than 20,000 employees. While there are several steps that would still need to be executed in a formal strike, this is certainly a strong sign of disparity in the ongoing talks – and a market hiccup AT&T can little afford. It’s important to note this is a typical posturing effort in the collective bargaining process, but still serves as a less than ideal barometer for overall tone.

More on this later today.