For Release 6/14/2019
AT&T Continues Job Cuts in CITY Despite Huge Tax Windfall and Promise to Invest
Just a few days before Father’s Day AT&T announced that it would be cutting nearly 50 jobs in Indiana and over 1,800 nationwide. These new cuts come just days after the Communications Workers of America issued a series of reports showing AT&T’s network in the Midwest is in disrepair even as it is reducing the number of trained, career employees.
“Our members are proud of their work and of the exceptional service that they provide AT&T’s customers,” said Tim Strong, President of Local 4900. “Our message to AT&T is that it’s not too late to change course, to invest in next-generation networks and keep these good jobs in our community.” Shame on AT&T for continuing to erode our Indiana communities by cutting middle class job when they are making record profits. We are disgusted by this corporate greed that continues to race the middle class into poverty.
Last year, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson pledged to invest $1 billion and create 7,000 new middle-class jobs if Congress passed the corporate tax cut plan. The reality has been much different. The company received a $21 billion windfall from the tax bill and is projecting $3 billion in annual tax savings going forward, but an analysis by CWA based on AT&T’s own quarterly reports shows that AT&T has cut over 23,000 jobs since the tax cut passed.
After every round of cuts, AT&T attempts to defend its actions by pointing out how many workers the company hired in the last year—but hiring to address turnover does not mean job creation. The facts in AT&T’s own reports are clear—they have 23,000 fewer people on their payroll than they did at the beginning of 2018.
CWA has been leading the charge to hold AT&T accountable to the jobs promises the company made as part of its effort to pass the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. In March, CWA President Chris Shelton testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee about the impact of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act on American workers, and called on Congress to probe AT&T on how it is spending its tax cut money, saying: “You may ask ‘what is AT&T doing with this money if it’s not being used to create jobs and invest in the U.S.?’ We’d like to know as well.”
CWA’s contracts with AT&T’s Midwest and national Legacy T units expired over a year ago, the contract at AT&T Mobility in Puerto Rico has also expired, and negotiations will begin soon at AT&T Southeast, where the contract expires in August. AT&T has a history of constructive labor relations, but its insistence on eliminating long-term employees to reduce costs has undermined the trust of its workforce.