NLRB Backs Union in AT&T Fight

[jumptheshadow]

Source: New Haven Independent

As phone company workers gird for a possible strike, a National Labor Relations Board official has slammed AT&T for refusing to bargain in good faith.

The ruling by Jonathan Kreisberg, acting regional director of the NLRB in Hartford, represents a step forward for a union that’s locked in a battle with AT&T to retain jobs in Connecticut...

AT&T “has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith” with its union representatives, Kreisberg found.





Read more: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/04/nlrb_backs_unio.php

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The story link is brand new, although the NLRB rulings were made on March 31st and April 6th.

The bargaining has been going on at many regional tables, and from what I've read, AT&T has made their terms tougher rather than trying to come to a compromise. Although the Connecticut shop has its specific set of issues, from what I have read AT&T has not negotiated on any issues. Instead, it has dug in and made greater demands.

Employees have been working without a contract since April 1st.

Several points need to be made:

1) While the landline divisions are softening, the entire fabric of AT&T is intertwined, with the landline workers providing much of the backbone for wireless communications.

2) AT&T is capitalizing on the misfortunes of the automobile industry to try to cut health benefits dramatically. But the international competition of the auto manufacturers has government-backed health care. The CWA has tried to enlist AT&T's aid in making government-based health care more attainable.

With national emergencies facing us in the economic sector, and the open question about the impact of the swine flu, it is not the time to be inflexible. AT&T, please be patriotic. Please start negotiating in good faith.