The following is communication from District 4 regarding DTV:
As you know, there are two different tracks with the AT&T purchase of DTV. One is the current employees who work for or are contracted by DTV. The second is our current AT&T bargained-for members who may preform work previously done by DTV. Both issues are being coordinated on a National level, since it affects employees in many different titles across the Country, in and out of the current AT&T footprint.
Current DTV employees, at this point, are not Union members. Therefore, the first step is to get them in the Union before we can negotiate a contract for them, or negotiate to bring them into current contracts. As I am sure you know, those employees are not automatic Union members or covered by any contract. It is the desire of the Company, as you can imagine, to continue to perform the majority of that work by contractors and lower paid, non-bargained-for employees. CWA’s position, as has been adhered to with previous AT&T acquisitions, is to follow the long-standing neutrality/card check agreement in the contract, which does include some critical time lines.
As far as the current bargained-for member, CWA is attempting to negotiate over that work. As I am sure you understand, it is the desire of AT&T, just as it was for the PremTech title originally, to have all that work done by non-Union employees and contractors at the lower average wages and benefit levels as performed today by DTV employees. CWA’s position continues to be to bring all that work in-house to protect current bargaining for employees in order to negotiate now and in the future for higher compensation — not lower, as the Company would like it to be. As you know, some of the same work, both outside and in centers, is being assigned to current members. We continue to try and get the Company to agree to bargain nationally over that work at many different venues around the Country.
In Solidarity,
Linda L. Hinton
Vice President
CWA District 4