On Monday December 14th, AT&T Southeast (BellSouth) reached a tentative agreement on their contract with CWA. The very next day, December 15th, BellSouth announced a lay-off of 1060 bargaining unit members. This will affect CWA members in 9 states in the southeast. The ink isn’t even dry on the tentative agreement and AT&T Southeast pulls the trigger on the many lives this will affect in the bargaining unit, they get the contract and employees get the shaft.

AT&T also announced a VTP on December 15th at Legacy T. Since the Legacy T contract that we ratified on October 4th included no lay-off language until April 1st, 2010, the company could not ax our members at this time and could only solicit volunteers to leave the payroll. The VTP announced included 100 bargaining unit members across the nation with a cap of 3 DPA III’s that report to GCA 324, Alpharetta, GA and are within the jurisdiction of Local 3250.

If you recall, AT&T was announcing last month to the government and the press that due to the economic and job crisis in America, they are planning to return jobs that were contracted out off shore. Now we see how they are planning to balance their job commitment to American workers, move jobs back to the US that they contracted off shore and again lay-off workers here in America. It’s nothing more then a conveyor belt to them and in the end, after the dust settles and the numbers are crunched, there will be fewer workers in the bargaining unit workforce. AT&T refers to this as success we call it smoke and mirrors.
 
The executives will be on the payroll, their bonuses intact and the impression in the press will be how AT&T contributed to the job market and helped save the economy. Hopefully the truth will surface and they will be exposed. They smile and pat each other on the back but nothing has changed, it is just a global shell game to AT&T with no regard to our workers’ and the jobs they play roulette with. As long as the short term profits slide into executive pockets and they securely remain on the payroll, then there is no economic and job crisis in America.

Haven’t we been betrayed enough?  It’s time to send the bean counters to the curb and let them feel the uncertainty and burdens of reality.  

In unity there is strength,

Roy Hegenbart
President
Local 3250