Recently, AT&T (News - Alert) has reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 6 in wireline contract negotiations. AT&T is among the largest employers in America and the company has reached various agreements with CWA (News - Alert) in the past.
Last year, the company received more than 190,000 applications for about 12,000 wireline call center and technician openings. The average AT&T network technician in these contracts earns $90,000 in wages and also $43,000 in benefits.
The agreement is for four years and it affects about 20,000 wireline employees in Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. AT&T has stated that the agreement will be sent to the CWA's membership for a ratification vote in near future. Earlier this month, the two sides agreed to begin negotiations. The current contract comes to an end on April 6, 2013.
CWA is the largest telecommunications union in the world and it has more than 700,000 men and women in both private and public sectors. This includes more than half a million workers working in the Information Highway sector. CWA members are working in various fields such as broadcasting, telecommunications, journalism, cable TV, manufacturing, publishing, customer service, airlines, health care, government service, education and other fields.
Recently, the company announced it was sending 76 jobs from Greensboro, NC to Birmingham, Ala. The company informed workers at their Greensboro Credits and Collections call center that they would have to decide whether they were willing to move to Birmingham. The company expected this consolidation to affect more than 300 people in the Southeast. A large number of the workers make around $900 each week, the company stated. All have been in the communications industry at least 10 years.
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Edited by Rachel Ramsey