CWA District Files Lawsuit Against AT&T Over Layoffs

Statement by CWA Vice President Claude Cummings, CWA District 6, on AT&T’s plans to lay off CWA-represented workers in the Southwest:

The Communications Workers of America District 6 has filed a lawsuit against AT&T in U.S. District Court, charging that the company is violating the collective bargaining agreement covering 20,000 CWA-represented workers and subjecting some of those workers to immediate and significant harm.

Despite its claim that a corporate tax cut would create thousands of middle class jobs in its industry, AT&T recently announced that hundreds of workers in the Southwest would be declared “surplus” and subject to layoff, including 152 premises technicians who will be forced off the job as of Jan. 4, 2018. At the same time, we know that AT&T is using contract employees to do installation work while AT&T premises technicians, who are qualified and do the same work, will be jobless in just a few days.

CWA District 6 is working to obtain an injunction to stop the surplus altogether and has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, in addition to the lawsuit.

We expected AT&T to invest in our communities and customers, and to create more jobs, as the Republican tax plan promised. Instead, AT&T is cutting jobs and working people face layoffs and an uncertain future.

CWA District 6 represents workers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas.