“We are not engaged in a productive exchange here.”
The union estimates that AT&T has cut 12,000 call-center jobs in the United States since 2011 while creating many such jobs overseas, but Mr. Master said the company had rebuffed a request for data
that would clarify the extent of the practice and other changes to its work force.
Marty Richter, an AT&T spokesman, said the company was offering the wireless workers wage
and pension increases and called the willingness to strike “baffling.” He said AT&T sales workers were well paid by industry standards, citing an average of over $68,000 in annual pay and benefits, roughly twice the figure for retail workers as a whole, according to PayScale, a company that tracks salary data.
The union said that some company stores had been converted to noncompany stores and
that much of the recent growth in the retail work force had occurred at noncompany stores.
The union, the Communications Workers of America, complains
that AT&T is sending call-center jobs overseas and diverting retail jobs to so-called authorized retailers not owned by the company and not unionized, and where wages and benefits are lower.
AT&T Workers Start 3-Day Strike in Contract Impasse -
By NOAM SCHEIBERMAY 19, 2017
Just over half of the employees work for the company’s wireless business, primarily in call centers
and retail stores, and have been without a long-term contract since February.
