Benchmark Pact at AT&T Wireless
Workers at AT&T Wireless Services in West Palm Beach, Fla., unanimously ratified a three-year contract on July 26. It is the first CWA has negotiated at Wireless nationwide and the second among new units organized under the two-year-old neutrality and consent election agreement.
The West Palm Beach Wireless workers - premiere customer market representatives, distribution reps, fraud management reps and other titles - won their expedited election 64-54 last summer despite a rabid campaign of intimidation by management, said Vice President Jim Irvine.
"CWA Representative Mary Jo Sherman and Local 3112, especially Sec.-Treas. Ernie Johnson, deserve tremendous credit for holding the company's feet to the fire through a full year of intense and often contentious negotiations," Irvine stated.
Because the AWS workers received a substantial raise during negotiations, there is no immediate wage increase, but the pact guarantees a 3 percent average merit increase paid out in March 2001 for the 2000 plan year.
"Most important," Sherman said, "the contract includes a wage reopener for March 2001. The company will negotiate and institute a merit and progression pay plan. These workers currently do not receive step increases."
The pact introduces a 401(k) plan with 50 percent employer match on the first 6 percent of pay contributed by employees, a profit-sharing contribution targeted at 2 percent and a discretionary match fixed at 3 percent of pay for the 2000 plan year. It guarantees other benefits currently in place for the life of the contract, including time-and-a-half for overtime; paid sick leave, holidays and vacation; and a choice of three health plans.
Job security provisions include "just cause" for discipline, a three-step grievance procedure and, for employees with at least nine months' service, arbitration and mediation. The pact establishes a seniority system for accrual of service and layoff protection. It provides for a minimum of 40 hours per employee "for education and training that is skill-based or job related," Sherman said, and it establishes a joint safety committee.
The West Palm Beach pact caps a month of bargaining victories at AT&T. On June 5, workers in Mesa, Ariz., won a first contract at AT&T Local Services. Then, after intense mobilization pressure from locals nationwide, the company agreed to a 401(k) plan and other retirement security provisions for cable workers at AT&T Broadband, another area covered by the consent election agreement. That agreement also provides for card check recognition at specific locations and other remedies for anti-union actions committed by AT&T management at its subsidiaries. It establishes a mechanism for mediation and fact-finding in the negotiation of new contracts, with a mediator to make recommendations 90 days into bargaining.
