Communications Workers of America Ratify Core Wireline Agreement in AT&T's Southwest Region

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced that core wireline employees in its Southwest Region (CWA District 6) have voted to ratify a four-year agreement with the Communications Workers of America.

The agreement covers about 26,000 CWA members in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. The contract expired on April 4 and employees have worked under the terms of the expired contract while negotiations continued.

Nearly 70 percent of the approximately 120,000 employees covered under AT&T’s core wireline contracts now have ratified agreements. In addition to the Southwest Region agreement, agreements between AT&T and the CWA have been ratified in the Midwest and West regions, as well as with Legacy AT&T Corp., which covers employees across the country. An agreement between AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has also been ratified.

The agreements demonstrate that even in tough economic times and in the midst of major changes in the marketplace and the telecommunications industry, the company and unions can work together to maintain good union jobs with wages and benefits that are among the best in the country.

Negotiations are continuing in CWA District 3 – AT&T’s nine-state Southeast Region, where the contract expired Aug. 8. CWA District 1 – AT&T’s East Region, covering employees in Connecticut – is the only region where the contract expired on April 4 that is yet to reach a contract. In both regions, employees continue to work under the terms of the expired contracts while negotiations continue.