AT&T staff working in the CWA southeast region, which includes Florida, Puerto Rico, and Alabama, will receive age increases of at least 19% over the five-year agreement, while staff in the West region, covering California and Nevada, will see a 15% increase.
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"We are proud to support the needs of our unionised employees as they make these connections possible for our customers and communities," said Jamie Barton, SVP of global human resources and labour relations at AT&T. "We believe that to be the best connectivity provider, our agreements must allow us to compete for the best people and have the best operations that can adapt to evolving customer demands.”
AT&T staff represented by CWA walked out in August after rejecting multiple contract offers put to them, with wages and health care costs among the key issues.
Staff returned to work in mid-September after AT&T put forward stronger terms, which have now been agreed.
“Our members were clear from the start: every CWA member at AT&T has value and no one should be treated like a second-class employee,” said Claude Cummings Jr, president of CWA.
“These new contracts provide our members with family-supporting wages and benefits, and address longstanding concerns about overtime and overscheduling which not only kept them away from their families and unable to plan their own lives, it negatively affected the quality of service our members want to deliver.”
AT&T is the largest employer of union-represented employees in the US telecom sector, with over 62,000 staff, including technicians and call centre roles, who are members of organisations like the CWA.
The operator said the agreements include wage increases that exceed projected inflation, and provide better schedule stability and job security.
“These new agreements position the company for sustainable growth and ensure we continue to recognise the work our employees do every day to serve our customers,” Cummings Jr added.
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