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Agreement Reached with AT&T June 2002 IBEW Journal In the early morning hours of Saturday, April 12, union negotiators reached agreement on a new 18-month contract covering some 25,000 workers at AT&T. About 1,000 of the workers covered by the agreement are IBEW members, while the rest are members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Ratification votes were still taking place as this issue went to press. The agreement retains many provisions in the current contract. Union negotiators worked hard to ward off retrogressive proposals put on the table by the company that mostly would have had a negative impact on the pension and health care of active and retired employees. "We think that the short duration of this contract puts us in the best possible position in this uncertain economy," said Bob Morrison, Chairman of the IBEWs System Council T-3, which covers members at AT&T from 11 local unions. IBEW has members at AT&T from New England to California. The heaviest concentrations are in three locals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Six hundred of the 1,000 IBEW members are relay operators who handle keyboarded messages for the speech and hearing impaired. The agreement protects all of the current health and welfare benefits for workers and retirees. It provides for pension increases of 8% in the defined benefit plan and 8% in the cash balance credit table with an interest rate of 5.5% effective July 1, 2002. Workers who retire prior to that date will get the increase effective on the first of July. General wage increases for those covered under the CWA/IBEW Operations Agreement are 2% effective May 12, 2002, 2% effective November 10, 2002 and an additional 2% May 11, 2003, for an aggregate 6% increase. Upon ratification, a onetime signing bonus of $250 will also be paid to those employees on the active roll on the date of notification of ratification. Those employees who are receiving Extended Compensation Option (ECO-ATTOP) as well as part-time employees will receive a prorated amount. The unions were also successful in reaching agreement on several important committees. Included are committees on subcontracting, job evaluation process, and exploring new work for Operator Services. In early February, the IBEW and CWA forcefully rejected a company proposal to extend the current contract, dismissing the AT&T effort as an attempt to use pension funds to pay for severance benefits instead of using general funds as required under the current contract. IBEW proposed a no-layoff pledge as a condition for the extension, but AT&T declined. Negotiations then began as scheduled on March 11, 2002.
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