CWA Rejects AT&T's "Last Offer" As A Step Backward For Workers At The Profitable Company

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/11109

CWA workers are unhappy with AT&T’s final contract offer. Jesse Russell reports:

On Wednesday AT&T put what the company calls its “last” contract proposal on the table, a proposal that was immediately shot down by Communication Workers of America negotiators. According to the union, which represents 27,000 workers in five states, the new offer is a step backward and ignores a proposal made last Monday of increases of 4.5 percent, 4.25 percent, and 4 percent over the next three years. Instead, the company offered a raise of 2 percent this year followed by successive 2.25 percent raises in 2010 and 2011. The workers in Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma are currently operating under a contract that expired in April. Overall the CWA represents 80,000 AT&T employees, nearly a third of the company’s workforce.