AT&T and the primary union representing its employees – the Communications Workers of America – finally crossed the finish line in their marathon negotiations in California and Nevada. The rank and file voted to approve the latest deal by a 58% to 42% margin. That comes after the first deal they struck was rejected by the membership in July, on a 53% to 47% vote.
According to Fortune, the deal was sweeter the second time around…
Like the original agreement, the revised contract included wage hike totaling 11% over four years and some job security promises, but also increased employees’ healthcare contributions to cover insurance premiums to 29% by 2020.
Since last year’s seven-week strike at Verizon (VZ, +0.08%) led to workers there getting a better contract offer, labor tensions have been rising across the telecommunications industry. Increasing healthcare costs and job security against outsourcing have been among the most difficult issues.
It was a long and difficult process, with the union and AT&T going 16 months without a contract. At one point in May, CWA members walked off the job for three days to protest the slow pace of talks. Wireless employees also joined that mini-strike, but they’re not covered by the agreement that was ratified this week – that only takes in landline and DirecTv workers. Negotiations on a contract for the wireless workforce continue.
It’s the first time that employees who came in to AT&T via the DirecTv acquisition have been covered by the contract. Bringing them in under the CWA/AT&T umbrella was just one of the challenges. Over the years, AT&T and CWA have built up a structure that treats different groups of employees differently, even ones that do similar, or in some cases largely identical, jobs. Those splits within the workforce were one of the major factors behind the rejection of the first contract in July.