CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #21
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

Today the subcommittees met in an attempt to resolve some of our differences around Article 2 and Work Rules/Appendices. In today’s formal session the Company rejected the Union proposal for time off. Our proposal included language that a minimum of 25% of a work group could be off at any given time. The Company passed two more retrogressive proposals. The first would increase the number of unpaid days before receiving any sickness absence pay for employees with less than 8 years of service. The second one was in reference to Sunday premium pay. The company proposed to only pay time and one tenth per hour on Sunday instead of time and one half. With only 10 days left before contract expiration, we have had 21 formal bargaining sessions, many subcommittee meetings, made 31 proposals to improve the contract, received 31 regressive proposals from the company and have reached 0 tentative agreements!

IN UNITY,
Pam Suniga
Art Gonzalez
Tom Runnion
William B. Harvey
Lupe Mercado
Bill Demers

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!

CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #20
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

Most of today was spent meeting in Article 2 and 7 subcommittees. In our Formal session we passed a proposal on the Presidents Council. Our proposal would mandate meetings every quarter, add an elected member from the Bargaining Committee to the Council and removes language that prevented grievances/Arbitration to resolve any dispute. The Company had no proposals to pass or response to any of our previous proposals. The Company is in what seems to be slow motion mode. We have numerous proposals they could and should be responding to but they are content to let them sit. It seems they have no desire to work towards an
early settlement! IT’S TIME TO GIVE EM A REASON!

IN UNITY,
Art Gonzalez
Tom Runnion
William B. Harvey
Lupe Mercado
Bill Demers
Pam Suniga

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!

El Sobrante supports our bargaining team!

CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #19
Monday, March 23, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

The parties met today in Formal Session.The Union rejected the Company’s take-away proposal on Sickness Absence Payment. We also rejected their Pay for Performance (pay at risk) proposal that would permit them to establish whatever incentive plan they wanted without any negotiation with the Union. The Company’s only proposal today was to eliminate the requirement that they provide a printed copy of the contract to all employees. Instead, they would put an electronic version of the contract online. With only 12 days left to go, they have still made no positive proposals. With all the retrogression on the table they are still not ready to recognize all of your hard work and contribution towards making this a successful and profitable company. What part of a fair and just contract don’t they understand? Apparently they are not getting it; we need your help to get the message across. It’s time to let management know that you’re not going to stand by and let corporate greed take away everything we, and those who came before us, fought to achieve.

IN UNITY,
Tom Runnion
William B. Harvey
Lupe Mercado
Bill Demers
Pam Suniga
Art Gonzalez

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!

CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #18
Friday, March 20, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

The Company and Union met again today in Formal session. The Company started with an overview of the trends and outlook for the wire line. They tried to portray a Company need to change the way they do business and why they need take-backs. Tom Runnion, our bargaining Chair, responded by reminding the Company we are not bargaining a cable contract. That this Company is still extremely profitable and that our members expect and deserve to share in those profits. We then received a package on our request of data for new technology which we will review and address as necessary. The Company then passed a revised proposal on Pay for Performance. The Company still continues in a very retrogressive manner. We need our members to let management know THEY WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS BEHAVIOR. We need to let them know WE WILL NOT ACCEPT TAKE-BACKS. The Union and Company are taking the weekend to review and formulate responses for numerous proposals. Our next Formal session is scheduled for Monday March 23 rd. Our next report will follow that session.
It is time to step up our mobilization activities.

IN UNITY,
William B. Harvey
Lupe Mercado
Bill Demers
Pam Suniga
Art Gonzalez
Tom Runnion

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!

We had an informational picket on Tuesday at our Aldrin ct and Office Park locations.  Included and following are some of the pix.

Also, interesting note: At least two workgroups were notified just before the time scheduled for the Aldrin picket that their services were required and they would need to stay for overtime.

Photo Credit:  Mobilizer 9416 Chad

Update Below—
Photo Credit: Don

Thanks for the pictures!

CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #17
Thursday, March 19, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

Your committee met both in formal session and in subcommittees today. The company passed a couple of revised proposals that weren’t worth the paper they were written on. The Company at its discretion would be able to establish Leveraged Titles where the pay would be 60% of the current rate with 40% of the employee’s pay at risk based on sales/performance. Their second proposal was a revision of the Premises Technician proposal. The change includes a lump sum payment of $1000 with no annual wage increase for current employees (nothing for future hires). They want our Premises Techs to do even more work at less pay than our competitors. There are still none of the improvements our members deserve and expect. 23 days into bargaining and we are still far from where we need to be. The Company needs to get the retrogression off the table and start to bargain a fair and just contract.
It is time to step up our mobilization activities.

IN UNITY,
Lupe Mercado
Bill Demers
Pam Suniga
Art Gonzalez
Tom Runnion
William B. Harvey

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!

CWA District 9/AT&T West
Bargaining Bulletin #16
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

1 Union 1 Fight 1 Future

We met with the Company in formal session today. The Union presented the Company with proposals on a revised AT&T Savings and Security Plan, a revised Medical and Pension proposal and a proposal providing that Monitoring of all types, from voice to GPS, be used for coaching and development only. The Union rejected the Company’s Health and Welfare proposal, which would pass costs to our members rather than containing costs. We rejected their proposal cancelling vacation carry over and the scheduling of vacation of our members by management. We rejected their revised Overtime proposal that would have made double time start after 54 hours and allow the assignment of overtime by management. We also rejected the Company’s proposal on Pay for Performance. The Company presented a counter proposal on Safety and provided the union with information regarding carry over vacation. The union agreed to review the information. The subcommittees continue discussions. The next Formal Session is scheduled for tomorrow Thursday March 19, 2009.

IN UNITY,
Bill Demers
Pam Suniga
Art Gonzalez
Tom Runnion
William B. Harvey
Lupe Mercado

Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!